The mission of StandUp for Kids is to help homeless, run-away and at-risk youth.

The mission of StandUp for Kids is to help homeless, run-away and at-risk youth. StandUp for Kids is a national volunteer force whose weekly outreach efforts, seek to find, stabilize, and assist homeless and street kids in their efforts to improve their lives. Our volunteers work to help these kids because we share a commitment that no child should be left alone to fend for themselves on the streets. In our search, we not only feed and clothe, but to also attempt to motivate and encourage kids by providing straightforward mentoring, emergency resources, and help in finding them the tools they need to get and stay off the streets. Our goal is to offer them a sense of hope when all others have otherwise abandoned, rejected or given up on them.

Over the course of a year approximately 15,000 children and youth experience homelessness in Chicago. StandUp for Kids defines homeless youth as individuals under the age of twenty-one, who were homeless as children, and who lack adult supervision and care. The homeless youth population is estimated to be approximately 1.5 million nationwide, and those are just the youth that have been reported as runaways. Causes of homelessness among youth fall into three categories: family problems, economic problems and residential instability.

Some studies show that as many as 90 percent of the young people on the streets today leave home because of child abuse; they have been physically, sexually or emotionally hurt or taken advantage of.

Tom Hayden, Executive Director
StandUp For Kids Chicago
P.O. Box 6076
Wilmette, IL 60091
Outreach Line: 888-365-4KID
Administrative Line: 847-452-7644
Chicago@standupforkids.org