Youth draws from experience to help teens facing homelessness
The public is invited to an open house Friday, June 3, 2022, from 11 am to 6 pm
By Tammy Kaufman
Goldendale, WA (May 25, 2022) – Having a safe place to live, somewhere to call home, is essential to the healthy development of any child. But many young people do not have a home and may not learn from positive relationships.
As teens turn into young adults, it is their time to enter society, be independent, and make their way. How can we expect them to succeed and contribute to society if they have not had a good foundation that many of us take for granted?
Imagine being a teen and living in a situation where you constantly felt unsafe and felt that you were at constant risk of being harmed.
As a teen, Allie Mercer lived through homelessness and understands what it means to feel unsafe and not have a support system. She was lucky that a change in her situation brought her to Goldendale, where she could create a new life and build a new family. She now makes it her mission to offer other teens and young adults a support system to help them through tough times.
“I want to support them through this and help them get to a better place,” Mercer said of her role as the case manager at the new Teen Drop-In Center in Goldendale for youth who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Her goal is to guide young people struggling by offering them a safe space and resources to put their lives on a better path.
Mercer was originally from Seattle. Her mom remarried when she was young, and her parents’ work with the military took them to Virginia and then to Germany. She remembers that time fondly. But then is quiet as she describes how her life changed when they returned to the States and landed in Texas.
She prefers to keep details private but shares that her family was torn apart by domestic violence, leaving her homeless at age 13. She bonded with the wrong people and found herself going down a path of substance use as her situation had gone from bad to worse.
Realizing she was pregnant at age 16, she knew she had to leave. “When I decided enough was enough, I changed my path,” Mercer said. She reconnected with her mother and didn’t look back.
It wasn’t easy. There was no stability. Mercer and her mother lived in hotels and cars, always moving and hiding. They couldn’t be in one place for too long. They scrimped and saved to earn enough money for bus tickets. They had to get out of Texas.
Together, now with her new baby, they came back to the Seattle area. Then, they came to Goldendale on a visit with an aunt and knew this was home.
She didn’t have a high school diploma, GED, or driver’s license. She connected with People for People employment and training programs, and Washington Gorge Action Programs (WAGAP) for rental assistance. She secured a home for her family and took control of her future.
An unexpected turn of events came when she met Wyatt Mercer. They instantly connected, and he wasn’t scared off by her history, her fuchsia hair color, or the fact that she had a daughter. “He is my rock,” Mercer said. The two have now been happily married for over four years, added a son to the family and now have a third child on the way.
Mercer is taking this positive energy and focusing on other youth in the community. She was asked to join the Washington State Department of Commerce Youth for Youth (Y4Y) Board to help prevent and end youth homelessness. Then the opportunity came available for her to join WAGAP directly and begin working on developing a drop-in center for homeless youth.
She was thrilled to turn her negative experiences into a positive path forward for other struggling teens. “I want to support them through this and help them get to a better place,” Mercer said. “I want them to know if they put the work in, they will be able to turn things around.”
The new Teen Drop-in Center and Young Adult Housing Program provide various services and resources to teens and young adults ages 13 - 24. They may need immediate assistance, like a meal or a place to spend the night, or they might need a more permanent housing solution. “Sometimes they just need somebody to listen to them,” Mercer said.
The program offers resources for education, jobs, healthcare, mental health, and social systems to get their lives on track. Whatever the individual needs of the young people who walk through the door, she helps them develop their goals and create a plan to take control of their future.
Mercer is helping one youth at a time. “I think this positively impacts the community,” she said. The program serves youth in both Klickitat and Skamania counties. The team will arrange services for those not in the immediate Goldendale area.
The public is invited to an Open House at 125 W Main Street in Goldendale on Friday, June 3, 2022, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. to learn more about how the Center supports young people.
To connect directly with the Homeless Youth Housing team, call 509-281-0288 or email allie@wagap.org. To learn about all of the services WAGAP provides or become a volunteer, visit wagap.org or call the main office at 509-493-2662.
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Washington Gorge Action Programs (WAGAP) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit Community Action Agency that helps individuals, families, and communities. WAGAP addresses basic human needs, including food, shelter, energy assistance, and more, in Skamania and Klickitat Counties. For more than 50 years, WAGAP has helped people help themselves and reach self-sufficiency. Learn more at wagap.org, or contact WAGAP at (509) 493-2662 or info@wagap.org.