TOO MANY TEENS ASK: “WHERE WILL I SLEEP TONIGHT?” [ChildTrends.org]

Samantha Sangenito 4/10/154:00 AM

I have a movie recommendation for you. It has all the makings of a blockbuster: suspense, humor, lovable characters you can relate to, and it’s a tearjerker to boot. It follows the protagonists as they fight for their lives through all kinds of hurdles, while somehow holding on to an incredible spirit.

Unfortunately, though, I’m not talking about a movie set in a war zone, or, the latest superhero comic book adaptation. I’m talking about The Homestretch, a documentary following the real lives of three homeless youth enrolled in Chicago public schools.

I study at-risk youth for a living, but I still left this film feeling overwhelmed by spending an hour in the shoes of these young people, experiencing the barriers they face every day.

[For more of this story go to http://www.childtrends.org/too...ill-i-sleep-tonight/]

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Robert OlcottMember

When I attended a National Coalition of the Homeless conference in Washington, D.C., and we began a memorial reading of the names of homeless people from our home states who had died, that past year, I got "choked up" as I read the name of the Portsmouth, N.H. High School Senior, who was also working, who froze to death on a park bench one night after work.... Perhaps I also had some of my own 'grieving' to do, belatedly, from my homelessness during high school-when I "had my whole life ahead of me", and I too was working [at Eastman-Kodak] to save enough to get an apartment.... I remember "feeling overwhelmed" too ...

4/11/1512:16 AM

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