Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter Receives $10,000 Grant from Bank of America Foundation

(SAVANNAH, GA) Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter, a temporary shelter and outreach service that serves youth from Savannah and the surrounding area, has received a $10,000 grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.

Linda Hilts, Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter’s Executive Director, said the shelter will use the grant to cover operational costs. Since opening its doors in 1984, Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter has accommodated 6,000 youth who have left home. 
“Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter’s services are in great demand in the Savannah area,” Hilts said. “The generous Bank of America Charitable Foundation grant will enable us to serve a greater number of at-risk youth in the area.”

“As part of our comprehensive lending, investing and giving activities to advance economic opportunity in the communities we serve, Bank of America is addressing critical issues that will help revitalize our neighborhoods,” said Steven Price, Savannah market president for Bank of America. “We know that the challenges facing our communities are great, and it is through partnerships like the one with Park Place Outreach that we can create positive change for youth in our area.”

According to the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless, the Savannah area has the second largest homeless population in the state. In 2011, the area’s homeless population was 4,202, 774 of whom were children under the age of 18. The Savannah area also struggles with poverty. In 2011, 26.8 percent of children in the area lived in poverty.

“A great number of youth that we serve have been homeless or have grown up in poverty,” Hilts said. “Because of the economy, individual contributions have been slower than usual. The Bank of America Charitable Foundation grant will enable Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter to continue to provide direct services for these kids and others who are at risk.”

About Park Place Outreach, Inc.
Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter provides support for troubled children and teens from Savannah and the surrounding area. The shelter is open 24 hours a day to youth in crisis, adolescents who are homeless, young people who have been abused, runaway youth, or those who may be contemplating how to run away. Opened in 1984 as Marshlands Foundation, Inc. (dba the Savannah Runaway Home), Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter provides counseling and other services to boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 17. The organization’s goal is to keep kids off the street and reunify families whenever possible.

Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter is an equal opportunity provider and employer. This program is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, USDA Breakfast/Lunch Program, Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Georgia Department of Human Services, City of Savannah, United Way, FEMA and other community resources. For more information, please visit http://parkplaceyes.org or search for “Park Place Outreach” on Facebook. An informational video about Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter is available at YouTube by searching for “Park Place Outreach – Youth Emergency Shelter.”