ORLANDO, Fla. — Inspired by the ideas of young people, a one stop-shop for unhoused youth and young adults will soon open in Orlando.
It is for those ages 16 to 24 experiencing homelessness. They will now have a dedicated space to seek services.
“They came up with the plan on what they want to see their dream for a drop-in center, and our team put everything together and worked with Salt Outreach, and here we are now,” said Valerie Perez, youth project coordinator at the Homeless Services Network.
The network was awarded $8.4 million through a HUD grant. It had to get creative to match funds from the State of Florida and donations from local businesses to make it happen.
The network says it also pulled together hundreds of people in three counties that work with this age group, to figure out the smartest way to spend the grant.
Leaders say part of that grant is going to a new youth-drop-in center in Pine Hills that Salt Outreach will be running day to day.
Jojo Lovett will be visiting that drop-in center. He remembers his time experiencing homelessness.
“The wrong people prevented me from going to my job,” said Lovett, who will be going to the youth drop-in center.
He lived through three years of homelessness.
“I was literally outside, like alone,” he said.
Before getting food stamps, he fasted and barely ate. He was unaware his mother was using his identity, racking up over $20,000 in credit card debt.
He moved into a new apartment one week ago.
“I just got out of hell,” he said.
Eric Camarillo, executive director for Salt Outreach, is excited that it's finally opening.
He says it feels like a full circle moment for him since he experienced homelessness when he was 20.
“It’s such a rewarding experience,” said Camarillo.
There will be case managers navigating youth to housing, a day service center where they can get basic needs met, charge their phones, eat meals, and access lockers to store personal items. Unhoused youth can get showers, use bathrooms, do laundry and access a mental health counselor. There is also an area where they can have classes or seminars and use computers to apply for jobs.
“We got one of the biggest TVs, we could find,” said Camarillo.
The lounge area of the drop-in center has a mural that was donated and a message that reads “Brighter Days Ahead.”
“A lot of the time they're outside, they’re in fight or flight mode, they need a place to get out of the elements,” said Camarillo.
Camarillo says it is necessary to separate youth and young adults from the adult homeless population because they have different needs.
“Then navigate them through what’s often a fragmented homeless services system. Everyone has kind of all these resources, we're helping to teach them how to tap into these resources,” said Camarillo.
Back to Lovett, he says his message to others who are in the situation he was only one week ago is to find strength and seek help in places like this.
“I would suggest that you keep your head up, and keep going,” said Lovett.
Spectrum News reached out to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to see if there has been resolution to his identity theft case. They’re working on our request.
The ribbon cutting is set for next Friday.
While leaders have a grant to operate the center, they need community support to help expand services and get more youth off the streets.