The Movement Evolves at the 2021 Southern Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit Set for Nov. 4

In its fifth year, this annual community convening will address how to leverage key learnings and new resources from this extraordinary time of change to accelerate the goals of the Southern Nevada Plan to End Youth Homelessness.

Taking place on November 4 at the UNLV Greenspun Hall Auditorium with a simultaneous live webcast for virtual attendance, Summit 2021 will once again bring together community sector leaders and youth with lived experience of homelessness in a day-long forum designed to harness new understandings and approaches emerging during the global pandemic and through racial justice developments to refine and adapt the strategies outlined in the Southern Nevada Plan to End Youth Homelessness.

“Through the tremendous challenges our community has faced during the past year and a half, we’ve found unexpected opportunities to re-think how to better serve vulnerable youth,” said Arash Ghafoori, CEO, NPHY. “As service providers and community leaders become more creative in tackling new problems, innovative solutions are coming to the forefront. We have a huge opportunity to evolve the Movement to End Youth Homelessness to better serve vulnerable youth, and Summit 2021 will begin that process.”

The Southern Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit was established in 2017 to address the region’s severe youth homelessness crisis. For years, Las Vegas/Clark County has ranked in the top major metropolitan areas with the largest numbers of unaccompanied homeless children and youth, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Nevada also has had one of the highest rates of unsheltered homeless children and youth living alone on the streets, with the overwhelming majority of these youth located in Southern Nevada.

In 2018, the community came together at the second annual Summit to introduce the first-ever Southern Nevada Plan to End Youth Homelessness, outlining solutions for sustainable change. While the Plan achieved numerous successes in its initial years, recent events have both necessitated adjustments and revealed new opportunities to address the current environment and risk factors for youth homelessness.

“Truly solving this crisis and creating a safety net for vulnerable youth will take every organization – public and private – as well as all citizens working together to ensure no young person has to face a lack of shelter or the resources they need to grow and flourish,” said Ron Reese, senior vice president of global communications and corporate affairs at Sands. “We challenge the community to get involved in one of our region’s most critical issues.”

To register for the in-person and virtual options or for more information, attendees can visit nphy.org/summit21.

For more information on Sands’ work in youth homelessness, visit https://www.sands.com/responsibility/community/sands-cares/youth-homelessness/