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The Place Karen Henschel (left) is an education and employment case manager at The Place. Hunter Locklear is a young person living in the shelter.
In Colorado Springs, The Place is a shelter for young people experiencing homelessness. The pandemic has only increased the number of individuals who are unhoused, but in the early days of lockdowns, The Place’s outreach team had trouble finding youth.
“Many of them didn t come out to the normal places where we could usually connect with them, let’s say, for example, to the library or the parks, because so many things were closed that youth didn t have a reason to come out,” said Shawna Kemppainen, the shelter’s director.
How The Pandemic Forced A Youth Homeless Shelter In Colorado To Adapt kunm.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kunm.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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“Many of them didn t come out to the normal places where we could usually connect with them, let’s say, for example, to the library or the parks, because so many things were closed that youth didn t have a reason to come out,” said Shawna Kemppainen, the shelter’s director.
So the outreach team started searching in different areas, like encampments, which it wouldn t normally do.
“If a young person or any person is staying outside in a tent, that is their home,” Kemppainen explained. “We might not think of it as a home, but for them, it is a home, so we tended to not go up to a tent.”