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Stand Up For Kids exists as a resource to provide security for homeless at-risk youth who are usually disregarded by society. The program's overall purpose is to provide them with protection, acceptance, and stability. The program’s mission is to end the cycle of homelessness across cities in America. As well as help youth reach their goals while providing care and services they may need along the way. There is no discrimination against race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, relationship status, etc. Their vision is to be bold and unconfined in doing things in a way that will work best for the youth, not being on the hunt to make money from donations.

Volunteers act as mentors and are involved to serve homeless at-risk youth who are on their own, along with young parents that have children. Youth are provided support up until the age of 25 years old.

Services provided to youth include housing support, mentoring, drop-in centers, and street outreach. This program helps them to transition from “crisis to connection.” This means the goal of healing isn't solely to end the crisis, it's to move into an authentic and purposeful connection with ourselves, each other, and the world we are surrounded by. There are local programs that meet the needs of that community; they work with, adapt, and get support from national and local experts to create services needed in that specific community. When youth seek help from this program they share a goal they have with a mentor, that way the services are adapted specifically to them, their goals, and their priorities. 

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Stand Up For Kids is an important and very unique program. One reason for this is because homeless systems typically have an "age out" policy, where after the age of 18 years old they’re not able to access services anymore. As mentioned earlier, this program doesn’t deny services until after the age of 25 years old.

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“One in 10 young adults ages 18-25, and at least one in 30 adolescents ages 13-17, experience some form of homelessness unaccompanied by a parent or guardian over the course of a year." (Scherer, 2022)

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Providing homeless youth with services and mentorship makes a difference in their cognitive development in a positive way. The prefrontal cortex of the human brain isn't fully developed until 25 years old. This portion of the brain plays a vital role in cognitive processes. Executive functions are a part of cognitive development and include things like self-regulation skills to make plans, the focus of one's attention, remembering instructions, and the capability to complete multiple tasks successfully. In the analysis portion of this website, I will go into detail about executive function differences between housed and homeless youth, and how executive functions and cognitive development should not be ignored by researchers, mentors, or volunteers. 

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"The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a central role in cognitive control functions, and dopamine in the PFC modulates cognitive control, thereby influencing attention, impulse inhibition, prospective memory, and cognitive flexibility." (Pizzorno, 2020)

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