Augusta leaders aim to help homeless teens with new task force

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – As we start the new year, Augusta leaders are hoping to target part of the local homelessness crisis you might not be aware of — homeless teens.

They still show up to school, do their homework and play sports, but don’t have a reliable roof over their heads.

This is what a new teenage homelessness task force hopes to address.

City leaders are putting weight to words.

“I don’t want to think that the homeless task force is just meeting and throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. That’s not the case,” said Commissioner Jordan Johnson.

And making sure no one is left behind.

“They aren’t just people with shopping carts. We know their names. And they know ours,” said Johnson.

For Nomi Stanton and Johnson, it’s a year of change.

“Pull the city together, pull the nonprofits together to help people,” said Stanton.

Stanton says when you think of homelessness, you think of adults.

But think again.

A LIST OF RESOURCES:

“There are homeless teens. I see children pulling their own luggage. Our community is better than that. And so those are the things that I’m really looking forward to tackling,” said Stanton.

The first step: a teenage homeless task force.

“It would be absolutely beautiful for teenagers to also be actively part of how they can make their community a better place. Long after we’re gone, those are the future leaders of this community,” said Stanton.

They’re even pulling in outside resources.

Johnson said: “What we’re working on now is a partnership with an organization outside of Atlanta that specializes in getting folks out of hotels and into housing.”

The goal is to get people back on their feet.

One way they’re doing that is with mailboxes.

Stanton said: “But you still have to register your children at school. If you are staying at the shelter and you are coming to GAP ministries and getting your birth certificate and then going to the DMV to get a state ID, you need to have an address.”

The new mailboxes will be in front of GAP Ministries soon, and open for applications.

“If you think about every single one of them was someone’s baby, that’s what I think of,” said Stanton.

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