While SafeHouse of the Desert has not housed youth at its emergency shelter in Thousand Palms for more than a year, other services remain available locally, and young people who need emergency shelter still have options through the nonprofit.
Operation SafeHouse, which runs SafeHouse of the Desert, clarified the status of its services Friday, Sept. 11
, after KESQ reported the Thousand Palms shelter had closed."We didn't think the report was bad or horrible at all, but ... it's an active campus," Kendra Tankersley-Davis, the executive director of SafeHouse of the Desert, said in a Sept. 12 phone interview. "Just that particular building is not being utilized as a shelter."
SafeHouse still uses the Thousand Palms site for Harrison House, its longer-term
housing program for young adults experiencing homelessness, and other youth services.
SafeHouse of the Desert stopped providing 24-hour shelter services for youth at the Thousand Palms campus about a year and a half to two years ago due to funding issues, according to Tankersley-Davis. However, since then, the nonprofit has still been offering emergency services to young people and transports them to an emergency shelter in Riverside.
"The Thousand Palms shelter is not being utilized as a shelter, but we're still servicing those youth," Tankersley-Davis said. "So, if a youth is found in the Coachella Valley, we still go get them, and we still shelter them."
Emergency shelter remains available for Coachella Valley youth
If a young person in the Coachella Valley needs emergency shelter, Operation SafeHouse can arrange transportation to its shelter in Riverside.
Youth can call 760-343-3211 in the Coachella Valley or 800-561-6944, the nonprofit's 24-hour crisis line, to ask for help.
The Riverside emergency shelter serves runaway, homeless and other vulnerable youth ages 11 to 17. Tankersley-Davis said the shelter is meant for any youth who feels unsafe in their home environment.
"If they feel unsafe in a situation, we are here," she said.
Tankersley-Davis gave the example of a girl from the Coachella Valley, who though she lived with her grandmother and was not in an abusive situation did not feel safe at home.
"Mom's not around. That's painful. It's not abusive. She doesn't know where her mom is. Her mom's not been around for years, and (the girl's) spiraling," Tankersley-Davis said. "She was drinking and doing things she should not have been doing. Grandma's great, but I'm in pain, and I don't feel safe in my environment and in my life."
The shelter provides youth with the same services that were available to them through the Thousand Palms emergency shelter, which includes meals, counseling, education and help reconnecting with their families.
During their stay, youth stay in contact with a family member.
"We do family therapy ... We'll do therapy with the parent, therapy with the whole family, and the kid is in therapy every day," Tankersley-Davis said.
Youth can stay for up to three weeks, per grant funding conditions, Tankersley-Davis said. However, should a youth still not feel safe returning home at the end of the 21 days, the nonprofit will work to get them an extension or help place them in another shelter.
"We're going to do everything we can," Tankersley-Davis said. "With us, you're not going to just be put back on the street. That's not going to happen."
Tankersley-Davis said the nonprofit has transported several youth from the Coachella Valley to Riverside within the past three weeks.
Other services offered by SafeHouse of the Desert
Outside of its Riverside emergency shelter, SafeHouse of the Desert also provides a range of other services to youth.
One of those services is a transitional living program provided at Harrison House in Thousand Palms, which has 15 apartments with 20 beds for homeless young adults between the ages of 18 and 21, Tankersley-Davis said.
Beyond providing an apartment, Tankersley-Davis said the nonprofit also provides the young adults with "independent living skills," which includes teaching them how to get and maintain a job, how to pursue educational opportunities, such as trade school or college, and even how to cook. The nonprofit also provides mental health services to those interested.
"Programs like this, like our transitional living program, reduces homelessness, reduces crime, reduces mental health challenges, reduces substance abuse, reduces people not knowing how to be positive, healthy, safe parts of the community. And so that's why it's so important," Tankersley-Davis said.
The nonprofit also offers preventative programs that include providing mental health services through its partnerships with local school districts. Among the programs offered is trauma-focused intervention meant to help children between the ages of 10 to 14, while another program is designed for children aged 14 to 19 to help them manage depression, stress and substance use concerns. Tankersley-Davis said the nonprofit also has a peer-to-peer program for young adults to share lived experiences to normalize seeking help.
"We also have a community outreach program ... where we go out to different schools and community events to present our services, talk about our services, connect people, help connect people not just to our services, but if there's other resources that they need, and you'd be amazed at how much people don't know what's available to them," Tankersley-Davis said.
More information about SafeHouse of the Desert and the programs it offers can be found at SafeHouseoftheDesert.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: How at-risk Coachella Valley youth can find shelter and other help
