Giving Voice: Supporting at-risk Maine youth starts at home
By Ashlynn AutreyGiving Voice
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COVID-19 infection rates have gone down, a large portion of the population has been vaccinated and many schools are resuming in-person learning this fall. Yay! Students are excited to go back to school, and for most, while they understood the importance of going remote during the pandemic, they did not particularly enjoy online school. Many students fell behind.
Now imagine being a homeless youth. You can no longer go to a coffee shop, or hang out at your local library, both places with stable Wi-Fi. Public seating areas are closed. Maybe you remained in an unsafe situation for housing and to complete schoolwork, or maybe you sacrificed that housing for safety. Perhaps you spent the pandemic at one of Maine’s three youth shelters, the closest of which is over thirty minutes away from Brunswick. Or maybe you spent it couch surfing, crashing at a friend’s house distant from school and friends.