Unfortunately many adolescents who have been abused, neglected, or ignored end up on the streets.  Safe Space`s Manhattan-based High-Risk Youth Center provides a safe, nurturing and creative environment for many of New York City`s most estranged youth, typically those who are AWOL from foster care, are runaway/homeless, truant, or in some other kind of personal turmoil. We don`t give up on seemingly `hopeless` youngsters.

The Center`s programmatic goals are to reduce the likelihood of youth engaging in such risky or dangerous behavior/s as:  substance abuse, prostitution, illegal activities, unsafe sex, street violence, etc.  We provide case management, food, tutoring, referrals, counseling, arts and recreation, showers, and clothing. The work and the mission of the Center is to assist high-risk young people in returning to or finding safe and stable living conditions, as well as facilitate the positive development of skills which are necessary for independent living.  In the first ten months of 2003, more than 1,000 youth were served.

The Center continues to work in conjunction with the Safe Spacemobile, our mobile outreach unit.  This 30-foot-long Winnebago serves as the centerpiece of our outreach program.  The unit is designed to be an accessible and friendly place for young people living on the streets.  It is painted graffiti-style, and offers crisis intervention to youth right where they are.  With its consultation office, kitchen, shower, toilet, emergency phone access and common room, the Safe Spacemobile travels the city, offering a refuge to all kids who need it.

The outreach team specifically targets those areas of the city where youth are engaged in sex-trafficking, drugs, and prostitution, providing necessities such as food clothing, blankets, tooth brushes and condoms.  The mobile unit transports youth from the streets to our Youth Center and to safe shelters, but more importantly, it helps them to move emotionally from the guarded emotional detachment necessary for survival in the streets, to the trusting openness required to seek and receive help. 

For youth aging out of foster care, the path to self-sufficiency is too often filled with obstacles.  All youth in our residential programs are offered mentoring, employment readiness training and job counseling, and the opportunity to participate in the Youth Leadership Council.  

Teen JobSuccess Academy (TJA)
Safe Space`s Teen JobSuccess Academy (TJA) offers intensive job readiness preparation in a work-simulated environment in eight-week cycles, operating after school from 4:30 to 7:30 three days a week. TJA graduates acquire the skills and behaviors necessary to succeed in school and earn a living wage as responsible young adults. This group of youths often expresses the desire to work but lacks the necessary job readiness skills, experience and access to employment opportunities. TJA directly addresses all three of these problems.  TJA is just one way that our youth are provided with enriching programs designed to enhance their positive development into self-sufficiency.  In May 2003 the program and its participants were highlighted on IMNY, the Department of Education`s youth-produced teen talk show.

Youth Leadership Council
The Youth Leadership Council is a group of motivated young teens living in our residences charged to represent all Safe Space youth.  The group learns valuable problem solving skills by expressing and addressing issues faced by all youth in foster care as well as issues specific to Safe Space youth.  In July 2003, with coordination from the Children`s Defense Fund, members of the Council traveled to the second annual `Wednesday in Washington` to `Rock the Hill.`  They learned how to advocate for themselves and were able to clearly articulate to New York elected officials their feelings related to budget cuts to the youth programs that have touched their lives.