New Youth and Young Adult Drop-In center available in Wisconsin

Through the doors at the Human Development Center located at 1500 N. 34th St Suite, 100 in Superior, you can find Project Reach Out and their new drop-in center. T

Project Reach Out provides many services to the community of Superior and beyond in Douglas County. But they also; “represent the voice of a lot of people in this community that I think doesn’t get heard very often. And we connect with people to try to improve their lives, whether that is helping them find stability with shelter, a stable food source, and a positive home environment. We want to see them excel and graduate,” said Katie Modin, Project Reach Out Program Coordinator.

The center was created to be a safe place for teens and young adults ranging from 12 to 21. Project Reach Out and the drop-in center services are offered to those in Douglas County, but the program will not turn anyone away.

“Interjecting at those specific points in time to get them on the right track before they can make those life-altering decisions that can take them down the wrong path. We want to try to preemptively be there and create sort of a like a network of security where they have this set in place and, you know, you can fall back on.”

Project Reach Out Supervisor Tanya Nelson shared how the drop-in center was created through a grant proposal and advocated for something the superior community was missing. “I chose a drop-in center because we had a youth advisory board, and the youth said that was one thing that they wanted. They wanted a safe place in our community where they could go.”

Program Reach Out will be hosting an open house for the drop-in center on Wednesday, December 14th, from 3:30 to 6:30 pm. To learn more about Project Reach Out, visit their website or phone at (1-800-777-7844) or (715) 394-9177.

When it comes to defining the word “homelessness,” Nelson breaks down how it can look and be described in many different ways.

“Homeless can be a whole family system, maybe an entire family staying in a family shelter. It can be unaccompanied youth or not living with any sort of guardian. They tend to be couch-hopping. So going from family or friends’ houses and just going from place to place to place, but don’t have any formal sheltering. So we call that informal sheltering.”

Youth and young adults will have access to services like warm food, a food shelf, free clothing, laundry facilities, recreational activities, and much more. “I can’t tell you the number of community members that have expressed that this is so wonderful. We need this in our community. Parents, caregivers, teachers, those that work with youth and young adults that are on the front lines, really engaging with these kids on a daily bases.”

Along with the drop-in center, Nelson mentions how Project Reach Out has made a difference in the lives of people who have participated in and found success in the program.

“I’ve been around long enough to work with youth, and being able to see where they ended up going after they had the support from our program to see somebody get into a stable living environment is huge. Some of the youth we have served never had a bed or a bedroom, so just helping them move into their first apartment has been really rewarding for us.”