2020 YAGC Fundraiser

“How Young Does a Child Have to be for People to Care?”

Images of babies, and even animals, are prolific on TV and other advertisements because they rightfully garner sympathy and donations.  But, what about older children and young adults? Who will be there to help them when they are in need? According to the “2017 Report on Homelessness” in Georgia, approximately 4000 people are homeless at any given point in time, with approximately 53% of them being African American, and 23% of the homeless being children under the age of 18 (Balance of State Continuum of Care Point in Time Homeless Count Report, September 2017).  Additionally, according to the Pew Center on the States (2009), approximately 1 in 13 adults in Georgia were under correctional supervision by the end of 2011, with a recidivism rate of around 30%. These correctional supervision rates increase to 1 in 9 for African American men ages 18 to 30. Who will help to ameliorate these dire statistics of homelessness and incarceration among young children and adults? Does anyone really care?  The Young Adult Guidance Center (a 501c3 non-profit organization) cares, and has been assisting these young adults for over 30 years. But, due to the decrease in government funds to assist these young adults, much needed resources have become limited. Therefore, the Young Adult Guidance Center (YAGC) now desperately needs your help!!! 

Over the past 33 years, the YAGC has served well over 17,000 consumers with emergency shelter and assistance. Quality services were provided to individuals that were in state custody or just off the streets. We have been very supportive to our young consumers as they strive to overcome the adversities they faced. However, because of the reasons delineated above, the YAGC can no longer offer direct emergency shelter; the facility had to be sold.  Consequently, the Young Adult Guidance Center has made a complete transition in its service delivery. We’ve been through a redevelopment process since January 2018, but this has not stopped our desire to continue supporting young people in need. YAGC is now working to implement outreach supportive services that place special emphasis on intervention, prevention and training resources for the disadvantaged male and female young adult population of the Atlanta Metropolitan area. However, the YAGC must raise at least $160,000 by March 30, 2020 to successfully complete this transition and keep our doors open, to continue to provide the much needed support and resources to these often forgotten young children and adults.  Please help the YAGC begin the new decade with this new campaign. Would you contribute to this campaign? Any amount of financial assistance will help, and be appreciated. Your contributions will assist children like T.J., one of the many young adults that the YAGC has assisted over the years.

T.J. Jackson was homeless along with his two brothers and in need of support after two days lodging at a local shelter. Their mother hastily relocated them from Macon, Georgia and enrolled them in a family shelter with intentions of escaping a domestic abuse situation with the children's father. On their second day in Atlanta, the mother enrolled the two younger siblings in a school run by a nearby shelter. T.J. was 18 years old and too old for state care, so he was referred to the YAGC. T.J.'s mother suffered from a head injury inflicted by the father the day before their departure from Macon. Because of this injury, a blood clot developed and the mother had a massive stroke. The situation was worsened by the arrest of the father for inflicting the head injury on their mother, and the state was unable to locate a responsible relative to assume care of the children. T.J. and his two brothers, ages twelve and thirteen, really took the family tragedy hard, but T.J. made great success in the family counseling conducted each week at the Young Adult Guidance Center. He later enrolled in Atlanta Area Technical College and obtained a job within two weeks of lodging at YAGC. T.J. was an exemplary trailblazer in accomplishing his long-term goals as well. He resided with our agency for over two-and-a-half years. During that time, he saved over