Breaking the Cycle of Youth Trauma and Homelessness: Meet Alie Redd

Join us as we journey alongside Dr. Alie Redd, Executive Director of Covenant House, Georgia. "Dr. A" was raised in the 70's as a 'parentified kid' and faced homelessness during her undergrad years.  Alie's life story is one of grace, resilience, and self-reflection. Today, she is dedicated to supporting young people who have suffered trauma and are homeless as a result.

We talk about the experience of today's youth - violence, foster care, homelessness, and struggles with mental health. We examine the hurdles encountered when trying to connect these young people with the community resources they crucially need. A spotlight is thrown on the pivotal role of mental health services and community volunteers in breaking the crisis cycle and weaving a safety net around the most vulnerable children in our society.

Dr. Redd emphasizes the power of unconditional love, respect, and support for  Covenant House youth. We delve into the immense potential of community collaboration, and how it fuels the progress and hope of these young individuals. Further, Dr. A shares how other we can lend a hand to their mission - from participating in sleep out events, to donations and volunteering. This episode is a call to action - a challenge to create more opportunities for our young people, to pay closer attention to our community's youth. Join us on this journey, and let's make a difference, together.

Dr. A's Bio
Dr. Alieizoria Redd (“DrA”) joined Covenant House Georgia as the Executive Director in March 2018 and comes with 30+ years of experience as a servant leader in social services. Previously, Dr. Redd served children and families while employed at as the Vice President of Housing and Placement Services at CHRIS 180, Adjunct Professor at Tulane and Clark Atlanta Universities, Vice President of Programs at Inspiritus, and in private practice. She has served various populations as a direct service provider, clinician, clinical supervisor, advocate, advisor, administrator, professor, and executive leader. Dr. Redd supports the LGBTQ+ community as a co-chair of the Mayor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board Co-Chair and is a member of Leadership Atlanta Class of 2023, “Rowdiest Class Ever.”

Dr. Redd earned a BA in Psychology from the University of Memphis, an MSW and PhD in Social Work Policy Planning Administration and Social Science with a cognate in Public Administration from Clark Atlanta University. She has been continuously licensed as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 2000. Her areas of concentration include: non-profit leadership; social and child welfare policy; commercial sexual exploitation of children; secondary trauma of social workers; refugee and immigration services; racial identity; youth homelessness; LGBTQ+ youth; and military families.

Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!

Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions

How Ann can help:

· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.

· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.

· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.

· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.

· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.

· Speak at your conference or event.

Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .

Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.

Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com

Transcript

Ann Price: 0:02

Hi everybody, welcome back to Community Possibilities.

Ann Price: 0:05

Today I have on the show Dr Alie Redd of Covenant House, georgia, where she serves as the executive director. "Dr. A as she is known by the teens in their program and her staff and really anyone that knows her is a tireless, passionate leader. I know you're going to get so much out of this conversation. We talk about names and what they mean. We talk about how she came to this work and I so appreciate her being so vulnerable with us. It really will let you understand why she is a champion for youth who are really struggling with some pretty significant trauma. We talk a lot about how communities can address the issues and provide the support that these teens really all teens need, but especially those who have been traumatized and somehow end up on our streets. So I love her bio so much I'm going to link it in the show notes. I hope you will take a look. I want to leave you with this quote that she shares in her bio from Nelson Mandela, who said safety and security don't just happen. They are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear. I know you're going to be inspired by this conversation. She's given her life work to these kids. I think you're going to be inspired. I know you will be. I know I was Give it a listen and share it with somebody you love. Hi, everybody, welcome back to Community Possibilities. I am so excited to have Dr A Dr Redd, on on the podcast today and we were just having a lovely conversation about what our names mean.

Ann Price: 2:05

So I was trying to learn how to say Dr Alie's first name, Alieizoria. Ailey Azora that's correct. Oh wow, I had to really practice. Dr: A: That's correct, Ann. Ann: and Ann means grace. So tell everybody what your name means, because I think it's lovely.

Dr. Alie Redd: 2:28

Well, thank you, ann. I appreciate that, and at Covenant House, georgia, we practice a lot of grace, so you definitely fit in here with us. But my name is Ailey Azora. It is actually my great grandmother's name, that was passed to me, and so I'm in namesake and my name means faithful. I love that.

Ann Price: 2:49

I love that. So you know, Dr. A, I think is what most people call you. I love that. I have a former client that calls me Dr Ann. I don't usually go by my bona fides and I think it's so cute because I've known her for 20 years and she still calls me Dr Ann. But, Dr. A, tell us about yourself, tell us about how you came to be who you are.

Dr. Alie Redd: 3:18

Yeah, I think this is a beautiful question and we were just talking about our wives yesterday at Covenant House, georgia. And you know, I was a kid, I was a parentified kid and what that basically means is I was a second parent to my younger siblings and, you know, just kind of growing up in the early 70s, things are very different now. So you know, I also experienced some childhood trauma and once I came to Covenant House, georgia, I realized that I had also experienced some bouts of homelessness when I was in undergrad and basically was squatting on the college campuses where I attended school and I didn't realize that that kind of factored into homelessness. And so I've always just kind of dedicated my life and the work that I do in working with young people who had experienced trauma. I do consider myself a psychiatric social worker who just kind of grew up through the ranks in leadership and as the young people were aging that I worked with, I was aging right alongside of them.

Dr. Alie Redd: 4:36

And so, through my own experiences and have worked through a lot of trauma, for me it was about making sure that we could, one, prevent the trauma that was happening to young kids and how that influenced them throughout their lives, and two if that did occur, if we were unable to prevent it in some way, then at least young people, children and families would have a safe place to land. And I feel like my calling and my destiny in this world. My purpose on this earth is to be able to prevent egregious things from happening to kids, like what happened to me, and, if it does happen, that they have a safe place to land to be able to heal. And I just dedicated my life and have humbled myself to the calling of this is the work that I'm destined to do while I'm here on this earth.

Ann Price: 5:41

I just want to first of all thank you for sharing that personal story. Here's my theory, because when we first met on the phone I don't know probably about six weeks ago or so, when we started talking about you coming on the podcast, I think I said this that it's my theory that we all come to this work for a reason. And it's always very interesting to me when I ask that question, because I think we are called to this work for a reason and when we get honest with ourselves about that, we can just be so much more effective. Otherwise, we'd all be, you know, we'd have other jobs and we'd be making a heck of a lot more money than we do working in those community spaces that we work in right. So I love that you live into your truth. I really appreciate you sharing that.

Dr. Alie Redd: 6:33

I think, and I would either be an architect or I'd be a beach connoisseur if the choice was up to me. But that's not what he chose for me, and so I have totally leaned into embracing that and have not looked back. I've been a social worker for over 30 years and, even though I would really love to be a beach connoisseur, that's kind of what I do in my free time. But this is the work that's meaningful and impactful and it gives our youth and our families a fighting chance at a quality of life.

Ann Price: 7:12

Well, you're talking to someone who grew up in Florida, on the Panhandle of Florida, and, oh my gosh, there's no place I would rather be than on the beach. So I want to hear about that beach connoisseur another time, because if you can get paid for doing that, I might be tempted. But let's get into the conversation. So let's start with just Covenant House, because not everybody who is listening may be familiar with what Covenant House is, and then maybe we can talk specifically about Covenant House, georgia. So what is Covenant House and why the word Covenant? Sure.

Dr. Alie Redd: 7:51

Well, covenant House Georgia is actually part of a larger federation. Under Covenant House International, we are the largest organization that's providing shelter and supportive services to young people who are experiencing homelessness and escaping trafficking across the Americas and specifically in Georgia. We're really much more than a shelter. We provide more than a bed or a meal for young people who are experiencing homelessness and escaping trafficking. Through our array of supportive services, we show unconditional love and give comprehensive support and services to young people so that they can fulfill their full potential.

Ann Price: 8:37

So Covenant House, georgia, started in the year 2000,. If I am correct, that's correct and I think I shared with you that. My middle son, I think he was in high school at the time, and him and his girlfriend used to go down with a lot of her church folks when the first facility opened, so they were painting and cleaning and providing meals and all of the things. So how did that happen in 2000? And what was the impetus for that? Why Atlanta?

Dr. Alie Redd: 9:07

Well, thank you, I read. First of all, tell your family to send our love and our thanks to them, because without support like that from our community, we could not be here in Georgia. And but Covenant House actually came to Atlanta in 2000. We started as a really small drop-in center and then grew to a 15-bed crisis shelter in Lakewood in the Polarot community. We had 15 beds, but we oftentimes had a waiting for as well over a hundred young people who needed our support. Leadership Atlanta took us on as a project in 2012 and helped us move and grow into the space we're in now. We actually have a seven-acre campus where we support young people, and many of those who served on that project team are actually still supporting us through contributions, board members and volunteers. So it's been a really incredible partnership for our organization to grow since 2000.

Dr. Alie Redd: 10:19

But that you know, there were a number of concerned citizens in our community that was watching the population of youth who were experiencing homelessness grow in our city.

Dr. Alie Redd: 10:34

They had some contacts.

Dr. Alie Redd: 10:36

Many had contacts with Covenant House, new York, where we started and wanted to really bring our effort here to Georgia, and so that group of folks was very successful in doing that and since we continue to grow.

Dr. Alie Redd: 10:51

What we've also seen pretty consistently since I've been involved specifically with youth who are experiencing homelessness over the past 10 years or so we constantly see there's about 3,300 young people who are experiencing homelessness on our metro streets on any given night and you know that data is really alarming because systematically, we keep seeing this number of young people who and that doesn't even account for homeless families this really accounts for unaccompanied youth who really need our support. I think what's really alarming also is the tie in connections to how many young people have had experience with childhood trauma. They're suffering mental health. You know their mental health needs are oftentimes pretty profound. They're witnessing violence. They're running from violence from their places of origin and birth families and you know Covenant House and other organizations are really teaming up in order to support young people and fortunately for Covenant House Georgia, we're one of the largest organizations in our region to be able to support young people.

Ann Price: 12:19

Yeah, I'm just I kind of got goosebumps right now because, you know, I, you know, if you walk on down the street of any city, not just Atlanta I'm having, I'm thinking back to when I was in Toronto years ago and there were so many young people on the street. It's just kind of it just kind of hits you like. You know, it's just such a gut punch to think about kids. I mean, my youngest is 24. And I think about how much time and energy it takes to launch a young person out of the home, right, and I always tell, you know, I always talk to folks who are parents and like golly gee, you know, you think when they're little, that it's just so hard. You know, when they're toddlers, that's just so hard. Or when they're teenagers, that's just so hard.

Ann Price: 13:08

To me, the hardest part of parenting has been watching them in their late teens, early 20s, trying to flap their baby bird wings out of the nest and they, they flop up and they flop down, and they flop up and they flop down. And that's kids, maybe, who had, you know, some typical struggles, but not the kind of trauma that that you were talking about in terms of neglect and abuse, kids in foster care, which is, you know, a place that you and I really have a passion about. So just it just kills me. And I know you have a lot of the kids that come to you. Maybe I shouldn't say a lot, but some of the kids that you come to you struggle with, maybe, gender identity and they've been, you know, displaced from their home. I don't, I try not to say like you know, they've been kicked out of their house, but that's kind of what happened or made to feel unwelcome because of their gender identity.

Ann Price: 14:05

I know that some of some of what's going on. So how to? How do you come to Covenant House? How do they find you? 3,300 is a lot. You don't have 3,300 beds.

Dr. Alie Redd: 14:16

No, we don't have 3,300 beds, but you know we could. I would. You would take them all home. I would take all of them, no questions, to come to us and let us support you and help you along your journey, because none of these kids grow up and say, oh, I want to be homeless. And none of these kids really meet the stereotypes that people think of them. They think they're troubled youth, they're running away, they don't want to go to school, they're experimenting or using substances, and that's just really not the young people that we see.

Dr. Alie Redd: 14:52

We support young people ages 16 to 24. We also support and work with young families that have, you know, young children and their families as well, and so I'm just going to nerd out a little bit and share a little you know data statistics with you about, so it helps paint a picture of who our young people are right, awesome, so. So more than 70% of our young people have witnessed violence. 50% up to 50% at some times have either had some involvement with foster care or are aging out of the foster care system. We're seeing 40% identify within the LGBTQ community and about 35 to 40% are suffering with, you know, mental health around depression and anxiety and attachment disorders because they've experienced so much childhood trauma. When we see, also, that within 72 hours of our young people landing on the streets and experiencing homelessness, they're being trafficked, they're being approached for sex trafficking and human trafficking and I just can't live with that and, like I said, these are kids, that things have happened to them, that they've had experiences that are no fault of their own. Yeah, we have young people who experiment with beer, marijuana and cigars, but we don't see that our young people are having substance abuse issues, that they're chronic criminal activity. These are young people who are wanting to thrive. They have goals and aspirations. They want to participate in our community and be self-sustaining adults and contribute right, and so it's such a joy and such a privilege to work with them every day, but they've got some real challenges that they have to overcome.

Dr. Alie Redd: 17:04

The average length of stay in our emergency crisis shelter is about 40 days.

Dr. Alie Redd: 17:09

We're helping connect them to community partners, those who have been displaced from other communities because of trafficking.

Dr. Alie Redd: 17:17

We're working with other Covenant houses across the nation in order to get them back home and we're working with other organizations within the city in order to help them with either permanent housing, reconnecting within the school system, helping them work, a plan around workforce development and some of our longer-term programs, like our transitional living programs, our rapid rehousing programs there we're kind of working more a longer period of time we're on average.

Dr. Alie Redd: 17:56

Some of our longer-term residential programs really support young people and their average length of stay is about a year. But what we recognize and know is that the longer young people are able to take advantage of some of our supportive services, like our health and wellness, which includes our mental health supports, our street outreach, our intensive case management, our recreational therapy, academic supports, workforce development, like the list goes on and on and that work is done with our staff as well as with our community volunteers and community partners, so that we are able to help our young people break that cycle of crisis and really stabilize in a much more robust way so that they can develop the skills and the resources so they are able to sustain themselves and eventually have a good quality of life and hopefully start to be able to address a lot of the challenges that they've experienced throughout their very short lifetime.

Ann Price: 19:08

Yeah, it sounds like you have so many. You know you hear the term a lot in the social service world. You know wrap around services and I always think of that as a coat, right, you know, just wrapping them up with anything they could possibly need. And then I'm thinking about kind of developmentally, where they are right. You know a 16 year old is very different from a 24 year old, like you know, if you just think about in terms of maturity, brain development, all the things. And then you know when that process is kind of interrupted by trauma. So, and then I'm thinking about my mental health days. A lot of people don't know I started out as a clinician working with the kinds of kids that you see every day. But in the world driven by insurance, you know they were magically cured when their insurance ran out right. So how long do you typically work with, say, a 16 year old comes in? They're certainly not ready to be, you know, totally on their own. What does that look like, that long term trajectory look like for that child?

Dr. Alie Redd: 20:15

So we do support our prevention and day drop in support services to young people starting at age 16. So we're trying to get ahead of that and try to like break that cycle of trauma, right, okay. And then our residential program started 18. And so there's a lot of things around mental health, physical health, lack of support as far as having a place to live, but it's much deeper than that, right. So it's like all of these systems that, for whatever reason, have failed these families and failed these children. And when and you asked about our youth in the LGBTQ community as well, and so you know, I'm sorry, my mind is moving a million miles a minute because we support and inclusive of supporting so many different types of kids coming from so many different types of backgrounds and families, right, but when I think about supporting some of those younger folks, it is trying to get in there and break that cycle so that they have resources, that they have patterns, that they have plans, that we restore their hopes, their dreams, their desires for their future. And we do that through addressing your mental health, your physical health, recreational therapy, music therapy, art therapy. It's just so much that goes into pouring and you were visualizing, like wrapping yourself around in this blanket.

Dr. Alie Redd: 22:01

Well, I think, because of the amount of trauma and like, especially in the LGBTQ communities and and young people who are trans, they're tossed out, they're thrown away just for the simple fact that someone has either outed them or that they have come out and because their families don't have bandwidth to be able to continue to support young folks, right. So these are like normal, healthy, functioning kids that all of a sudden are experiencing a huge amount of trauma as separation from their family and their core. They're experiencing homelessness and they're approaching trafficking within 72 hours or being approached for trafficking within 72 hours. And trans kids are especially trans female kids are being approached at increasingly aggressive rates. And so the protection for me I love your analogy of like wrapping in a coat, right, but for me it's like a weighted, a weighted blanket that you know it is much more intense and much more involved in order to be able to support them and wrap ourselves around them and to not give up on them.

Dr. Alie Redd: 23:25

That we have hope that we, and we also here at Covenant House, when things that I'm really proud of is that we're inclusive. No matter where you come from, who you are, you just have to be experiencing homelessness. Right, that's the only thing we want to know Are you experiencing homelessness? Are you facing, or are you facing homelessness Like? Is that on your near horizon? And so, for us, we create this sanctuary for young people can come to us any given day of the night or day, a holiday or not. We're open 24-7, 365 and you know, we create this sanctuary, in this place of safety and refuge for our young people, that we welcome all at any given time.

Ann Price: 24:23

I love that word sanctuary. I think that really gets. That speaks to the heart of what you all try to do and what you try to provide. I think I asked you a question and I don't know if I let you answer it. If we just got off track. How do you find you? How do they know? Do they see a flyer on the street or on a telephone pole in downtown Atlanta? Do do partners or your church partners send kids to you? Do you have I think you have street outreach? What does that look like?

Dr. Alie Redd: 24:54

Yes, so we have a street outreach team that's comprised of full-time staff, volunteers that have been with us for 10 years or more. And then we have youth who have experienced homelessness and we have a street outreach team that goes out every night in Combs, the city streets of Atlanta, looking for young people who are experiencing homelessness, building those relationships with them so that they trust us to even come in in the first place, because they don't trust adults, because the trauma that they've experienced has been so egregious and we have to build that relationship with them. We build relationships with other people who are experiencing homelessness. We build relationships with places of faith, the school system we've got a great relationship with the homeless liaisons and Atlanta public schools.

Dr. Alie Redd: 25:51

Other nonprofit organizations are corporate partners, our board, our neighborhood association and just normal everyday citizens who know about us, and a lot of the work that we do is around promoting who we are and getting the word out there, advocating for our youth, so that people know who we are, the supportive services that we provide. We have a website, we have an emergency crisis phone number that people are able to call, we're on social media and you know, what is the greatest part of all is that our young people refer one another to us and so they're like you should go to Covenant House. Those are the folks who can really help you, and so that's actually our largest referral basis other youth who have experienced homelessness and trafficking and those who have had some interface or engagement with our organization, so they come from all over the place. Even when young people are being released from, say, they've been incarcerated or they've had some interaction with the police, then those systems are referring to us as well.

Ann Price: 27:18

Yeah, that's that is amazing, that you that says so much right there that youth who know about you or who have been involved in your services, or maybe even stayed, refer their friends. Yeah, you can't get a stronger outcome than that.

Dr. Alie Redd: 27:39

Yes, yeah, I wish we could get to the point where no one is referring to us and, you know, I hope and dream that one day we can really get in front of this, that we're doing prevention work, but for now we're serving typically at least a third of Atlanta's youth who are experiencing homelessness. At it at 3300, we're typically serving about a third of those kids just here at Covenant House, georgia, alone.

Ann Price: 28:11

Yeah, so how long have you been at Covenant House, Georgia? A while, yes.

Dr. Alie Redd: 28:15

Yeah, I've had the privilege to be here at Covenant House, georgia, for a little over five years now.

Ann Price: 28:22

Very good, and so I would imagine, as the executive director, a lot of what you do is, you know, going out in the community, like you're doing right now, and telling the story of the children and the youth that you serve. Yes, yeah.

Dr. Alie Redd: 28:38

So it's very interesting because I've been a social worker now for over 30 years and so for me it is an extension of just being. I'm very fortunate to be here and very privileged and honored to be the CEO of Covenant House, georgia, but really I consider myself the head social worker. I am really the person that is going out and advocating on behalf of our youth, and I'm definitely spreading the word about the work that we do and the amazing outcomes and you know how our young people are really pulling out of homelessness with our support and our community's support. And it is every day. It is a new day. Every day I get to meet a new young person and every day I get to lead an amazing team of staff and volunteers and youth the board so that we are working in partnership to give our young people a fighting chance at a pretty amazing light, and I'm certainly appreciative of all of that, and so it's my job to build the resources and also lead the team so that we have best in class services to support our young people.

Ann Price: 30:02

I wish everybody could see your face right now, because you can see your passion, you can see your energy, and I work with a lot of nonprofit leaders and I love them all very dearly. Some of them are so tired, right, yeah, and so you've got something that's. That's, that's feeding the belly for this work and I love that. And the other thing I think about is just how Covenant House is. You know, when they first came to Georgia and just starting with that, that first you know little, you know space they had and how many amazing strong business partners and other community leaders that that are behind you all it's kind of amazing.

Dr. Alie Redd: 30:45

It's very amazing, certainly remarkable, and I certainly could not be here without them and I've worked at some pretty amazing organizations throughout my career but I've never worked at an organization like Covenant House Georgia and how our community completely comes and wraps themselves around us and it blows. It really blows my mind, to have community partners like Delta Airlines, accenture, gas South, I mean the list goes on and on. Families first, you know our legislators, I mean I just to be able to see and partner, see the passion of other folks and to partner with all of these folks in our community that people really care about our kids. I've never felt that anywhere quite like I felt here at Covenant House Georgia. So you know, it was very and I was with a really amazing organization before coming here and I had no, I had no intent of moving to Covenant House Georgia.

Dr. Alie Redd: 31:59

But when I moved here and I and I thank you for acknowledging the passion, but this is just a part of who I am and it has been everything that I've fought for in my personal life's mission as well as the mission of Covenant House Georgia and it just all kind of merges in the same place and I am fueled by my team, I'm fueled by my youth, I'm fueled by our board of directors and you know this work is really exhausting.

Dr. Alie Redd: 32:37

It's very exhausting, it's nonstop, it's 24 set, right. But when you see a young person come in here with nothing but the clothes on their back and maybe a pair of flip flops, and you see how they progress and how you know they become college students, that they have hope, that you know Delta hires them, delta Airlines hires them, and they have dreams to become like the chief of police or the head of security, or they're working through programs like cybersecurity, that they're addressing their mental health, that they're reaching back and giving back to their community through volunteerism. When they're calling their siblings and saying to their siblings, like we're going to make it, that's the work, that's important and that's what we live for here at Covenhouse Jury every day. It's that unconditional love, that absolute respect, that relentless support, not only to our youth but to each other, and that's what makes it. That's what makes the magic happen.

Ann Price: 34:15

You know I was going to ask you what would surprise people the most about the youth that you serve, and I think you just answered that question. Oh my goodness, yeah, yeah. And you know, of course we want. We want kids to stop falling in the river.

Dr. Alie Redd: 34:37

You know we want to go downstream Is there, you know any of that and I love your. I love that you say that we want them to go downstream. Right, Because you know, if I had to sum it up of what we do at Covenhouse, Georgia, like we rescue kids that have had a really, really tough shot at it and we teach them how to fish, yeah, Is there anything I was going to ask you?

Ann Price: 35:06

is there anything that the larger community and what I say community I mean neighborhoods, I mean counties, I mean the state like the community of our state? We are a community, we live in Georgia and, as you said, covenhouse is international what can we do to keep kids from falling into the river To? We don't want them drowning, we don't want them struggling, we don't want them to be on the street and on their own. What are we doing as a society that we should do better?

Dr. Alie Redd: 35:41

Yeah, I think we have to dig deep in our souls and really just love ourselves and love our kids and give back, to engage, to pay attention, to slow the rat race down a little bit and engage with each other. Look at how our systems are working in silos and how do we partner? You know? How does mental health show up at the public school? How does the public school show up at a corporation? You know, and those are just few examples of like, how do we truly connect and work with one another? How do we partner and make friends with one another and hold hands?

Dr. Alie Redd: 36:32

And I know it kind of gets a little kumbaya and sometimes I can be a little pie in the sky thinking, but I think that there is a space and place for everyone in our community and we can all grow and learn together and we can all thrive together.

Dr. Alie Redd: 36:54

And so we've got to do that by slowing things down and paying attention to each other, paying attention to our kids. You know people always say to me like how do you know a young person is experiencing homelessness? When you see them on streets, I'm like I'll look at them, I pay attention, I'm not afraid to say hi to them, to offer and extend a hand, and that's what we have to get back to doing in our community. Fortunately, atlanta is a very beautiful, philanthropic place and people volunteer like you wouldn't believe, and we're very fortunate to be here in this city, because what we have going on a lot of other cities just quite frankly don't. But even here in our city we still have work to do. Our systems have to connect so that our kids don't continue to fall through the cracks.

Ann Price: 37:51

Yeah, I 100% agree and that was a great segue into the how, the how can the community, or how can people listening, support your work?

Dr. Alie Redd: 38:00

Well, I say one help us spread the word. Help us spread you know, help us make friends in the community. Right, you know. Get involved, volunteer, you know. Make donations, vote with the legislation that supports programs like ours. We also have a sleep outcome.

Ann Price: 38:24

It always happens. I saw that on social media. All right.

Dr. Alie Redd: 38:28

Give it, give it to us, okay. So with our sleep out, it's fundraising. It is doing some advocacy work. It is raising critical funds to support our young people. It's sleeping out in solidarity with our young people as well. It's a huge fundraiser. It's one of our signature fundraiser and fundraiser events of the year.

Dr. Alie Redd: 38:54

For, whatever reason, it always happens on the coldest night of the year and it is the Thursday before Thanksgiving, and we would love people to come out and support. It's going to be a really incredible night where our young people are showcasing their talents. They're talking about their success. We're breaking bread with them, we're making sure that they're seen and heard, and so that hope continues to grow. And so we're asking people to get involved and engage with us. You can go to our website, covenanthousegaorg, and just get involved. If you're not able to participate in the sleep out, you probably have a friend who is so cheer them on. Make a donation, no matter how big or how small, and come and volunteer with us. Read about us on our website. Wherever it might be, there's a million ways to get involved with us.

Ann Price: 39:58

Yeah, I was going to say follow you on all your social media channels, like and share, promote. Do all of the easy, kind things, Absolutely yes and thank you for that.

Dr. Alie Redd: 40:10

I'm of the age where I'm into social media, but I have to remind myself about social media. So, yes, we are all of the channels. Follow us. We lost the thing to like us and follow us and cheer us on. We need that support from you, all right.

Ann Price: 40:29

Well, very good. So what's next for you and Dr A and Perkevenet House?

Dr. Alie Redd: 40:35

So we actually constructed a 30 unit apartment building the gift of hope last year, where we had young people move in. So we actually have tenants who have a lease. They have their own address now, and so we're really looking to feel the gift of hope. Also, we've probably got about eight or nine slots that we're looking to fill. We work in partnership with Partners for Home and the City of Atlanta's Continuum of Care, and so we're wanting to make sure that that's a very robust program. It's an additional program to us. We want to make sure that we're supporting our young people in a robust way and that our pregnant and parenting youth program as well is taking off in the community and supporting young adults. And right now, the families that we have right now are single moms, but we're also taking young co-parenting families. We're also supporting young dads and whatever their parent shift looks like. And so, you know, and eventually, like the end game is, we want to work ourselves out of this and do prevention work.

Dr. Alie Redd: 41:56

But we're, you know, we're also in our strategic plan. We're assessing across the state if there's any need or opportunity for us to be able to support organizations throughout our state, because what we do recognize is that we have. Young people come to Covenant House Georgia from all over the state and ultimately from all over the region. But we want to support other organizations to be able to continue to support and uplift and serve those young people within their own communities, because what we found is that if we're able to support young people in their home communities and keep them connected, near their home and their resources and their friends and their extended family, they're much more successful, quicker and much more long term. So those are just a few things on the horizons and kind of in a larger scope and scale. But right now my mind is on that sleepout. I wrap my mind around being in a sleeping bag on the coldest night ever to show our young people that we love them and that we support them and we're here for them.

Ann Price: 43:08

Silk Long Johns highly recommend. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, as someone who has been done has done some hiking in her time. Yes, Silk Long Johns.

Dr. Alie Redd: 43:23

Silk Long Johns yeah absolutely All right.

Ann Price: 43:30

So, yeah, not the kind you wear to bed, just say yeah. So I had to ask you the question. I asked all my guests when you look to the future, what community possibilities do you see?

Dr. Alie Redd: 43:41

Yeah, Well, you know one of the. You know the city of Atlanta is growing leaps and bounds. Anyone who's been here any time recently knows like we're just busting at the seams right and what I would really like to challenge our community specifically. I want to talk to employers. Give our kids a shot, give them a chance, hire them at a livable wage with benefits. They will not disappoint you, and the support that we give them and wrap around them. We're not going to allow them to disappoint you either. Delta Airlines takes a chance on our kids. Every year, they hire our kids. They've had kids working at Delta Airlines for years now and I would just encourage people to follow that lead, because if, once, our young people are stabilized and they need the benefits to stabilize their mental health and their physical health they're going to be there, they're going to be loyal, they're going to work, they're going to thrive and they're going to do everything they can to make your organization or your company the best it can possibly be. And I just ask you to give them a shot at a livable wage with benefits, so that they can have a shot at life, and ultimately, it's the right thing to do.

Dr. Alie Redd: 45:04

People want to help. People have passion. This is a way that you can do, Even if you do an internship, an apprenticeship, and employ these young people. It's going to benefit you and you're going to learn and grow in ways that you have never anticipated. Our kids here at Covinghouse they've got me growing a garden at my own house and we've got some master gardeners here and they're teaching me how to garden and that has even just that simple thing has improved my quality of life that they're sharing with me and I want you all to see and engage with what we get, to engage and experience and learn and share with them every single day. I say give them a shot, don't judge them, bring them in, embrace them, take them under your wings so they can fly and, ultimately, you can fly as well. It's a partnership.

Ann Price: 46:06

Well, dr A, I love this conversation so much. I feel so energized and ready to go out there, so I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I know you're so busy and you've got so much work to do, so many kids to take care of. Just thank you.

Dr. Alie Redd: 46:24

Yeah, well, a and I certainly thank you and I thank all the folks that are listening to your podcast. These sorts of things, I think, shed the light on the issue, but it also sheds the light, more importantly, of what we can accomplish and thrive together as a community. So I certainly appreciate it and I look forward to connecting further and let's just do it. I see you have to sleep out, all right?

Ann Price: 46:56

Thank you so much. Thank you, hi everybody. Thanks so much for joining me on today's episode of Community Possibilities. I hope you enjoyed this conversation. If you would be so kind, would you please like and share this episode. Tell somebody you care about, somebody who does community work, about the podcast. That would help so much. Also wanted to let you know that we have revamped the resources page on our website. So if you go to communityevaluationsolutionscom, go to our resource page, you're going to find a whole new look and a new tool the nonprofit evaluation capacity self-assessment, designed to help your organization make informed decisions and take action to build a stronger program evaluation for your nonprofit. Coming soon is a coalition capacity self-assessment, so be sure and look out for that. Thanks everybody. See you next time.