IRWINDALE - An El Monte youth services program, which serves homeless or mentally ill teens and young adults, will move to Irwindale on Monday to a new drop-in center.
The HOPE Youth Center, run by Pacific Clinics, is moving to the Irwindale location at 13001 Ramona Blvd. at Francisquito Avenue. County supervisors also approved funding Tuesday for the center to provide expanded services and longer hours. The supervisors approved $875,000 for three drop-in centers in the county, devoting $375,000 over two years to the HOPE Youth Center. The funding allows the center to lengthen its weekday hours and open on Saturdays, said Gina Perez, the corporate director of youth services for Pacific Clinics.
"They'll have a place of belonging and community," Perez said. "A lot of them said they needed a place to be during the day and something to do, because they found they got bored during the day and that's when they started abusing more drugs." The county's drop-in centers are billed as one-stop centers where young adults can come for basic needs, such as a meal, shower and place to do laundry or even get clothes. The El Monte center serves about 125 clients daily and offers counseling, job training and GED study courses.
The HOPE center's expansion will also provide television, hot food, a recreation area, a library, and classes such as cooking, nutrition and computer skills.
The county funding allows the Department of Mental Health to begin providing "navigation teams" to help steer clients to other services, such as supportive housing or additional counseling. The increase in licensed mental health staff will help the centers reach out to clients, said Marvin Southard, director of the county's Department of Mental Health.
"Even though these teens who go to these centers need mental health services, the stigma is so great among their peers that they don't want to go to a place labeled for mental health services," Southard said.
"A lot of these kids have had it with public systems by the time they're out of foster care or probation, so anything we can do that they'll accept is good," Southard continued. Maybe the first day they're not ready to accept anything more than the food and the shower, but after a while they might be willing ... to form relationships ... to get on the road to recovery."