Youth Empowerment Program (YEP)

Meeting the Needs of Homeless Children and Youth

Our Mission: YEP will empower youth by increasing opportunities for them to take control of their situations while building self-esteem and improving their quality of life through advocacy, leadership and education. There are more than 60,000 children and youth that will experience homelessness in Ohio this year. YEP is a statewide council of homeless youth (ages 12- 21) who have joined together to improve the lives of these children.

Through YEP, homeless youth become active community members and productive citizens by participating in community service, leadership training, and advocacy activities. These youth put their own ideas into action and are able to make significant changes to local state and national policies.

Recent successes include: Changing policies in family shelters to admit teenagers, assisting a local shelter to build a safer building with improved services for children and teens, partnering with national organizations to increase homeless education funding, and participating in over 1,000 community services hours this year alone. Over the past three years, 11 YEP state council members have graduated from High School, and 4 have gotten their GED's. Of those, 6 have gone on to attend college. Two YEP youth have received National Awards for their individual contributions to the needs of homeless children.

For information call Angela Lariviere, Youth Empowerment Director, 614-280-1984, Ext 17, or email her at angelal@cohhio.org or cohhioal@aol.com.

Click HERE to read "Advocates in the Spotlight: Angela Lariviere and the Youth Empowerment Program,"an article written by the National Low Income Housing Coalition

Learn more about YEP's Annual Benefit Dinner on behalf of homeless and formerly homeless youth (see flyer below) by emailing Angela Lariviere or visiting www.caringheartsohio.org

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT IN 2012 TO

HELP HOMELESS YOUTH!

Last year's dinner in support of OSU STAR House Youth Drop In Center, COHHIO Youth Empowerment Program, and Columbus Schools Homeless Education Programs was a tremendous success!

These organizations work tirelessly to advocate for homeless youth providing direct care, education and developing solutions to end homelessness. Please support our efforts at www.cohhio.org by choosing YEP in the pull down menu.

For more information contact:

Angela Lariviere at angela.yepdirector@gmail.com