In 2021, Interval House was a recipient of the Long Beach Community Foundation’s Community Impact Fund grant. With this funding, from September 2021 through May 2022, 69 local youth have received shelter and individualized peer and therapeutic counseling and supportive services, while their prevention education efforts have reached over 3,500 local youth.
Social isolation. Barriers to distance learning. Increased volatility and domestic violence at home. The trauma of a family member’s death. Enhanced mental health needs. While the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every member of our community, these are just some of the challenges our youth have faced.
As communities across the state and country continue to open up, the challenges still remain. Today, Interval House’s domestic violence shelters remain at full capacity; and over two-thirds of its shelter residents are children and youth. They, along with their families, continue to cope with the complexities of domestic violence, homelessness, and public health crises.
With the support of the Long Beach Community Foundation’s Community Impact Funding, Interval House, which has operated a full range of shelters and permanent housing support, comprehensive supportive services, and educational resources for domestic violence victims and their children since 1979, has worked to ensure that at-risk Long Beach youth are directly connected with age-appropriate crisis intervention, counseling, education, and more. From September 2021 through May 2022, 69 local youth have received shelter and individualized peer and therapeutic counseling and supportive services, while its prevention education efforts have reached over 3,500 local youth.
While we don’t know what the long-term impacts of the pandemic may be, we do know that safeguarding the current and future well-being of our most vulnerable youth has become more important than ever.
To learn more or to support LBCF’s Community Impact Fund, visit the fund page here.