Capital City Youth Services is leading an effort to open a new resource center in South Tallahassee to help a growing number of unhoused children and families.
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Capital City Youth Services to open a new resource center for unhoused families in South Tallahassee
The space will become a one-stop shop offering food, clothing, showers, counseling, and case management for vulnerable neighbors.
“We’re hoping that this will be a site where all of our service providers from the area can come and help families where they are, not where we are,” Capital City Youth Services President and CEO Gwynn Virostek said.
Community groups are tracking an increase in the number of unhoused children they are serving.
“We’ve just seen an uptick in especially moms living in vehicles with their children, and so they’ll bring their children to us so that the children can have and can have a safe place to sleep,” Virostek said. CCYS serves as the cold-weather shelter for youth.
The new center will aim to meet people where they are, like neighbor Mary Page. Page struggled with addiction for many years, lost her children, and found her way back to them through rehab. She said support like this means everything when you are at your lowest.
“I wish they’d had this, like, whenever I was, like, going through it because, like, me and my boyfriend was in and out of our car and all kinds of stuff like that,” Page said.
“I wish there was a place, like, whenever I was younger, that I could have just dropped in and, you know, because my mama was addicted. She was running the roads, and I didn’t really have nobody,” Page said.
ABC 27 first reported on this project two years ago. The group said funding hurdles delayed the project, but following community donations, they are back on track.
Capital City Youth Services said there are many ways to get involved to help get the center up and running within six to nine months. The organization is looking for donations and volunteers to help with cleanup. Information about how to support CCYS can be found here.
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