 Oasis Center knows that youth and families in crisis often need more than a listening ear. They need an immediate response from caring adults, as well as information on where they can go in the community when they feel there is no place else to turn. Oasis Center offers Middle Tennessee’s only continuum of services for youth ages 13-21 who are in crisis, have run away, or are experiencing homelessness. These services include the areas only Emergency Shelter for youth, Project Safe Place, and a 24-hour Crisis Line staffed by trained professionals who can assist in sorting out problems and identifying possible solutions.
Emergency Shelter
Oasis Center has operated an Emergency Shelter since 1985, and it remains the only licensed emergency shelter in Middle Tennessee for youth who are not in the custody of the State. Across the State, there are approximately 40 beds available to youth in crisis who are still in family custody; 12 of those are ours. Oasis Center's Emergency Shelter also provides an essential resource to local homeless and domestic violence shelters. In our community, adult, family, and domestic violence shelters do not allow teenagers (primarily boys) to enter into residence; meaning that in addition to experiencing homelessness, families must also cope with separation.
Each day, the shelter can accommodate up to 12 youth (ages 13-17), with admission reserved for youth who have runaway, are homeless, or those whose families are at the point of fracture because of safety/violence, familial homelessness or the youth's high-risk behavior.
 Project Safe Place
Project Safe Place is Oasis Center's most aggressive effort at increasing young people’s access to help. Oasis Center brought Safe Place to Middle Tennessee in 1986—as a critical component of its Emergency Shelter—and since then has seen more than 1,300 youth seek help via one of its 387 Safe Place sites.
The idea is a simple one: communities can increase young people’s access to help by creating portals to safety in the neighborhoods where they live, learn, work, and play. Any young person in Davidson, Williamson, and Sumner Counties can get help through Safe Place by walking into one of the Safe Place sites throughout those counties. The readily recognizable yellow and black signs designate sites.
For a complete listing of current Safe Place sites, click here. If your business or agency is interested in becoming a Safe Place site or if you would like to schedule a Safe Place presentation, please contact Susan Shaw at sshaw@oasiscenter.org.
Homeless Services for Youth
Although every young person needs support and encouragement while making the transition to adulthood, many youth are forced to make this transition without the support, guidance, and financial resources they need to be successful. Oasis Center is the only local provider of street-based outreach/assistance and temporary housing specifically geared to the safety and developmental needs of homeless youth. To address this issue, Oasis Center offers direct Street Outreach and a Transitional Living Program for youth ages 17-21.
The Oasis Transitional Living program offers residential services and support for youth at a time between the ages of 17-21. While living at the Transitional Living Program youth make a commitment to work, pursue their educational goals, learn the skills that will help them when they move into their own place and strengthen their connections to their community. Youth under the age of 17 need guardian permission to participate.
Street Outreach
Intervention with street youth is extremely important to preventing long-term homelessness. In the most recent “Voices of the Homeless: Nashville Davidson County” survey of the homeless, 38% reported that they were 25 years of age or younger at the time of their first homelessness. Oasis Street Outreach services for youth works with youth ages 13-21 who have run away or been asked to leave their homes. Outreach counselors routinely go to locations frequented by youth who may be without a place to live, providing them with information about safe living situations, health care services, HIV/AIDS prevention, personal safety education and resources such as food and hygiene items.
For over 10 years, Oasis Center has operated a Street Outreach program consistent with the intent to prevent the sexual abuse or exploitation of runaway and homeless youth, and to provide them with services that help them leave the streets. |
