MILE MARKER HOME
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Mission Statement
We are dedicated to prevent homelessness for former foster youth by providing them a sustainable and creative solution: travel trailers
About This Cause
Background: Each year more than 300,000 youth “age out” of the public foster care system in the United States. Aging out means foster youth will reach the maximum age allowed by their state to remain in the custody of a public agency and protection of the Juvenile Court. Of those 300,000 youth transitioning to legal adult status each year, 75,000 will experience homelessness, and 54,000 will become involved with the adult criminal justice system. Many will face incarceration. Public and private youth-serving agencies have explored, innovated, and implemented programs to improve the life outcomes for former foster youth with encouraging, but mixed results. The results often depend on the array of supportive services available, and the frequency with which the young adult chooses to participate in them. Such services include education (high school completion and/or post-secondary training), transportation, employment, housing, access to health-care, financial literacy training, counseling, and case management. Acquiring housing has been one of the toughest post-foster care issues to resolve. Before “aging out” the primary responsibility of a custodial agency was to provide a safe place for the foster you to reside. Every State operates a licensed foster care home/group home system. When the state’s responsibility is terminated the housing alternatives become varied and subject to local resources. Youth in the general population transition to independence by “living at home”, “staying with an aunt or uncle”, or being “in a dorm”. Seldom do “regular kids” (non-foster youth) go from “home” dependence to an apartment or homeownership without multiple misadventures and some learning steps along the way. Foster Youth often do not have this “safety net” of “home” to rely or fall back on. For many, their parental and extended family relationships do not exist. Where family connections are present, they may feel unreliable or even dangerous. Their time with foster parents, adoptive parents, and relatives may be a mix of good and bad experiences. But, having arrived at the age of young adulthood, former foster youth share the common experience of being exhausted from “being in the system” and possess a longing to “try it on their own”. Many of these youth have successfully attained educational and employment goals, but full independence has alluded them because of housing. What We Do: Mile Marker Home (MMH) seeks to create an additional housing resource for former foster youth age 18-26. MMH was founded in Idaho, in 2020, around a unique concept to address this housing gap. Mile Marker Home assists employed former foster youth by giving them ownership of a travel trailer or recreational vehicle suitable for living. MMH assists the young adult with locating a place to park the RV, accepting delivery of the RV, connecting utilities, and complying with tax and registration requirements. The young adult contributes to ownership by paying park fees and utilities and by repairing and maintaining the RV. They have the opportunity to own the RV. A simple housing start, but one in which, for the first time in their life, they have financial equity and decision-making authority. Providing eligible young adults with RVs relies on the generosity of private donors and RV dealers, who make tax-deductible charitable contributions of their used RVs. Additionally, persons and businesses who allow young adults to use available RV parking spaces and personal land make great tax-deductible contributions also. Why Mile Marker Home Approach Works: Mile Marker Home’s unique niche in connecting young adults with private and business donations and addresses four known barriers to independence. First, housing markets and rental property values have sky-rocketed in the past few years. Few young adults, new to the job market, can afford their own apartment. Second, the barriers to attaining housing include, not having rental history, not having enough funds to cover initial rental deposits, and oftentimes not having the support network that can co-sign on a rental application. Without a reliable place to call home, many former foster youths spend a great deal of their emotional reserves locating places to sleep, which inhibits their capacity to focus on competing priorities such as employment or education. Third, the common solution to expensive rental housing has been to have several room-mates who co-share rental expenses. Former foster youth have often experienced “group care” or residential treatment settings. In general, for them, group settings have not been productive experiences. Dealing with other people’s friends and issues is part of the “system exhaustion” they may feel. They seek control of their work, life, and affairs that apartment sharing does not promote. Fourth, today’s entry-level job market is fluid. From wait-staff, - to retail stock clerk, - to Amazon distribution hub employee can have a significant positive impact on earnings and work stability. Job changes can also occur in a matter of months. If changing jobs requires changing housing, progress can be impeded. Mile Marker Homes is prepared to assist eligible young adults with housing transitions by assisting with the relocation of their tailer to a place more conducive to their work access.