Growing our understanding of youth experiencing homelessness and how to prevent negative childhood experiences from defining our students’ potential into adulthood is an essential input to our work at Chicago HOPES for Kids. A new study, Late Adolescent Predictors of Homelessness and Food Insecurity During Emerging Adulthood (Tucker JS, Davis JP, Perez LG, Klein DJ, D’Amico EJ. Journal of Adolescent Health. May 2022), identifies factors during adolescence that predict homelessness five years later. The study found that there were only two significant predictors of both homelessness and food insecurity, adverse childhood experiences and academic orientation/performance. These findings were relevant across all racial/ethnic groups. Previous studies have also shown us that adverse childhood experiences and educational deficits are a predictor of homelessness. With this knowledge, our HOPES after school and summer programs continue to deepen our focus not just on academic achievement, but also self-love and self-advocacy; as well as experiencing STEAM activities that help our students grow and envision a bright future for themselves. Thanks to your engagement and support, new memories of inspiring moments with caring volunteers become part of our students’ stories. We appreciate our HOPES community!
