New outreach group aims to help homeless youth

Striving to help homeless youth, a group of USC students have created Street Voice, an organization dedicated to encouraging self-sufficiency and empowerment among those living in local shelters.

The group focuses on reaching out to people living on the streets and helping them find long-term solutions. Nicole Sharma, a senior majoring in public policy, management and planning, and political science, was inspired to start the organization because of an experience she had in Washington, D.C. last semester.

“I saw a homeless man on a bus with a professional camera and he was selling newspapers,” Sharma said. “Right away, I thought it was great that nonprofits are making people that need help run the organization. It’s something more sustainable and long-term.”

Street Voice will partner with a different homeless shelter each semester. This spring, it is working with Jovenes, Inc., a shelter in East Los Angeles that provides help for youths between the ages of 18 to 24. The shelter serves more than 2,500 people a year by offering necessities to at-risk youth and equipping them with the tools they need to become self-sufficient.

“Jovenes uses USC’s resources, but they don’t have a volunteer center. They were ecstatic when they heard we were reaching out to their students,” Sharma said.

Because not many shelters target the 18-to-24 age group, the leaders of Street Voice said they believe it is extremely important to work with the shelters’ occupants and motivate them to enter into the work force.

“[The occupants] have to have jobs and work during the day,” said Dana Jebreel, a junior majoring in psychology and the vice president of Street Voice. “They’re not allowed to come back to the unit.”

Street Voice intends to work with those at Jovenes to put on a photography exhibit and publish a newspaper, both of which will be displayed on the USC campus.

The newspaper will feature stories about what the Jovenes youth think the USC community should know about homeless life. The paper will eventually be sold on campus.

Sharma said she thinks this is an important way to spread awareness.

“Everyone sees a homeless person every day, and the issue is embedded in the community,” Sharma said.

Currently seven members strong, Street Voice provides a number of volunteer opportunities for students passionate about helping the less fortunate.

“We want people who bring something unique to the table, and we hope to keep it small so that everyone is doing their part,” Jebreel said.

Street Voice is currently seeking fundraising from major corporate sponsors, such as Bank of America, for the first year. The costs for Street Voice are not high, however, because the only overhead expenses would be for printing.

Ultimately, Street Voice hopes to empower the homeless and give them the voice that society and financial circumstances have denied them.

“We want to blur the lines between USC and the homeless community,” Sharma said. “We are one big community.”