About Us
Introduction
This website was created by high school student Lillian Kong for the Constitutional Rights Foundation's Civic Action Project. This project aims to promote civic engagement, student-led action, and education about government policy.
Inspiration
What sparked my idea for this project was when my friend got kicked out of their home and was forced to sleep on the street for days. Occasionally they could stay at a friend's house, but shelter was inconsistent and not guaranteed. While initially researching avaaible homeless shelters in our area, there were very limited options. Age restrictions regarding the primary shelter around excluded them from joining.
Project
It took me hours and contacting multiple people to get proper, updated information about useful resources for youth. Therefore, I dedicated my project to gathering as many possible resources and sharing them with my peers.
CIVIC ACTIONS
1: TC Hope
My first civic action was the reach out and email both TC Hope, the spearheading organization for the incoming, low-barrier navigation center in Visalia. TC Hope was very helpful in answering as many questions as they could. They connected me with the executive director of the project in the CSET organization. The outcome was more in depth knowledge about the low barrier navigation center and what methods people can support them. I also learned that the project will not be done for a long time, meaning I would switch the direction of my project from raising awareness and funds for the navigation center to raising awareness about the current available resources for the excluded demographic of teenagers.
2: Survey
My second civic action was to send a survey to the student body at my school through a master email to get more information about how pervasive of an issue homelessness is to them and learn the best way to convey useful information to them. I learned that:
- 12.1% of those surveyed experienced homelessness or uncertainty of where they would sleep at night firsthand.
- 69% of respondents knew someone who had experienced the same.
- 39.7% did not have an alternative shelter plan in case of emergency.
Most students reported not having a good knowledge of the resources available in our community.
3: Visalia Rescue Mission
From the beginning, I attempted to reach out to Visalia Rescue Mission, to change their policy was the original goal of my project. Their policy excludes boys ages 12-17 years old from their overnight shelters which was a large demographic. I emailed and called repeatedly and got no response. I was persistent and used formal communication skills to reach out but failed and had to redirect my project and adapt to the circumstance.
4: TCOE
My last civic action was to email and contact Ms. Mayra about the resources TCOE has available for homeless youth. She responded and forwarded me a couple of links which led to many new onine sources and she also referred me to the TCOE McKinney-Vento Education Liason, Courtney Venegas. From there I learned that TCOE protects homeless youth’s rights to equal education. While this did not have to do with housing solutions, it did inform about important information for my peers regarding their education when experiencing homelessness.