Youth Emergency Shelter (Basic Center)
The Youth Emergency Shelter, also known as Basic Center (a designated Georgia Child Caring Institution) provides temporary Shelter for youth 11-17. The Basic Center is open 24/7/365 and is staffed with at least two people so that a child can be admitted at any time. Youth can self-admit without an adult and is the City’s designated placement for curfew violators. Park Place provides residents with healthy meals, a comfortable place to sleep, intensive and individualized counseling services, clothing and school uniforms, after-school tutoring, transportation to/from their neighborhood school, and enrichment opportunities on the nights, weekends, and holidays. These services are provided by a trained and experienced staff of approximately 20 case managers and house parents, all of whom maintain the child’s best interest when making decisions and implementing programming for the residential children.
Services Are Provided to Runaway and Homeless Youth (“RHY”) and at-risk Youth
- Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY), provided short-term case management (21 allowable maximum days), and needed services to youth who have either left their legal residence without the consent of their parents/guardian or have been asked to leave their home. The goal is to avert runaway situations, reunite families, refer to appropriate services and to offer interim family placement when available as an intervention strategy when a youth does not have a permanent and safe option. Eligible youth must meet one of the definitions below:
- Runaway Youth: A runaway youth shall mean a person under the age of 18 years who is absent from their residence without the consent of his/her parent, legal guardian, or custodian.
- Homeless Youth: A homeless youth shall mean a person under the age of 21 years of age who is in need of services and is without a place of Shelter where supervision and care are available.
- At-Risk Youth support services are to assist youth, and their families, who are experiencing behavioral and child welfare involvement, separation of the family unit to victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking, and other youth in crisis, as well as referrals from Division of Family and Children Services (“DFCS”) or Department of Juvenile Justice (“DJJ”) as an alternative to foster placement or detention. Park Place Outreach offers case management, service plan development, referrals to services, and coordination of services, monitoring, and advocacy.
All services are provided free to the residents during their stay. School attendance is required for all residents. The staff coordinates transportation to and from school. The program is voluntary in nature. Youth must agree to participate in case management services and follow the expectations of behavior and guidelines of the program. The program will serve anyone regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, handicap, or income level.
The staff provides family counseling with follow-up visits after the resident returns home.
Services provided include:
- Center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Crisis Intervention
- 24 Hour Telephone Crisis Line
- Individual, Family, and Group Counseling
- 3 Meals and 3 Snacks Daily
- Continuing Schooling
- After School Tutorial and Drop In Center
- Weekly Life Skill Groups
- Recreational Services
- Curfew Violator Program
- After-Care Services
- Runaway Prevention Program
- Dobransky Outreach Center
Park Place Outreach works in collaboration with many other service providers in the community. They include Union Mission, J.C. Lewis Health Center, Savannah Area Behavior Health Collaborative, Chatham Savannah Authority for the Homeless, Safe Shelter (domestic violence), Greenbriar Children’s Center, The Front Porch, RAPE Crisis, City of Savannah, Chatham County Juvenile Court, DHR, DJJ, and Memorial Health System.
About Park Place Outreach
Together we can make this a better world. Park Place Outreach Inc., is in the business of changing lives, giving hope and improving odds by ensuring that youth have access to safety, guidance and caring adults.
Support Park Place Outreach
We invite you to join us on our mission to protect those most at-risk in our community… the children. Your gift will make their future a safer one and will ensure that Park Place Outreach will continue to provide programs to other at-risk youth in the future.