Kalamazoo homeless youth program hopes to tap into Calhoun County

In a small room of the Catholic Charities Diocese of Kalamazoo building are a few desks, shelves of food and bright green duffel bags. Here, a three-person team works to help reach the thousands of local homeless and at-risk young people.

“A lot of times you hear from youth who reached the point of success for themselves,” said Brooke Hill, case manager for the Kalamazoo-based Ark Services for Youth’s street outreach team. “They usually say it came from someone just listening, someone just caring, someone just reaching out.”

Now, after a previous attempt to reach homeless youth in Battle Creek fell short of its expectations, the nonprofit is hoping to do more in Calhoun County.

“We’ve been there the whole time, but not with as much of a presence as we wish we had,” said Ben Moe, supervisor of outreach.

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20121125/NEWS01/311250003/Kalamazoo-homeless-youth-program-hopes-tap-into-Calhoun-County