An upcoming event will allow Stepping Stones, a local nonprofit, to expand its hours, provide more services to homeless youth and recognize professionals who work with youth.
Step Up for Stepping Stones is a fundraising event for the organization’s transitional housing. The event takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Upland Brewery Banquet Hall. Tickets are $30, and Upland will provide hors d’oeuvres and an open bar.
The recipients of the Benham Award, which is given to youth service professionals in the community, will also be recognized.
Stepping Stones is the only provider of dedicated services to unaccompanied homeless youth in the area, said Alysia Elwood, the organization’s residential coordinator. It offers support for youth between 16 and 20 years old.
“We want to be able to serve as many youth who fit within this age range as possible,” she said.
In 2016, Stepping Stones became part of Centerstone of Indiana, a nonprofit that provides behavioral health care such as mental health services, substance abuse treatment and educational services.
Although Stepping Stones is now part of a larger nonprofit, it still needs fundraisers to provide the best care possible, Beth Rodriguez, Centerstone advancement director, said.
“The fundraising part is important because even with the stability of coming to a large nonprofit organization like Centerstone, we run on the same razor-thin margins that all nonprofit organizations do,” she said.
Elwood said because philanthropy is a major part of its funding, this fundraiser will make a huge difference in expanding Stepping Stones’ programs and will allow them to move more quickly in providing services.
Elwood said the goal is to reach at least $7,200 at the fundraiser to match the amount the organization receives from a Housing and Urban Development grant.
The HUD grant will provide the funds for a new youth apartment, which will increase Stepping Stones’ bed availability from nine to 12.
The money from this fundraiser will be used to build an overnight monitor apartment to help the young people living in their transitional housing.
This additional apartment will allow the organization to increase its staffing to 24/7 coverage. Stepping Stones’ on-site staff coverage is now seven days a week from 9 to 1 a.m.
“In order to expand our capacity to serve those youth, we must have expanded staffing onsite to provide the best care possible,” Rodriguez said.
In addition to the fundraising, Elwood said the recognition of the two award recipients is one of her favorite parts of the program.
The winners of the Benham Award include Sheila Butler, a teacher in the Monroe County Community School Corporation Adult Education program at Broadview Learning Center, and Becky Rose, MCCSC student services director.
The Benham Award honors professionals who perform exceptional work on behalf of or alongside youth.
Butler works with people ages 16 to 25 to help them prepare for the high school equivalency tests and help them work toward post-secondary education, training and employment.
Rose’s experience working with youth includes her position as the MCCSC liaison for the McKinney-Vento Act, which protects homeless students.
Rodriguez said she is looking forward to hearing people share stories about the award recipients and their work with youth in the community.
“Their stories are incredibly compelling, and they are well known and beloved in the community, and they exemplify the work we are all trying to do on behalf of young people and vulnerable people in our community,” she said.
She said both the fundraising and recognition aspects of the event are important parts of the upcoming event.
“When we invest in our youth and celebrate individuals who work with our youth, we all grow stronger,” Rodriguez said.
