Ben, pictured left, with Spectrum’s executive director Mark Redmond on the day of Ben’s college graduation.

The following is a speech presented by Ben, a former client of Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Born and raised in Mankato, Minnesota, I came from a low-income household originally comprised of 4 people including myself and three others. My mother, like all other women in the family was well-educated and had a good sense of direction and discipline and was well brought up in an average, middle-class family. My father, who hailed from San Jose, California did not achieve the same prestige as my mother did. Like his father before him, mine never graduated from high school, nor did he finish college and was notorious for unlawful activity which was suspected to be the reason for his many personal flaws. As my father left the family without a trace early on in life, my mother, sister and myself began a long tenure of hardship and anger spanning over a decade. Often times, it was difficult enough that my remaining parent had to work long hours and had to have close friends take care of myself and my sister to even attempt to make her ends meet.

Since parents did not have much of a factor in my life anymore, I myself became distant and troublesome as to even have law enforcement involved numerous times during my adolescence period. As a result, I became a lost figure in the eyes of society and delved further into quarrelsome behavior as a way to both cope and retaliate back at the community I lived in. This, in combination with drug abuse and other elements eventually led to my forced departure from my high school in 2005. Being devasted and clouded in judgement, I felt the conclusion that my life was meaningless and that putting the effort into bettering myself did not matter nor would it create a long-term impact on my life as a success.

After barely pulling through a second chance at high school in 2008 and after many unsuccessful attempts at rehab treatment for my problems, I was given an eviction notice by my mother who struggled to have me in her home, without any fault of her own. Not having anywhere to go nor anyone to rely upon as I was already a notorious figure in society, I felt hopeless again as I did years previous when my substance abuse was at its peak.

However, I was relieved again when I found out about a social-services organization based out of Burlington called Spectrum; they had offered me a place to stay at Maple Street, good people who supported my recovery, my personal development, and a chance to get an apartment within the Section 8 program.

I was relieved, yet I was hesitant about doing this, for I was not accustomed to living with a plan to be better than I was at the time. However, little did I discover how important the interpersonal skills and development I achieved at Maple St would be applied to me quite literally. I could say that going through this program at Spectrum was the very reason I am alive today and why I still have success now in life.

Fast forward to 2011, after years of treatment for my problems, I became well enough where I felt the need to find a profession that helped release me from the struggles of poverty and Section 8 housing. At the time, I maintained an apartment of my own and had a full-time job but was at a dead end in my career in retail. This in addition to the growing financial obligations from subsidized housing led me to the conclusion that I could no longer live in the conditions that I was presently in.

Going back to school was almost a dream for me as I could neither afford it, nor did I feel like I could be motivated enough to stay committed to my degree program. As someone who made a lifelong career of not holding commitments, I was almost positive that college would not be a realistic choice for me. That being said, one day while talking to Mark Redmond, I brought up the issue of outgrowing Section 8 and the need to better myself again. Little did I discover the impact of my words again as Mark Redmond encouraged me to go back to school to get a degree. Not only did he encouraged me to do so but ensured that my tenure at Vermont Technical College would be supported by him and Spectrum. As a result of the help I received from Spectrum once more, I was able to complete my Associates of Applied Science in Automotive Technology and begin a career as a technician for one of the largest vehicle manufacturers in the country. Without the help of Spectrum or Mark, I doubt that my success would’ve became a reality nor would it motivated me further to continue pursuing a bachelor’s in business from the same college.

For the donors, your contributions to Spectrum are the reason people like me have hope and believe they can be greater than themselves.

So many in our society are at risk, so many of our youth are displaced, disenfranchised, or discarded because they don’t have any hope, because they feel lost and they feel society doesn’t care about them at all. My solemn request of all of you in this room right now in response to this growing crisis before us today, pay it forward and help those who need it most.

Because of you, I am no longer in poverty. Because of you, I am no longer a statistic of the Prison Industrial Complex that held its iron grip on me. Because of you, I am no longer afraid to stand tall in the darkness. I thank each and everyone of you for what you did and I hope will all heart with all heart that you will continue to help those in need like you all did with me. That is all.

The post “Because of you, I am no longer a statistic” appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Thanks to your support, our warming shelter housed teens and young adults who had nowhere else to stay this past winter.

A safe haven during the winter months

The past few winters have been challenging for young people facing homelessness in Burlington. All area shelters have been full, including the adult warming shelter that was launched four years ago, and our Drop-In staff often had to turn youth away at the end of the day not knowing where they would spend the night.

Luckily, thanks to generous community members like you, our warming shelter served 33 teens and young adults over the course of the winter who had nowhere else to stay.

One of the youth who came to us had been sleeping at the airport. Another, in a laundromat. Another, in a parking garage. Some stayed with us only a few weeks until they were able to find permanent housing, while others were able to move into the Landing, one of Spectrum’s residences, as beds opened up.

“The shelter provided people with an opportunity to regain some stability in their lives,” says Will, the Supported Housing Supervisor at Spectrum. “When you think about homeless people and housing programs, there are often people that just need a week or two of stability to get their feet back under them.”

“Last year, we had full occupancy in our other housing program and months-long waiting lists. That wasn’t really acceptable. We felt like we needed to do something about it.”

A community effort made possible by you.

The community truly came together to support this project. Bishop Christopher Coyne and Father Lance Harlow were kind enough to host the shelter at St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral. The Community Health Centers of Burlington donated cots, and the UVM Medical Center volunteered to do laundry. The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf’s Good Food Truck and parishioners of St. Joseph’s provided many meals.

Financial support for the shelter was provided by the Argosy Foundation, UVM Medical Center, the Hoehl Family Foundation, Debra and Bill Gottesman, Vermont Federal Credit Union, an anonymous donor, Janet Farina, parishioners at Our Lady of Grace Church, and generous donors like you.

“The operation was really great. Being able to use their space was amazing” says Will about St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral. “Father Harlow, who is the priest at St. Joseph’s, came in almost every single day and helped out as well.”

When asked what he would like to tell community members, Will had this to say: “Thanks to everyone who helped support the shelter this year. You really gave people the chance to regain some stability in their lives.”

And best of all? We didn’t have to turn anybody away.

The post Everyone Had a Bed This Winter—Thanks to You. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

“Every person that I have met is an amazing human soul, whether they realize it or not.”

A group of students from Champlain College recently set out to tell the story of the young people that use Spectrum’s services, resulting in a short documentary titled “Spectrum Voices”. The teens and young adults featured in the documentary are getting the help that they need thanks to kindhearted and generous people like you who support Spectrum’s programs.

Want to learn more about the lives of the people that you’ve helped? Watch “Spectrum Voices” today to hear their stories.

The post Hear the stories of the youth you’ve helped support. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

I’m guessing you already know the kinds of services Spectrum has to offer and I’m also guessing you have some assumptions about the individuals Spectrum works with.
Before I accessed Spectrum services, I assumed every person was homeless because they were in foster care or in some other type of unfortunate living situation. Boy was I wrong.

Every individual who utilizes these services is as one-of-a-kind as the circumstances that brought them there. I am no exception. Three years later, I still find a knot in my stomach and a little water in my eyes when I think about the events leading up to moving into the Landing, Spectrum’s emergency shelter.

However, when I think about how far I have come and everything I have accomplished, I am amazed and overflowing with gratitude. Four years ago, I was on top of the world after being accepted and awarded presidential scholarships at all of the colleges I applied to. I was graduating magna cum laude, I couldn’t wait to get out of the seemingly small and mundane town of Burlington, and I was ready to take on the world to make a change. What I didn’t know was that I would return less than a semester later and make my impact here.

It’s still too painful for me to delve into specifics about my return, but it happened at the end of 2015. For many months after being back in Burlington, I somehow carried on with life. I smiled, I made commitments, and I packed up the house I had lived in for 15 years and watched it start its own new adventure with its new inhabitants. Despite all this sadness that was weighing me down, I continued to smile, and have summer adventures and just take life day by day. Except I’m a planner and spontaneity was not, and still isn’t, my forte. So, summer 2016 can basically be titled “The Summer of Pretending.”

Like most things in life, I found that the pretending was manageable until it wasn’t. By the end of the summer I found myself falling down the all-too-familiar rabbit hole of depression, anxiety, and more.

I managed to pull myself out of the rabbit hole with assistance from inpatient psychiatry at UVMMC and, when I was ready to be in the world again, I came to the Landing.

Without a job or school, I spent my days at the Drop-In Center and what I realized after about ten minutes of being there was that I was not ready to be in the real world. I was still seriously depressed and anxious and, for lack of better terminology, a “hot mess”. I might have been out of the rabbit hole but I wasn’t ready to wander away from it.

Fast-forward two years and here I am. I have now been living on my own for nearly four months. I also just took a midterm for one of the two classes I am taking at CCV. Neither of these things would be happening if I hadn’t found people to encourage me to wander a little farther from the rabbit hole every day. And I definitely wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t had Spectrum help me understand the importance of building and maintaining healthy connections with positive peers in my community.

I still don’t have a job and I am still a hot mess, but I have something that I didn’t have when I first came to Spectrum. I have a wonderful community of people who support me with pretty much anything and everything, and I have an endless amount of gratitude for the work that they do and the people who support them. I have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of what being successful in life means, and I have a clearer idea of who I am and who I want to be.

I don’t know what I would be doing these days if I hadn’t stumbled into Spectrum when I did, but I know I am so glad I did. And I’m really glad it wasn’t easy because now I know what I stand for and what I value. Today, I am standing here because of Spectrum, and Spectrum is here because of people like you who show support—whether it’s making meals, making monetary donations, or being crazy enough to sleep outside in March. So, from the bottom of my heart to yours, thank you!

The post “Spectrum is here because of people like you.” appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Terry and Kiara have been a mentor pair for about six years. In honor of National Mentoring Month, they sat down to talk with Lt. Governor Zuckerman to share more about the mentoring programs they’ve been involved in, such as Grand Isle County Mentoring and our own mentoring program.

Asked how their partnership has changed over the years, Kiara told “We used to play Trouble a lot, and different board games. Now, we go ice skating a lot, we go to the movies, and we go to [my mentor’s] house and cook.”

Plus, Kiara is involved in Girls Who Code.

“Kiara just amazes me,” says her mentor Terry. “She’s very bright, and very interested in technology and computers. She was showing me this program that she wrote, and I didn’t know anything about it, and I thought, how can I help her in an area that I don’t know anything about?

Hearing about Kiara’s interest in coding, Terry’s daughter recommended Girls Who Code.

“So we contacted them, and found out that it was an agency, and located at UVM, so now every Saturday, I help by taking her to Girls Who Code,” says Terry.

Plus, there are countless other activities, too. As Terry told Lt. Gov. Zuckerman, “it has been great to branch out to [the Spectrum mentoring program]. It gave us a lot of flexibility.” Together, Kiara and Terry can go on all kinds of adventures, or out in the community together.

“Thanks to Mobius, there’s a bunch of businesses that offer discounts for the two of us.”

For example, when Kiara told her mentor she wanted to learn to ice skate, Terry took advantage of the Mobius discount to visit the Cairns Arena in South Burlington. It’s free for Kiara to skate, and Terry pays just $5.

Plus, they’ve been able to go to several shows at the Flynn, thanks to Mobius’s generous discounted ticket program for mentor pairs.

Lt. Governor Zuckerman asked how their mentoring relationship has impacted their lives.

“[Having a mentor] has helped me have a little more self-confidence,” says Kiara.

“I feel young again,” says Terry of her experience as a mentor. “I feel like a teenager when I’m with her. I feel excited to show her new things, but often Kiara is the one who is teaching me more.”

And says Kiara of the partnership, “it’s good to know that there’s someone there to bring you places and help you do stuff when nobody else wants to.”

“And, it’s good having someone to talk to. Sometimes, people don’t want to listen to you, but mentors do.”

Listen to their full interview on Lt. Governor Zuckerman’s Facebook page.

Interested in becoming a mentor? Contact Stephanie, our mentoring coordinator, at sball@spectrumvt.org or (802) 864-7423 x321.

The post Mentor Pair Interview: Kiara and Terry appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Happy Valentine’s Day, from all of us at Spectrum. Today and every day, we are so grateful that people like you open your hearts to our youth, to make sure they have a safe place to be, a supportive community, and the help they need to thrive.

Thank you for keeping our youth in your heart.

With love and gratitude,
The Spectrum Team

The post Thank you for keeping our youth in your heart. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Thanks to you, ten beds line the walls at the warming shelter in downtown Burlington. The shelter opened in early November and will close at the end of March.

Thanks to you, Spectrum opens a warming shelter for the cold winter months

Last winter was rough.

With shelters full across the region and a long waiting list for Spectrum’s 25 beds, we often had to turn young people away who needed somewhere to sleep.

“It was heartbreaking having to close the Drop-In Center at night knowing that half the youth who were leaving had no place to go,” says Allie Forward, our Drop-In Youth Coordinator. “To see them lose hope and energy and feel trapped as the weather turned colder and colder was just awful.”

“If I wasn’t at the warming shelter I would probably still be sleeping in the parking garage. It’s really been a blessing. The Burlington community has been really awesome too. People are always dropping off food at nights so we always have something to eat if we’re hungry.”

A true community effort made possible by you.

Over the summer, we looked at many locations where we might launch a shelter, but it was a visit to Burlington Bishop Christopher Coyne that finally connected us to Father Lance Harlow, rector of the St. Joseph Co-Cathedral Parish in downtown Burlington, who agreed to let Spectrum use their Parish Hall this winter.

The Community Health Centers of Burlington, which runs Burlington’s adult warming shelter in the winter, gave us cots to use, and the UVM Medical Center volunteered to do laundry. The Argosy Foundation, Hoehl Family Foundation, Debra and Bill Gottesman, and other generous donors like you pitched in to fund it. The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf brings by food from its Good Food Truck at night, and St. Joseph’s parishioners have often donated dinner.

“I’m thankful for the warming shelter because if I wasn’t there I would be sleeping outside in the freezing cold. Before I was there I didn’t even have a sleeping bag, cause someone found it and threw it away when I left my camp. And I love the staff. They are awesome, fantastic and cool.”

The warming shelter is already full, but Allie says, “We haven’t had a situation yet where youth are leaving Drop-In without a plan. And, they’re excited to go to the shelter at night. We have great staff there, there’s a TV and they can watch movies. It’s cozy.”

“Just the basic need of having a roof over your head is the most important thing in order to get other parts of your life back together,” Will Towne, our Housing Manager, says. “Whether it’s employment, physical health, mental health, getting help with substance – it’s impossible to get those in order when you don’t have anywhere consistent to go.”

This article first appeared in the Winter 2018 Spectrum Sun, a print newsletter that is available online here.

The post Ten More Beds! appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

This piece was written by a young person who accesses Spectrum’s services, thanks to people like you, who keep our doors open. It is part of a series of Spectrum Youth Voices.

Dear reader,

I am nearing 21 and under the impression that society would prefer it if I had my act together, and I was nice to you and smiled when you said “hello,” even though I don’t have my act together, I don’t feel smiley, and I don’t want to say “I’m fine” when you ask me how I’m doing.

What I want to say is “horrible.” I am doing horrible because everybody is supposed to be happy around the holidays but all I feel is empty.

I grew up with a comfortable home life but, due to events I won’t go into detail about, that life was taken from me almost 3 years ago. I was thrown into a world that didn’t make sense and I had to make decisions I wasn’t qualified to make.

I had to go with my gut, and it didn’t always lead me in the best direction. So I also spent some time backtracking, so to speak.  I’m not telling you all this so you pity me; I’m telling you this so you understand me.

I’m not the only individual accessing Spectrum who has undergone significant—even traumatic—loss. I’m not the only one feeling empty or struggling with the enormous isolation brought on by all these complicated feelings.

So, reader, this is where you come in. I can’t speak for everyone, but to me, the holidays are just a big, national reminder of what’s missing and what I can’t get back.  The holidays have so much emphasis on material goods but I would give anything to have back the life I lost.

So over the next month or so, take time to hug someone a little tighter, and listen a little longer, because these are the memories that count. These are the memories that will never lose value and can never be replaced.

The post An open letter to those who don’t know how to help. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

At our winter warming shelter for youth facing homelessness, the University of Vermont Medical Center and the Community Health Centers of Burlington have donated bedding and cots.

This winter, the Burlington Free Press and Vermont Catholic Magazine have shared the story of our winter warming shelter for youth facing homelessness, which opened in November in the Parish Hall of the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph.

The shelter opened this winter funded entirely by private donations, including from the Hoehl Family Foundation and the Argosy Foundation.

As Will Towne, our supported housing supervisor, put it, “We’ve been full pretty much every single night, which is great, the word is getting out, but it also goes to show that there’s a need for increased services.

“I probably don’t need to tell you how hard it was to turn people away last winter. The basic need of having a roof over your head is the most important thing, in order to get other parts of your life back together,” he added.

Writing in Vermont Catholic Magazine, Cory Fugere Urban shared this quote from Father Lance Harlow, rector of the co-cathedral and Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception parishes: “Each of us is committed to serving the homeless population during the cold Vermont winters, and I am hoping that our first year in partnership will help to save the lives of young adults who would otherwise find themselves in jeopardy.”

Thank you to our community of supporters for coming together to help our youth stay out of the cold this winter.

Read the Vermont Catholic Magazine article here.

Read the Burlington Free Press coverage here.

The post A place out of the cold for youth facing homelessness. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Our friends at Dealer.Com partnered with the incredible Lux Barber Shop to offer free haircuts for our youth.

Getting a haircut is often out-of-reach for youth experiencing homelessness, and this partnership to receive a professional haircut, for free, was an incredible gift.

Thank you!

Read more about the day in this article, published by Burlington Free Press.

Special thanks to Kate Vetter, Dealer.Com’s corporate social responsibility project coordinator, for organizing, and to Megan and Steve Incerto and the rest of the staff at Lux Barber Shop for donating your time and talents to make a difference.

The post How a haircut makes a big difference. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.