DETROIT – The Detroit Phoenix Center's vision for the future is simple: a world where every young person has a place to call home.
“I say four years,” Dillan Jones said.
That’s how long Jones said he was out on the streets with nowhere to go, and each day was struggle.
“It was tough. You have to really first thing first is housing and if you don’t have your high school diploma and your information, that’s really hard to get when you’re homeless,” Jones said.
Jones said there was light at the end of the dark tunnel, when he met Courtney Smith, with the Detroit Phoenix Center.
“I would say this is definitely a silent crisis,” Smith said.
Smith said the crisis is youth homelessness that is rarely talked about.
“It’s critical. It is critical because youth who are transient are at high risk, but they’re super resilient, incredibly strong. But the effects of not having a place can interfere with their daily life,” she said.
Smith said that’s where the Detroit Phoenix Center comes in.
“We crafted the Detroit Phoenix Center Apprenticeship Program, which is a new model that we’re going to implement that adds housing, plus workforce development, plus a support network and we believe that’s what breaks the cycle of homelessness,” Smith said.
The program recently got a big boost to end that cycle. It won a $50,000 grant from the My Brother’s Keeper Program.