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 Daybreak was established in 1975 as an emergency shelter for runaway and homeless youth. In 31 years of continuous operation, it has grown from a small, grassroots, volunteer-run shelter, to a professionally staffed agency and has expanded its program offerings along the way. Today, Daybreak is the only agency in the Miami Valley providing a full range of residential and supportive services for homeless, runaway and pushed-out youth and young adults.
Daybreak’s 16-bed emergency shelter on Wayne Avenue operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and provides short-term housing and care to over 300 youth ages 10 to 18 every year. On average, youth stay one week, although some have been known to stay as little as one day or as long as three months. During their stay at the shelter, youth are expected to attend school and participate in daily chores. They receive three meals a day, homework assistance, counseling, and recreational opportunities. When appropriate, youth are reunited with their families or alternative safe living solutions are found.
Recognizing the need to stabilize troubled youth before they become the chronically homeless adults of tomorrow, Daybreak’s two-year Self-Sufficiency program provides housing and support for 35 homeless youth ages 17 to 21. The ultimate goal of the program is to help them become healthy, self-suffi cient young adults and contributing members of society by providing a furnished apartment in the community, individual and group counseling, and training in basic life skills (hygiene, nutrition, budgeting, banking, housekeeping, first aid and more). Gradually, the youth pay their own rent and, when they have demonstrated financial self sufficiency, the lease is transferred from Daybreak’s name to theirs. Youth also receive support in completing their high school education and finding a job.
Daybreak also reaches thousands of youth every year through its outreach and prevention programs. Outreach staff search for youth living on the streets and provide food, clothes, blankets and personal care items with the goal of helping them move to a safe living environment. Prevention staff work with youth in schools and community sites providing presentations focusing on violence prevention, healthy dating relationships, and responsible choices, and small groups focusing on anger management and conflict resolution
Last December, with an eye to the future and a commitment to addressing the changing needs of our community’s homeless youth, Daybreak took the bold step of buying the building at 605 S. Patterson Boulevard in downtown Dayton. Renovation of the three-story building will begin this spring and should be finished by December 2007. While plans for the new facility are not finalized, staff and clients alike are looking forward to more space and the expanded programming the building will be able to accommodate.
Visit www.daybreakdayton.org for more information or call
(937) 395-4600, ext.122. D
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