Covenant House Alaska

Covenant House Alaska is the only shelter and service provider for youth ages 13 - 24 in the southcentral region of our state. We offer sanctuary and comprehensive services to youth who are experiencing homelessness or human trafficking, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without question or cost. We meet youth where they are, often on the streets, and develop trusting relationships. We offer a welcoming environment, provision of basic needs, and services that help youth complete their goals and permanently end their homeless experience. Most importantly, we are here for them no matter what, through successes or failures, however long it takes.

Our services begin with our Street Outreach teams who make contact with youth on the streets or in camps. From there, youth can intake at our shelter, one of our three transitional living programs, or our Rapid Rehousing program which places youth in their own apartments with stepdown rental assistance. The Youth Engagement Center is where the bulk of our services are housed; our Education & Employment program, substance abuse and mental health counseling, a primary care clinic, an Anchorage School District classroom, on-site with our emergency shelter program. We also have a team of mobile caseworkers called Permanency Navigators who are assigned to specific youth and stick with them up to age 24, help them complete tasks, overcome challenges, and maintain stability with the consistency all young people need in a caring adult.

When Clara was 16, the foster family who had adopted her at six years old kicked her out when she refused some of their strict ideologies that she felt were wrong. Without any other support system in Anchorage, Clara ended up living in a camp where she knew some other foster kids. She quickly learned that if she didn't stay alert at night, bad things could happen. When someone first offered her a substance that would help her stay awake, it was survival that drove her decision.

When we met Clara, she had been on the streets for two years and was battling severe addiction and depression. By this time, she had been failed by the foster care system, rejected by adults who were supposed to take care of her, and experienced numerous assaults and other traumatic experiences on the streets when she had trusted the wrong people. When our Street Outreach teams first met her, she did not even tell them her real name. It took months, but eventually Clara agreed to come back to our shelter for a hot shower and some fresh clothes. On the way, she spoke a little about her life. It was a small thing, but she was giving us our first chance to prove worthy of her trust.

After a few more months, Clara made the decision to intake at our shelter as a resident and begin working on her sobriety. She had become pregnant, and faced with the prospect of bringing a baby into the world, she was determined to make sure the cycle of trauma in her family ended with her. Clara was smart, and an independent thinker. It took a year, but she moved from our shelter, into one of our transitional living programs where she learned the life skills she needed to live on her own, and then was placed into her very first apartment through our Rapid Rehousing Program. Clara's Permanency Navigator kept in touch with her every week, and was there with her at the hospital when her baby daughter was born.

Clara finished her GED through our programs and is now in college pursuing a degree in social work, so that she can use her experience and hard-won strengths to reach other young people and help show them there is a way out. Pride does not begin to describe what we feel for Clara, who took her life into her own hands and is building something amazing.

Supporting Covenant House Alaska through Pick.Click.Give. ensures that youth like Clara have a fighting chance to build the lives they deserve, and stronger communities across our state.