By Gretchen Grant
Editorial Intern

By the time she turned 18, Jasmine Williams was homeless.

She says she left home to escape the sexual abuse that began when she was 14. But with no family to turn to, Williams began couch-surfing, staying with random people who she met. There were a few nights when she slept on the street.

Then, Williams found out about an independent living program for young people weathering crises, run by a District-based nonprofit called Sasha Bruce Youthwork.  Williams applied, hoping for a safe and stable place.  She was eventually approved for the program and it helped her transform her life.  

The goal of Sasha Bruce Youthwork is to improve the prospects of young people who find themselves in situations like Williams’. They may be runaways or homeless, abused, neglected or otherwise at-risk. The organization provides shelter and counseling and life-skills training to approximately 1,500 young people and several thousand of their family members every year.

The organization, which now has an annual budget of more than $8 million and runs 18 programs throughout the city got off from a very small start nearly three decades ago.

While founder Debbie Shore was in college that she started volunteering and quickly realized that she had a passion for helping youth that were having difficulty finding stability in their lives.

 “Although it’s exciting at first to be on your own and on the street, it can quickly turn into something that is not so positive,” she said.

Shore discovered the deep interest she had in helping youth reconnect with their families, continue in school or find another stable living situation.

Recognizing the need for a homeless program specifically geared toward helping young people, Shore opened the Sasha Bruce shelter for at-risk youth and their families in the D.C. area back in 1976. It is open around the clock and available to youth all over the city, as well as youth traveling from longer distances. With ten beds, nine are currently taken by co-ed youth between the ages of 12 and 17, though staff say no one is ever turned away.

But Shore was not finished. She kept finding additional ways to help. In the late ‘70s, Sasha Bruce formed a partnership with a group called Project Safe Place which provides immediate help and supportive resources for all youth in crisis, through a network of different sites sustained by qualified agencies, trained volunteers and businesses. Fire houses, clinics, businesses and service agencies that display “Safe Place” signs alert youth in need that help can be found inside.  

When Sasha Bruce gets a call that someone has shown up at one of the sites, a representative from the organization picks him or her up within 30 minutes.

“[It’s a] network all over the city that provides a safety net around young people,” said Shore, who says so many children have been picked up over the years that she has lost count.

But Sasha Bruce does not always wait for young people to show up asking for help. The organization has developed many methods for reaching out and finding young people at risk or in need.

“We have vans that go out every day and into the night that give out information to people and let them know what services are available,” said Shore.

In addition, trained staff travel to the majority of local junior and senior high schools to let students know about the services offered by Sasha Bruce.

Shore said she sees an increasing number of youth in need of a place to stay. She calls the problem a “terrible reality.”

But the organization also seeks to help young people address the issues that have led to their crises. For instance Sasha Bruce site director George Johnson helps assist young people in mending or stabilizing relationships with their families.

Since the average stay for youth at the Sasha Bruce shelter is two to three weeks, the staff tries to counsel both the youth as well as the family in hopes of resolving the immediate crisis that the family is facing.

“We try to accentuate the strengths of the families just to let them know that there are more things going right than wrong in the family,” Johnson said.

Due to economic circumstances, many families are being forced to double up with other families, forcing many older youth to move out earlier than expected.

“These are very difficult times for young people and families, given the economic situation that’s happening now all over the nation, and it creates a situation where families and youth are strained,” said Johnson.

Recently, the number of youth between the ages of 17 and 20 has increased the most, according to Shore.

Though the number of kids has increased over the past few years, Johnson still says that the program has made a difference in the lives of those youth and their families.

“This program has made a difference on some level of bridging the gap of families coming and working together as opposed to families going back into the street,” he said.

As for Jasmine Williams, she credits Sasha Bruce for her graduating high school and the acceptance to Lincoln City College on a full scholarship. She decided to decline in hopes that she can stay local and attend the Georgetown University in the fall.

 “They’ve done a lot for me, not just giving me shelter and clothes, but they’ve helped me grow and improve as a person. Being surrounded by so many people who are passionate about their job and don’t do it for a paycheck, it’s just taught me so much about being selfless and kind,” she said.

She is now the coordinator of Sasha Bruce’s newly-created Youth Advisory Board, which goes out to speak with peers about the HIV testing and STD screenings that are provided by the Sasha Bruce Power Program. 

The board also educates youth about sexual health, personal health, hygiene and wellness.

Williams says she’s thrilled to be part of an organization that helped her in so many aspects of her life, and she’s eager to spread the word of Sasha Bruce.

“The support they offer is incredible,” she says, “and it has inspired me to give that to someone else.”