SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Couches are a fine place to sit down and relax, but it was much more than that for Nic Boles.
“I was couch surfing with a friend; I was with that friend for about ten months or so,” Boles said. “While I was couch surfing, I kind of just realized I wasn’t making a whole bunch of progress, it felt like. And I wanted to try to get into another better opportunity.”
That opportunity was with Urban Street Angels, an organization aiming to end youth homelessness.
“Relived, and it made me feel like I had a good opportunity for some sort of future, which was not something that you really see yourself when you’re sleeping on your buddy’s couch,” Boles said.
Boles has been with the non-profit’s La Mesa location since Aug. 1.
“Our plan is to continue to grow to offer our services, our support to more youth in this age group,” Jerry Troyer, the director of relationship development for Urban Street Angels, said.
There are early 1,800 youth living on the streets and in homeless shelters in San Diego County.
That’s according to the latest snapshot of the homelessness crisis in our region.
Troyer tells me the non-profit serves about 10% of that population.
“That’s where our trade school programs, our work with Coastline, and some other programs that we do are so incredibly important because we want you to be okay today as well as tomorrow, next week, next month, next year,” Troyer said.
That partnership with Coastline Academy - a driving school - is helping youth like Boles get free driver’s ed classes to help get them better career opportunities.
“To be able to have freedom and mobility and independence by learning how to drive, especially in Southern California where, as we know, driving is the main source of transportation,” Joesph Ongisapco, Operations Manager of Southern California for Coastline Academy, said.
As he looked at homelessness in the rearview mirror, Boles told ABC 10News he was eager to participate in programs like the trade school and the driving program at Urban Street Angels.
“It’s really life-changing. The goal is to just be able to use these opportunities and resources to move forward and just have all of this be a memory in the past,” Boles said.
November is National Homeless Youth Prevention Month.
