Community Outreach and Education

Educating people about youth homeless issues and how/what environmental factors can lead to homelessness is an important step to prevention. Our community outreach program creates awareness about Covenant House programs and services, and the issues youth face through school presentations, informational fairs and a speakers bureau.

Advocacy

While Covenant House is best known for the direct services it provides to homeless youth, we strive to safeguard all children by working with local and national leaders to develop and implement public policies to meet their needs. We are lobbying for legislative support for additional youth services and participating in forums with other local agencies with the hopes of restructuring the Juvenile Justice System.

We are actively involved in the United States Attorney's Weed and Seed Program, which is designed to provide after school academic and recreational activities for school age children. We also continue to be active in the area of Children's mental health issues and participated in the St. Thomas Health Clinic Mental Health Curriculum Development Forum.

Curfew and Assessment Center

In the spring of 1999 the City of New Orleans called on Covenant House New Orleans and asked us to join them in an historic partnership. Because of our status as the premier agency in the region for dealing with the issues of troubled youth we were invited to submit a plan to reinvent the City of New Orleans Curfew Center, which had previously been primarily a holding area for youth on the streets after evening curfew hours.

The result of this new partnership is Covenant House staff providing counseling and intervention services for the new City of New Orleans Curfew and Assessment Center. The first of its kind in the nation, the new Center helps youth and families assess needs, then coordinate necessary services through our Covenant House Ciaccio Community Center to build and maintain healthy and productive families.

Staffed by Covenant House New Orleans, this new approach to youth and family issues is gaining positive attention throughout the nation and has been praised by publications such as the Washington Post. The Center provided services to over 2,000 young people and their families last year.