COVENANT HOUSE MISSOURI

Programs: Crisis program:through the crisis program, covenant house missouri offers short-term housing to help homeless and trafficked youth regain stability. The program provides 20 crisis beds and the length of stay is up to 45 days. During their stay, youth receive round-the-clock care, support and guidance from adult staff members who work to ensure that youth have the necessary resources to achieve their goals for stable housing, education, employment and mental health care. In fiscal year 2017, 262 unduplicated youth were served through the crisis program.

transitional living program:the transitional living program (formerly rights of passage/rop), was established in 2001 to provide a stable and supportive living environment for youth overcoming homelessness while they work to develop the life skills and tools needed to achieve adult independence. Twenty beds are available and the length of stay is up to 24 months. Youth who are enrolled in tlp are required to have a job, be working toward their educational goals and save 60% of their earned income for future independent living. A heavy emphasis is placed on life skills education, fiscal literacy, counseling and developing goals that promote success and independence. In fiscal year 2017, 47 unduplicated youth were served in tlp.

support services:since august 1998, covenant house missouri provides comprehensivesupport services including mental health services, education and career development services and life skills classes, with the primary goal of supporting youth on their path to independence. Counseling and psychiatric care are provided to youth in need of services. Last fiscal year, 37 youth who presented with mental health symptoms complied with their treatment plans. In fiscal year 2017, chmo provided employment services including a job-readiness program, career counseling, and job placement services to 194 youth; 84 out of 194 youth successfully completed the job readiness program and 162 out of 194 youth obtained employment. Life skills classes are designed to help youth achieve and maintain functional stability; last fiscal year, 220 youth participated in life skills classes and 217 improved their level of knowledge in a particular topic.

street outreach and all other accomplishment safestreet outreach:covenant house missouri's outreach program was established in 1998. This program provides street-based as well as "safe outreach" (runaway prevention and education) services to homeless and disconnected youth in the st. Louis region. The primary goal of this program is to establish and build trusting relationships with youth to encourage them to make healthy personal choices about where they live. Services are provided on a daily basis (m-f) by outreach case managers who possess the skills needed to connect youth with services. In fiscal year 2017, outreach services were provided to 5,622 street and at-risk youth/individuals in need. Child protection services:covenant house international (chi) and covenant house missouri (chmo) recognize that safety is a key component in a therapeutic community and foundational to social work practice. In response to the safety needs of our youth, chi and chmo established a child protection committee charge with creating a common core of safety practices designed to reduce risk. The committee process is driven by the needs of the youth we serve, our mission, and our programs. The safety model's conceptual framework views risk management as an interaction among specific safety concerns, the vulnerabilities of at-risk youth, and the administration's capacity to shelter and protect youth proactively and respond to incidents quickly. The child protection system is an articulation that we will serve youth in a secure environment and that we will hold ourselves accountable for their safety. Youth come to us in states of crisis and providing them with a safe environment in which to heal is a fundamental part of our response to trauma and an essential practice in our field. In addition, chi and chmo are accredited by praesidium, a national leader in abuse risk management.