A video that accompanied the Feb. 7 Alaska Dispatch News story, "Can private security teams make downtown Anchorage safer?" focused attention on the issue of homelessness in Anchorage. As a longtime resident of Anchorage and someone deeply tied to finding solutions for our youths, it was hard to watch, especially the part that showed a security ambassador rousting a sleeping teen and telling them to move along. The ambassador was using the right words -- but this approach of simply moving them along is not going to give our homeless youths the courage to change.
For 27 years, Covenant House Alaska has worked tirelessly to get our homeless youths off the dangerous streets and into safe shelter. Last year in Anchorage, more than 2,000 homeless youths walked through our doors seeking the resources that we offer, from mental health counseling to help with substance abuse or finding a job.
Consider a different approach. Just this week, the Covenant House outreach team found a 17-year-old homeless girl sleeping on a cardboard box downtown, struggling to stay warm in the entryway of a closed business. She was hungry and cold. And when we offered her hot coffee and breakfast, she opened up to us. Our team was very familiar with this teen and the complications of the addiction and trauma that had ultimately brought her to the streets.
This girl is not a statistic, a nameless street person. She is a creative, beautiful young woman who felt she had nowhere to go as she faced the life-destroying ordeal of addiction.
As a community, we must always remember that every person who is chronically homeless has a compelling story behind them, many filled with physical and emotional injury, loneliness and fear. There's much more to their story than can be shown in a short video clip like the one on the ADN website.
At the same time, we recognize there's a growing problem with the influx of homeless youths on the streets downtown as the city moves forward with plans for the transit center. Whether we like it or not, that's where many homeless were living and most of them have nowhere else to go.
We empathize with the downtown business owners who lately have been dealing with a greater number of homeless individuals finding refuge in their parking lots, alleys and doorways. As the video depicts, these homeless people are being moved along, but to where?
We're not going to be able to simply police this issue away. Covenant House Alaska's relationships with these kids can make a big difference. Just last week, we received calls from three different downtown business owners who used to be our neighbors when we were in our old building. They asked us to come back and talk to these kids because they knew our presence made a difference.
We have a long relationship with many downtown businesses that may be encountering an increase of homeless kids seeking a warm place to rest. These businesses know that our help is only a phone call away.
These are complicated cases and we need to deal with them together, pooling all of our resources to affect real change in their lives -- instead of just moving them along. We need to continue to elevate the conversation between all the people and businesses being affected by this change in the homeless population. We all are part of the solution.
Most crucially, for every young person who walks through our doors, we must offer them the unconditional dignity, respect and love that every child -- and homeless person -- deserves.
We haven't given up on that 17-year-old girl. Like many of the other youths who had the courage and resiliency to ask for help, we will try to ensure that she receives the counseling and emotional support to get back on her feet.
She can then earn her way into Rights of Passage House, our transitional living program for young adults, where she can learn how to save money, pay the rent, cook healthy meals and maintain a household. She can move forward with her dreams and goals, land a successful job and start her own family if she wants. And like so many of our Covenant House youths who go through our program, our hope is that she will never return to the streets again, and break the cycle of homelessness.
Alison Kear is chief executive officer of Covenant House Alaska.
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