News
REPUBLICAN LEGISLATOR PLEADS FOR STATE FUNDS FOR HOMELESS-YOUTH CENTER
May 20, 2013
By Rita Price, The Columbus Dispatch
A top Republican lawmaker is asking Gov. John Kasich not to kill a House-passed budget amendment that would provide $665,000 a year for central Ohio’s only drop-in center for homeless youths.
Rep. Cheryl Grossman, R-Grove City, sent Kasich a letter on Thursday after learning that the Office of Budget and Management wanted the amendment removed. READ MORE>
HELP CENTER FOR HOMELESS YOUTHS MAY GET STATE AID
APRIL 29, 2013
By Rita Price, The Columbus Dispatch
The city’s only drop-in center for homeless youths opened in 2006, and almost every year since then, its director has fought to keep food on the shelves, clothes on kids’ backs and hope in their hearts.
Star House is often dangerously close to folding.
But now, and much to director Natasha Slesnick’s happy surprise, the center could receive a big boost from the state. The amended two-year budget bill passed by the Ohio House and sent to the Senate includes $665,196 a year for Star House to serve homeless teens and young adults in central Ohio. READ MORE >
HOMELESS YOUTH TALENT SHOW
APRIL 13, 2013
NBC 4 VIDEO-NEWS
Click on here to watch the video
A TRAGIC LAPSE: AVAILABLE SERVICES DON’T FIT HOMELESS YOUNG PEOPLE WHO AREN'T QUITE ADULTS
December 14, 2012
Dispatch Editorial, The Columbus Dispatch
The lonely life and death of a young man who couldn't make it on his own throws a harsh light on how little help is available for young people who come of age without aid from parents — young adults who aren't really grownups, but find themselves on their own. READ MORE>
Suicide illustrates struggles of homeless young people
December, 9, 2012
By Rita Price, The Columbus Dispatch
When an advocacy group wanted to produce a photo project on homeless youths, Chris Frederick became the first volunteer.
Sure, he said, he would tell his story. He’d pose for pictures, too, sitting on a worn blanket in front of a graffiti-tagged building just north of Downtown where he sometimes slept. READ MORE>
Star House Offers Services To Homeless Columbus Youth
February 27, 2012
By Marilyn Smith, WOSU
Each day hundreds of homeless young people roam the streets of Columbus looking for shelter from the cold and something to eat. But facilities for homeless minors are limited in the city. There is a place near Ohio State where young people can stay during the day, get a hot meal and wash up. READ MORE>
OSU home provides safe haven for many
February 4, 2012
By Amanda Pierce, The Lantern
The large brick house on the corner of North Fourth Street and 12th Avenue looks like a typical off-campus house. A big-screen TV and video game controllers take up most of the large front room, Guitar Hero is set up in the dining room and a pile of drying dishes and pans sits next to the sink in the kitchen.
Unlike most college houses, though, this house sees between 25 and 40 homeless youth come through its doors each day.
What began as a research site for the Ohio State College of Education and Human Ecology is now a drop-in center for homeless youth and an important fixture in the Columbus community. READ MORE>
OSU STAR House is a port in the storm
January 18, 2012
By Julia Harris, OnCampus
From the outside, at least, there’s nothing particularly remarkable about the two-story brick house at 1421 N. 4th Street. Like many of its neighbors, it’s got a big front porch, a chimney snaking up one side and a boxy air conditioning unit hanging out of its attic window.
From the inside, however, the OSU STAR House (Serving and Treating Adolescent Runaways) is not at all ordinary. READ MORE>
Homeless drop-in center to remain open
November 22, 2011
By John Ross, Columbus Alive
The Ohio State University STAR House will remain shining into next year, thanks to fundraisers, public donations and new research dollars that have staved off financial woes facing the center for homeless youths. READ MORE>
OSU Star House Loses Funding
August 15, 2011
NBC4 Video
The only local drop-in center for homeless youth could close. NBC4 explains why a new funding source is imperative. WATCH VIDEO>
City Hall exhibit shows dilemma of homeless youths
April, 18, 2011
By Rita Price, The Columbus Dispatch
She never imagined her picture hanging in City Hall for any reason, let alone this one.
The framed photograph of 21-year-old Brittany Koon, huddled under a black-and-white blanket in the car where she sleeps, invites public officials and passers-by to see her pain. READ MORE>
Sisters of charity: Siblings give help to homeless youths
December, 19, 2010
By Rita Price, The Columbus Dispatch
No matter how early Jeana Patterson arrived at work last week, her footprints weren't the first on the snowy porch. Cold and hungry and lonely young people were waiting to go inside. "They can eat, get warm, take a shower," Patterson said. And, this being the season, the homeless young people also like to look at the Christmas tree, which they somehow manage to appreciate without bitterness. "They're happy to be part of a tradition," Patterson said. "They want to belong." READ MORE>
A Shelter from the streets
February 6, 2010
By Jeffrey Sheban, The Columbus Dispatch
Moving to Columbus in 2004 to conduct research on runaways and homeless youths for Ohio State University, Natasha Slesnick wanted to hit the ground running.
The transplant from the University of New Mexico went looking for the type of facility found in most large cities -- where wayward young people stop to eat, wash up and check on e-mail.
Since 1970, Columbus has had a residential center, Huckleberry House, for young runaways. READ MORE>
Program Aims To Help Homeless Teens
February 23, 2008
By Channel 10 TV News
They are shadows who find solace along cold walls in empty buildings and abandoned homes.
They are children - sons and daughters of circumstance. One girl just turned 17. "I ran away for a few times and then I started moving in with my grandma, but then she kicked me out because me and my cousin, Stacy, didn't get along," the girl said. READ MORE AND WATCH THE VIDEO>