New Covenant House Dream Becomes A Reality

Hundreds showed up for the groundbreaking ceremony for Covenant House’s new shelter

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By Alexis Fernandez

Story Created: May 1, 2012 at 7:35 PM AKDT

Story Updated: May 2, 2012 at 8:16 AM AKDT

ANCHORAGE - It has been more than five years since Covenant House Alaska began working to secure funding for a new building in Downtown Anchorage, and now that dream is finally becoming a reality.

On Tuesday hundreds showed up for the groundbreaking ceremony for Covenant House’s new shelter for homeless teens being built on the corner of Eighth Avenue and A Street.

“It’ll really be all services on the same site, like a one-stop shop so that the kids can get the services; if they need help finding a job that'll be on site,” said Deirdre Cronin, executive director of Covenant House Alaska.

The journey to get here wasn’t an easy one though. It took years for them to raise an estimated $20 million for the building, which will have 62 beds and double the space.

“It’ll give us the ability to serve more youth; we're at functional capacity,” said Cronin. “Last night 54 kids called Covenant House home and I don't have a bed for each of those young people, they sleep on mats on the floor.”

Brittany Pickens, 22, was one of those teens who turned to Covenant House when she needed help the most.

“If I didn't have family supporting me like all the time, I knew I had Covenant House, whatever I wanted to do, college, new apartment or whatever, they supported me,” said Pickens.

She said a new building means a new beginning.

“So much more opportunity for the youth to succeed,” she said.

It is all an effort to make sure fewer teens are forced onto the streets.

The building is expected to open its doors in the fall of 2013.
 

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G.Moreno said on Thursday, May 3 at 12:29 PM

Can't they build the new facility within the McLaughlin Youth Center compound? The teens would be much safer there.

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kaladi said on Thursday, May 3 at 11:09 AM

@fzybear Having worked in downtown for nearly a decade, I've observed that the young adults who cause the most problems (drinking, drugs, harassment, etc) are usually NOT kids using Covenant House. The vast majority of young adults who hang around Town Square, for example, are not Covenant House kids. In fact, Covenant House kids are kicked out of the facility for 24 hours if they are even seen in Town Square.

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fzybear said on Wednesday, May 2 at 1:59 PM

Great. Just what we need. Twice as many runaways downtown, getting kicked out of local businesses for shooting up in the back corner, harassing tourists. There's a public perception that Covenant House enables kids to be juvenile delinquents. Maybe that will change with twice as many of them under the same roof.

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