Speaking out for homeless kids.

• Author: Bennett, Herbert R., Jr.
• Position: VOICES

For three years, I've been an advocate for homeless youth in New York City. My goal is to raise awareness about the realities of homelessness: who the homeless are, and specifically that children are the fastest-growing group in the homeless population.

I love my work, and I do it with passion because I spent most of my childhood homeless.

Living day after day, night after night, in a homeless shelter with no place to call home has been one of the greatest challenges of my life. But it really makes me sad that there are more than 15,000 other homeless youths living in New York City. Nationally, there are an estimated 1.35 million homeless young people.

I don't really know how my family first became homeless; I was just 4 years old at the time. Between then and when I left for college in September, I had lived in more than 15 different places--homeless shelters, relatives' houses, with some of my father's friends, as well as a few other random places.

BECOMING A SPOKESMAN

I became an advocate in 2002 after meeting someone from the Coalition for the Homeless at a city shelter where I was then living.

They asked me to become a spokesman for the group. First I was in a video that the Coalition made about homeless kids. We showed the video to groups in schools and at community organizations around the city.

We started a postcard campaign to let New York's mayor know that homeless kids need housing. I wrote about homelessness for various magazines. I've also talked to reporters from different states and even other countries about the issues facing homeless youths.

Although I've spent the last few years helping other young...