Group offers a course change to at-risk kids
A projected 9,516 children in the Oklahoma City and Putnam City public school districts were homeless during the 201617 school year, according to school district estimates. That includes those living on the streets and the “couch homeless,” who have no stable home.
For many of these youths who should be worrying about prom and math exams, it’s a struggle to find a place to sleep or enough food to eat. It’s a life of fear and instability.
Enter the nonprofit organization Pivot: A Turning Point for Youth.
Pivot provides food, housing and clothing to vulnerable youths ages 12 to 21, plus therapy and counseling to give the child coping skills and hopefully an opportunity to change their circumstances.
“Often, at-risk youth come to our organization for one reason — they don’t have a safe place to stay, they are homeless or are in an unstable or dangerous
environment,” said Pivot President and CEO Kami Kuykendall. “But what we find is that there is never just one issue. Regardless of where the youth connects with Pivot, the organization evaluates the child for other help and support. It is not enough to treat the symptoms, it is critical to treat the issue and what started it.”
New name for an ongoing mission
Pivot was created in 1972 under the name Youth Services of Oklahoma County. On Feb. 8 of this year, it celebrated its 46th anniversary by changing its name to Pivot.
“Changing our name better describes our organization’s philosophy and the positive outcomes we are able to accomplish for the youth we serve, as well as the impact we make on our community,” Kuykendall said. “We’re that turning point for youth to help them set the course for a future where they perform well in school, learn life skills, start thinking about a career where they can support themselves and know that people in their community believe in them and want them to succeed.”
Early in its history the organization focused primarily on counseling. But as needs grew, its focus expanded.
“We started with counseling with kids who were maybe getting into trouble, making some bad choices,” Kuykendall said. “Counseling is really at the heart of everything we still do today, but from that time, we have built programs like an emergency shelter to house kids who may be living on their own or in the foster care system and in between placement. Or, making sure they’re getting to school, helping them find jobs. We do that across the board.”
Growing numbers
Many of the issues that are putting negative pressure on society — adult homelessness, increased drug use and addiction, domestic violence, poverty — are manifesting in behavioral problems and instability among children and youths in Oklahoma.
“As poverty rates increase, as incarceration rates increase, as issues with health increase, it makes the need greater . ... It has that ripple effect with kids,” Kuykendall said. “I think a big part of it is making sure we are more present in the community, getting the word out to schools and other agencies so they can connect kids to us. Kids who are living on their own do a good job of staying hidden because they’re afraid of what will happen. They often don’t self-identify to their school or teacher or counselor, so we have great partnerships with Oklahoma City and Putnam City schools and they help us identify kids who might need our assistance.”
Joe Ellis, Putnam City’s director of Student Services, agrees.
“Pivot provides support services for Putnam City students who meet the definition of homelessness. They help these students find medical and dental health services they need. They counsel, mentor and tutor students on life skills. They collaborate with other agencies to connect students to resources they would otherwise lack. The work Pivot does helps keep these students in school and gives them a vision and tools for lifelong success. Our students are so fortunate to have their help,” he said.
Helping kids
Pivot takes a holistic approach to helping youth, which includes stable housing, meals, education, job training, and mental and physical health services, Kuykendall said.
Services Pivot provides focus on three areas: youth homelessness, youth intervention and youth and family counseling services.
The organization offers longterm housing to young people living on their own without parental support and short-term housing to provide a safe and secure place to stay until permanent placement is located. It also offers counseling and therapy, including its Community Intervention Center that operates 24-hours a day, providing a safe space for young people who have been arrested. The CIC also assists youth who are on their own and in a crisis situation.
The Juvenile Re-entry for Oklahoma County program provides intensive counseling and life skill training to young people coming out of detention or who have experienced the juvenile justice system.
Parents and families are included in Pivot’s counseling services to help youths address issues such as trauma, abuse and neglect, depression and anxiety, substance abuse, criminal behavior and more. Certified case managers help youths access inhouse and community resources
for help.
Last year, Pivot served 2,080 youths and their family members, according to Pivot records.
A picture of success
Kuykendall recalls when Qualyn Wilson came to Pivot after living in several foster homes. The constant adjustment to a new environment — which often included new family rules, a new school, even a new religion, was more than she could handle. Pivot provided Wilson with counseling, and as well as housing, food, clothes and graduation expenses. Eventually, she found a supportive foster family and she is now a college student at the University of Central Oklahoma.”
“I wouldn’t have made it this far without the help from Pivot and other organizations and people who accepted me as family when my own family could not,” Wilson said. “I am more prepared now to make choices for myself and create a life that I enjoy and where I can contribute and give back.”
Ninety-six percent of the high school seniors living on their own graduated high school last year. Seventy-six percent were accepted or have enrolled in postsecondary education, according to Pivot records.
Pivot sheltered 320 displaced and homeless youth in fiscal year 2017. The average residency was 32 days.
More than 91 percent of the youths who came through the juvenile re-entry program last year, avoided reoffending.
“What we do is literally built into our name. We literally are that turning point for that have been living in hard environments, who have had resources or even their basic needs met,” Kuykendall said.