Members of the committee, thank you for allowing me to speak with you today.  

My name is Mark Redmond, I am executive director of Spectrum Youth and Family Services-we are the largest provider of services to homeless youth in the state of Vermont. 

This past October, the New York Times ran a two-part story describing the dramatic increase in homeless young adults since the recession began in this country.  They interviewed youth in Oregon, Illinois, Michigan and other states, citing one federal survey of schools showing a 40% increase in the number of juveniles living on their own last year, and the National Runaway Switchboard reporting a 200% increase since 2006 in the number of calls from homeless and runaway youth.

Vermont is not exempt from this sad phenomenon.  At Spectrum we have a 12-bed shelter in downtown Burlington.  During calendar year 2009, we housed 119 different homeless teens in that shelter, a 33% increase from 2008.  But we also track the number of times we had to turn someone away due to lack of bed space.  In 2008 that happened 75 times; in 2009 the number was 143.  That is a 91% increase in one year.

Youth who do well in our shelter are eligible to transfer to our 9-unit Single Room Occupancy (SRO) apartment building in the other end of town, where they pay one-third of their rent, must save another third in a bank account, are taught independent living skills, go to school or a training program, and then receive a Section 8 voucher upon graduation to use anywhere in the United States of America.  It’s a great model, it’s the main reason the National Network for Youth selected us as Agency of the Year last year, but for the last year that program has been full virtually every day of the year.  That has never happened.  We have a permanent waiting list at our shelter and at our SRO.

I have a hard time believing it is just this incredible coincidence that we have had the worst economic downtown since the Great Depression in the last year, and we have also seen this incredible surge in the number of homeless youth.  The two are most certainly related.  Most of the youth we see come from poverty situations.  There is the occasional youth from a wealthy family who got involved in drugs and becomes addicted and hits the streets, but the vast majority of these youth are from extremely low-income families, and as the economy has worsened, the stressors on these families have increased, and youth homelessness is the rest.  One follows the other.

I spoke to Kreig Pinkham yesterday who heads the Vermont Coalition of Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs, to find out if what we are seeing at Spectrum is true for the rest of the state.  He reported that homeless programs served about 800 individual youth two years ago, it is up to about 1,000 now.

 One thing that worries me is further cuts to the mental health system.  We are already seeing so many homeless teens who were in the children’s mental health system, did well, but because of that, do not qualify for the adult mental health system.  They age out at 18 and become homeless.  So when I hear about further possible cuts, in particular to CRT, I fear this is only going to make the homeless situation worse. 

So this is the situation we are facing, I think it’s important for you to know this.  I do have to say, the one bright spot in all of this is Act 74 which the Legislature passed two years ago, extending the age of discharge from foster care from 18 up to 22.  This bill has been a tremendous success, and if that had not been passed, the situation would be very much worse. 

As far as Spectrum is concerned, our goal is to create a second SRO and possibly also to add more shelter beds.  I am highly doubtful we will find federal dollars to support that; the federal grant we have now for our existing SRO has been level funded for 15 years in a row.  If we can find state funds to support it, great, but I know the realities you are facing.  So I will just keep appealing to the public.  One anonymous donor has already donated $150,000 to us to create a second SRO, so I will look anywhere and to anyone because to me we have a moral commitment to be there for these kids.  They are going to keep coming.  This is not going to change any time soon in my opinion. 

 Thank you.

 Mark Redmond, Executive Director

Testimony, January 13, 2009

We have had a contentious relationship with the businesses next door to our One Stop program for years, but we have made signficant changes in staffing and practice the last few months, so it was wonderful to receive a $250 donation and this note from one of them recently:

“This is a gift from my business, Bleu Sky Creative. Our offices are right next door at the Richardson Building, so we see, each day, the important work you are doing for troubled youth and the haven you provide for them. This is a small contribution on behalf of our clients and we’d like to share our awareness with them.”

We are flattered to be included in Matt Dunne’s list of highlighted nonprofits this holiday season “that make a difference.”

From a young person who used to live in one of our residences:

“Best wishes to you and all at Spectrum. 

This program and the people who run it saved my life.  Hopefully it will continue to save others for many years.

Merry Christmas and thank you Mark.”