Youth are homeless in Maine for variety of reasons

LEWISTON – While there is not a specific reason youth in Maine are homeless, a survey in late 2017 indicated that some 40% of homeless youth are LGBTG+, compared to just 15% of their in-school peers.

Although sexual orientation may be a factor in leaving their homes for some of the homeless youth, others may be trying to escape a dangerous or abusive family situation, according to Kris Pitts, Community Services Director for New Beginnings, an agency based in Lewiston that serves adolescents and young adults from across Maine at its program sites in Androscoggin, Kennebec and Franklin counties. The decision to leave a home is often not due to a single factor, she said, but is usually the result of a combination of factors.

New Beginnings began with an emergency shelter in Greene, ME, in 1980, which was moved its current location in Lewiston in 1986. The agency began its street outreach program in 1990, and connected with just over 4,500 youth in 2019, the latest year for which it has statistics.

Some 758 youth were helped at the Lewiston drop-in center in 2019, and 911 youth and families were served by New Beginnings that year.

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