Institute programs to focus on teen homelessness, poverty

FARMINGTON – The Institute on Rural Poverty at the University of Maine at Farmington will examine questions dealing with teen homelessness and poverty in programs to be held at UMF on Wednesday, March 24, and Monday, March 29. The programs are free and open to the public.

Judith Rawlings and Ernest Gurney will give the first presentation, titled: “Teen Homelessness and Hanging Out: Not a Complete Unknown, Still A Rolling Stone.” It will take place at 6 p.m. March 24 in North Dining Hall in UMF’S Olsen Student Center. The two will lead a discussion about the problems and issues faced by teenagers who find themselves in situations that could lead to or have already led to homelessness.

Rawlings is the executive director of Positive Turning Points for Youth, which provides youth services, including assistance for young families through Kerr House in Farmington. She will explain the results of focus groups that were conducted with area high school students last fall in which students were asked their opinions about homelessness.

Gurney is a rural outreach worker with New Beginnings Youth Outreach and he will describe the problems and types of situations that his young clients encounter, as well as the resources they may find available or lacking.

Gurney has compiled data about homeless youth in Franklin County, and will present an overview of his caseload on an annual basis.

The second program, “Mitigating the Effects of Poverty on Adolescent Development: A Curriculum for Resilience,” will take place at 6 p.m. March 29 in North Dining Hall. Presenter Elyse Pratt is a graduate degree candidate at Boston College. She is also a UMF Alumna, class of 2002.

Pratt will discuss current knowledge about the social and emotional effects of poverty on human development. She will also explain how she developed a curriculum for educators that she hopes can assist youth from impoverished backgrounds.

These programs are part of a series of presentations on poverty this spring at UMF. Future dates and topics in the series are: April 9, Predicting Attitudes to the Homeless, and April 14, Archie Bunker’s Neighborhood – Is This Your Neighborhood?

The Institute on Rural Poverty at the University of Maine at Farmington promotes academic study, research and service learning pertaining to rural family life and rural poverty in Maine. The institute is an affiliate of UMF, Community Concepts Inc. and Western Maine Community Action. This series of events is co-sponsored by the UMF Diversity Committee.

For more information, call the institute at 778-7178.