Energy Innovation Center hosts hundreds of local leaders working to combat youth homelessness
Leaders say it's a growing issue locally, and some anticipate it will increase nationally as well.
The Allegheny County Executive says over 3,400 young people are experiencing homelessness in the county.
It's figures like these that are part of why the homeless children's education fund hosted a policy breakfast. The morning was more than just food.
"We have a lot of service providers here – we have a lot of other elected officials," County Executive Sara Innamorato said.
It's a call to action, with more than 200 people. It's an important time for people like AJ Jefferson.
"Right now, we're experiencing a 17% increase in youth homelessness over the previous year's numbers," said Jefferson, the CEO of the Homeless Children's Education Fund.
She says the reasons for that are largely economic. People like Congresswoman Summer Lee say there are deeper issues at play, too.
"I think oftentimes, when we think about youth homelessness, we think about one issue at a time and not the snowball effect, not how we got here," Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District said.
She was one of Thursday morning's speakers.
"At least, my message was that we have to make better policy decisions – we have to think about this holistically…" Congresswoman Lee said.
Politicians like Mayor Gainey and County Executive Innamorato also wanted to help find solutions.
"We have open arms and open ears on how we can embrace the young people, but also listen to them and listen to the providers to make sure that we're delivering the best services possible," Innamorato said.
There was Republican representation, too.
State Senator Devlin Robinson wanted to listen to concerns he could take to Harrisburg.
"Nobody is gonna check anybody's registration whenever they're homeless or in need of help," Robinson, who represents Pennsylvania's 37th district in Harrisburg, said.
Jefferson says nearly 47,000 K-12 students in our state have been identified as experiencing homelessness.
"With the federal government changing directions and support, we need to figure out in the state, how are we gonna secure the support," Jefferson said.
It's support and work that her organization focuses on daily.
"We stay in their lives from PreK all the way up to adulthood and career," she said.
And now, she's calling on those in this room and beyond to do more to fight the rising problem.
"We need to support them – invest your time, invest your resources," Jefferson said.
Jefferson says the key to bucking the trend is for the state to allocate funding from its budget towards programs that help combat youth homelessness.
She says a lot of that money is drying up from Biden-era COVID relief.
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