COVENANT HOUSE NEW ORLEANS

Our youth face some of the greatest challenges in our community. We have served thousands of youth facing homelessness and trafficking since we opened in 1986. Our first objective is reuniting young people with family, but when that is not possible, we provide residential programs and professional support services to help them move out of poverty and start building brighter futures. The ultimate outcome is independent living as self-sufficient, adult members of our community.

With the help of the Covenant House New Orleans family, our youth ages 22 and under are receiving the unconditional love and relentless support they need to begin healing and start building brighter futures.

We provide three levels of residential support: emergency shelter, transitional living, and off-site apartment housing. Our shelter is open 24/7 to provide food, clothing, and short-term housing for youth and young families in crisis. Our transitional living and permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs foster achievement and growth beyond the average 27-day stay in our shelter. Youth in our transitional living received 6-18 months of supportive housing while they worked, saved, continued their education, and built life skills. Our PSH apartments help those with disabilities maintain independent living. All of our youth benefit from case management & counseling, educational & vocational services, and medical & behavioral health care. Our caseload has increased dramatically; we now average over 200 youth and children per night and over 900 each year. We also serve about 25,000 meals annually.

We have an experienced, professional staff working with our kids. They provide educational, vocational, employment, physical health, and mental health assessments to each youth who comes to us for help. We maintain a youth development approach in our work. Case managers help youth develop individualized plans to guide their stays. Education and employment staff work with youth to improve their job skills and explore employment opportunities, and to address their educational levels. Those without high school diplomas receive assistance to enroll in GED programs; minors are encouraged to stay in school, and we typically have five or six high school (and even college) students living with us. Our licensed youth counselors present workshops on topics such as Conflict Resolution and Creative Expressions. We also have outreach staff that work with unhoused youth, building their trust to accept needed services at Covenant House, from other providers, and right on the street.

We have a track record for service recognized throughout our community, where we are the only provider of an open-intake crisis shelter for youth, and the only provider of a large transitional living program for young men and women. We have professional staff (many with advanced degrees and certification, including Licensed Clinical Social Workers); established income sources (64% private income from individual donors and from corporate/foundation grants); a supportive parent organization, Covenant House International; and an active, volunteer Board of Directors comprised of business, civic, and non-profit leaders in our community. We own our buildings, have an endowment, and attract print and broadcast media attention for our work and our young people's successes.

Our crucial network of service partners is growing. This has proven to be a cost and outcome effective approach to care. Our partners include the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) and the city's Job 1 workforce development office for GED programs; Café Reconcile, Liberty's Kitchen, Goodwill Culinary Arts, Louisiana Green Corps, Job 1 and others for job training programs; local businesses that provide jobs for our kids; Tulane University Medical School that operates our on-site adolescent and pediatric health clinics, and joins us in providing behavioral health services; and many other medical service providers (such as dental, eye, and OB/Gyn care). Community volunteers broaden our kids' life experiences through their mentoring, assistance, and support.

Recent wellness activities have emphasized harm reduction and preventative care. A new demonstration project for maternal and newborn health outcomes will follow pregnant residents in a small community setting from pregnancy through the first year of their child's life to address low birth weight, pre-term birth, postpartum depression and other perinatal health outcomes.

In 2020, a total of 896 young people took refuge from abusive homes and violent streets at Covenant House. They received food, clothing, shelter, counseling, case management, life skills, and so much more. Read our highlights below:

24/7 Emergency Crisis Care
• 459 youth and children served
• 80% found stable housing and/or family reunification

Rights of Passage (ROP) Transitional Living
• 112 youth and children served
• 86% graduated to a good job and stable housing

Medical & Behavioral Healthcare
• 98% of residents received comprehensive care in our onsite clinic, in partnership with Tulane Medical School
• 81% showed improved functioning in jobs, school, and interpersonal relations

Employment
• 214 youth found work or entered job training programs

Education
• 59 children enrolled in Head Start or elementary school
• 56 youth and children enrolled in high school, college, or GED/HiSET programs

Human Trafficking
• 90 youth served
• 77% found stable housing and/or family reunification

Outreach & Aftercare
• 217 youth received counseling and emergency services in the community

Reunification
• 148 youth received bus or plane tickets to reunite wit family or relatives offering a safe and stable environment