Courtney Collins / KERA News

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CURRENT EVENT | November 26, 2019

Counting Homeless Youth

Every year, volunteers from Youth Count comb the streets of Dallas looking for homeless youth. The group’s goal is to accurately count the number of young people living on the streets and collect data to help the city better meet their needs. Listen to hear a young woman describe how it felt to be homeless and discover how Youth Count aims to help end the problem.

Story Length: 3:50

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Helping Homeless Youth Means Counting Them When School Is Out

SOURCE:

06/13/2019

Listening Link (share with students)

Copy this link and distribute for students to listen from their own device.

https://app.listenwise.com/students/events/1507-counting-homeless-youth

Listening Comprehension Questions

How did the young woman featured in the story become homeless?
How do young people living with friends sometimes end up living on the streets in the summer?
Besides the number of homeless youth, what other data did the survey collect, and why?
Why is it sometimes difficult to get an accurate count of homeless youth?
Why did the group that counts homeless youth decide to move the project to the summer?
What does the young woman interviewed say she needed most while homeless?

Classroom Discussion Themes

What kind of guidance from an adult would be most helpful to you, and why?
What can communities do to help young people who are living on the street? Explain your strategies.

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