Dear Anchor House Family,
Happy New Year! I hope that your 2025 is off to a wonderful start.
Like many of you, I make New Year’s resolutions. A resolution I make each year is to spend more time at the beach, my favorite place. Staring at the ocean and feeling the sand under my feet helps me to recharge. Did you know that most New Year’s resolutions are broken by the end of January? I try my very best not to break this resolution, no matter how busy I get, even visiting the beach in the cold winter months.
As an agency, Anchor House makes resolutions and these are ones we cannot break. As we begin 2025, our services are needed, now more than ever. In Mercer County, we are currently in a Code Blue and no youth, nor anyone, should be living on the streets, especially in these frigid conditions. Responding to critical needs in our community, Anchor House provides the only youth shelter, transitional living, and street outreach program targeting youth in Mercer County, and one of two supportive housing programs in the county for young adults. One of our resolutions each year is to continue to enhance and expand our services and add programs to meet the needs in our community.
I want to give you an example on how we kept this resolution. Last year, Anchor House did a profile on a young adult in our Impact Report who had been physically assaulted and abused by family members after coming out as transgender. With assistance from our Coordinated Entry Assessment System (CEAS) team, a housing placement was made through one of our community partners. The young person told the Case Manager, “I can’t believe I am safe in my own apartment.” Our resolution is to give more young people the opportunity to feel safe in their own homes. That is why, last year, Anchor House launched a Rapid Rehousing Program specifically designed to meet the needs of young adults that identify as LGBTQI+. There is such a great need as research has shown that those who identify as LGBTQI+ have a 120% higher risk of experiencing homelessness. It is our resolution for 2025 to increase the number of young adults that secure permanent housing in all of our programs.
Fortunately, many of our resolutions are part of our comprehensive Strategic Plan which outlines our goals and objectives for the fiscal year. Some of our ‘resolutions’ outlined in our Strategic Plan include:
- To increase our mental health services for youth in Anchor House programs and in the community
- To continue to find ways to recruit and retain staff members so there is never a lapse in services for our youth (if you are looking for a job, please check out our Careers page)
- To communicate more effectively to our target audiences, especially youth in need of our services
- To raise more money to support our current and future programs – please consider making a donation
Now, back to the beach and the kids. My New Year’s resolution is not only for myself, but for the youth and young adults we serve, to have the opportunity to visit the beach (pictured are a few on a recent trip). Many have never had a chance to go before coming to Anchor House. My hope is that the beach can bring them the peace and joy it gives me.
I wish all of you more beach trips in 2025 with more sun on your face than cloudy days ahead and that all of your New Year’s resolutions become reality.
See you at the beach,
Kim McNear, Executive Director
