THANKS!

Thanks to EVERYONE who joined us this afternoon for another terrific Yellow Brick Road All-Team training event! Special thanks to Brenton Chose, Lionel Eyres, Alex Lewis, Mike Davis and Karras Kalivas of the Portland Park Rangers for taking time out of their day to join YBR and share their mission to serve as positive ambassadors in the downtown core.  It was interesting to hear how often their work in Portland's parks so closely resembles street outreach.  We look forward to more partnerships in the future!  Also, special thanks to Rachel Cole-Jansen.  Rachel began volunteering with Yellow Brick Road in February 2009 and spent much of her academic career at Reed College serving YBR and Portland's homeless youth community.  She recently completed a 200+ page senior research thesis on CSEC youth in the Portland metro area and this afternoon she shared a brief summary of her findings with the YBR team.  Rachel is now a Reed College graduate!  CONGRATULATIONS, RACHEL!  THANK YOU FOR THREE YEARS OF SERVICE WITH YBR!

YBR Training Event Re-Scheduled for May 27th

Yellow Brick Road offers quarterly trainings to all outreach volunteers and program participants. These trainings are FREE and available to anyone over 18 in the community who may wish to learn more about street outreach, volunteer opportunities and issues related to youth homelessness in the Northwest. Our training events are also a great opportunity to meet the current volunteer teams, outreach staff and program supervisor, learn about important updates regarding our program and homeless youth services, and ask questions. Applications will be on hand for anyone who wishes to join the team! Our next training will take place in downtown Portland on Sunday May 20 May 27 from 2pm until 5pm. Please R.S.V.P. for the location at the email address listed below.  We hope to see you there!

dlundberg@janusyouth.org

Girl Scout Troop 49876 Supports Janus Youth!

Here is Mallory Hobson of Girl Scout Troop 49876 with Dennis Lundberg, Associate Director of Janus Youth's Homeless Youth Programs.  Over the past 10 months Mallory single-handedly organized her own community service project to benefit pets belonging to young people experiencing homelessness.  She put together 25 "Pet-On-The-Go" bags containing essential items to keep pets safe and comfortable outdoors.  This project involved formally presenting her idea to the Girl Scout Council for approval, finding suppliers for all the pet essentials, fundraising the necessary capital and crocheting squeaky chew-toys for dogs! The completed bags were delivered this week and will now be distributed to youth with pets by Janus Youth's Yellow Brick Road Street Outreach Program.  On behalf of Janus Youth Programs we THANK YOU, Mallory!  You are an exceptional young woman and we wish you the very best for your Girl Scout Gold Award!    

THANK A YOUTH WORKER DAY!

Today is National Thank A Youth Worker Day!  Who knew?  Today we celebrate and send a heartfelt THANK YOU to ALL the incredible individuals around the country- and world- who make it their mission to improve the lives of young people.