Light in Darkness
Homeless kids find nonprofits fill in for L.A. Unified
By Matthew Mundy
Los Angeles City Beat
Mario is a lanky, gregarious 6-foot-5, 17-year-old African-American kid with a black doo rag, some peach fuzz and an easy charisma about him. He lives at the Huntington Hotel on skid row in a one-room apartment with his mother and his two younger brothers; they moved down here from Van Nuys about three years ago, when Mario’s mother lost her job. “Wrong place, wrong time,” he sighed, his deep voice reverberating around his throat. The change in atmosphere was a shocker for Mario, who was unprepared for the harsh living downtown. “I was like damn … . The whole world is not nice and pleasant,” he said with a chuckle, remembering when they moved down to the Union Rescue Mission, where they were before the Huntington. “Pros[titutes], drugs, everyday everywhere … . You learn a whole lot when you come down here. [Skid Row] hardens me a little, yeah, but you persevere with God, nothing’s impossible here.”
Nonprofits have been of great help to L.A.’s homeless schoolchildren, and these organizations also have tutorial programs similar to the outreach center, like Schools on Wheels, Las Familias del Pueblos, and Para Los Niños. Different organizations help out in other ways as well – the Los Angeles Food Bank, for example, donates 125 food backpacks to Ninth Street Elementary every second Friday, the contents of which go back with the kids to their homes so they can eat properly.
Their efforts only stanch the wound though, rather than stitching it up. Without any large-scale efforts by the federal, state or local governments to address the ongoing crisis of homeless schoolchildren, this problem will only continue to hemorrhage with untold, and dire, consequences.
One question begs to be answered – without any large-scale, comprehensive help, how many of these kids will be able to break out of the cycle? The answers given aren’t hopeful – Ninth Street
Read the full article over here.
By Matthew Mundy
Los Angeles City Beat
Mario is a lanky, gregarious 6-foot-5, 17-year-old African-American kid with a black doo rag, some peach fuzz and an easy charisma about him. He lives at the Huntington Hotel on skid row in a one-room apartment with his mother and his two younger brothers; they moved down here from Van Nuys about three years ago, when Mario’s mother lost her job. “Wrong place, wrong time,” he sighed, his deep voice reverberating around his throat. The change in atmosphere was a shocker for Mario, who was unprepared for the harsh living downtown. “I was like damn … . The whole world is not nice and pleasant,” he said with a chuckle, remembering when they moved down to the Union Rescue Mission, where they were before the Huntington. “Pros[titutes], drugs, everyday everywhere … . You learn a whole lot when you come down here. [Skid Row] hardens me a little, yeah, but you persevere with God, nothing’s impossible here.”
Nonprofits have been of great help to L.A.’s homeless schoolchildren, and these organizations also have tutorial programs similar to the outreach center, like Schools on Wheels, Las Familias del Pueblos, and Para Los Niños. Different organizations help out in other ways as well – the Los Angeles Food Bank, for example, donates 125 food backpacks to Ninth Street Elementary every second Friday, the contents of which go back with the kids to their homes so they can eat properly.
Their efforts only stanch the wound though, rather than stitching it up. Without any large-scale efforts by the federal, state or local governments to address the ongoing crisis of homeless schoolchildren, this problem will only continue to hemorrhage with untold, and dire, consequences.
One question begs to be answered – without any large-scale, comprehensive help, how many of these kids will be able to break out of the cycle? The answers given aren’t hopeful – Ninth Street
Read the full article over here.
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