Senator Collins Announces New Beginnings in Lewiston Chosen to Join 100-Day Challenge to End Rural Youth Homelessness

Washington, D.C. -U.S. Senator Susan Collins announced that New Beginnings, Inc., an organization dedicated to serving runaway and homeless youth and Maine families in crisis, has been chosen as one of only ten sites nationally to join the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 100-Day Challenge on Youth Homelessness.

The 100-Day Challenge is a project designed to foster community collaboration to accelerate efforts to end youth homelessness.  With just 100 days to identify and implement changes that significantly reduce the number of young people without a safe place to go each night, everyone from community leaders to front-line workers are challenged to do their work differently, change systems, and innovate.  The compressed time frame, high visibility, and support from coaches, peers, and federal leaders help create rapid progress.

“For nearly four decades, the dedicated staff and volunteers at New Beginnings have served runaway and homeless youth, improving lives and creating brighter futures,” said Senator Collins. “I am pleased that this organization has been chosen to participate in the 100-Day Challenge, which will help accelerate their successful outreach to at-risk populations in Western Maine.  I look forward to continuing to work with them to address our shared priority to prevent and end youth homelessness.”

Earlier this year, Senator Collins, the Chairman of the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, authored the FY18 Transportation and Housing Act, which includes $55 million for grants and technical assistance to test comprehensive efforts to end youth homelessness in urban and rural areas and $20 million for new family unification vouchers to prevent youth exiting foster care from becoming homeless. This bipartisan bill unanimously passed the Appropriations Committee in July.

Since 1980, New Beginnings has helped homeless youth and Maine families in crisis gain the sense of safety and security of having a place to call home and provided them with other resources to succeed. New Beginnings offers a wide array of programs, from assistance with college applications to learning independent living skills.

In addition to New Beginnings, HUD has chosen Gulfport, Mississippi; Mendocino County, California; Marion County, Oregon; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to join the 100-Day Challenge.