Fannie C. Harris Youth Center & After8toEducate

As part of the After8toEducate collaborative, Promise House is expanding our residential services to a second location by transforming the Fannie C. Harris Elementary School building into the new Fannie C. Harris Youth Center to combat youth homelessness amongst students within DISD high schools. The After8 initiative uses a collective impact approach to bring together a cross-sector group of public-private partners towards the same goal of promoting self-sufficiency and stable housing among unsheltered high school youth ages 14-21. After8 is the city’s first collective approach to provide a single solution for homeless youth and could be a possible model approach to be replicated in other jurisdictions. Partners in the collaborative include: DISD, who provided and will maintain the facility, CitySquare, who will operate the drop-in center, Social Venture Partners Dallas who is assisting with management.Promise House will manage, staff, and operate all residential services. This will almost double our Emergency Youth Shelter, adding 26 beds, and increase our Transitional Living Program capacity by 9 beds. Like current Promise House residential services clients, these youth will receive not only basics like food and shelter, but also access to medical, dental, and mental health services; counseling and therapy; and tutoring and other educational resources.