Drugs, Homelessness, and Health: Homeless Youth Speak Out About Harm Reduction

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Drugs, Homelessness, and Health: Homeless Youth Speak Out About Harm Reduction

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This report from the Wellesley Institute records and presents the voices of high-risk, substance-using homeless street-involved youth who are engaging in some of the most risky types of drug use and practices. They present a unique insider view of the complex and diverse realities of homeless street-involved youth; their drug practices and health status; and the barriers they face in the access to and implementation of harm reduction, addiction, health and social services.

These are the voices that governments, funders, policy makers and service providers must listen to if we want to make progress in improving the lives and brightening the futures of this under-served group of youth in our community.

You can also view Shout Clinic's webinar presentation here.

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We joined Funders Together because we believe in the power of philanthropy to play a major role in ending homelessness, and we know we have much to learn from funders across the country.

-Christine Marge, Director of Housing and Financial Stability at United Way of Greater Los Angeles

I am thankful for the local partnerships here in the Pacific Northwest that we’ve been able to create and nurture thanks to the work of Funders Together. Having so many of the right players at the table makes our conversations – and all of our efforts – all the richer and more effective.

-David Wertheimer, Deputy Director at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Very often a lack of jobs and money is not the cause of poverty, but the symptom. The cause may lie deeper in our failure to give our fellow citizens a fair chance to develop their own capacities, in a lack of education and training, in a lack of medical care and housing, in a lack of decent communities in which to live and bring up their children.

-President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964 State of the Union Address

Funders Together has given me a platform to engage the other funders in my community. Our local funding community has improved greatly to support housing first models and align of resources towards ending homelessness.

-Leslie Strnisha, Vice President at Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland

Our family foundation convenes local funders and key community stakeholders around strategies to end homelessness in Houston. Funders Together members have been invaluable mentors to us in this effort, traveling to our community to share their expertise and examples of best practices from around the nation.

-Nancy Frees Fountain, Managing Director at The Frees Foundation