Welcome to Outreach Resource Centers.
Mission Statement
OUTreach Resource Centers is a non-profit collection of youth resource centers dedicated to transforming communities and saving lives through programs designed to promote positive outcomes for youth experiencing homelessness, family rejection, or victimization.
About Us
Since our beginning in 2004, Outreach Resource Centers has been focused on helping youth. A decade ago, the wonderful people of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden took notice of the incredible amount of rejected and often homeless LGBTQ youth and they took action. It was this action that grew into Ogden OUTreach. Since then, Ogden Outreach has expanded to become the Outreach Resource Centers and we now operate drop-in centers from Logan to Clearfield.
We provide programs and services to more than 500 youth each year, addressing the needs of underserved youth at three levels:
Prevention (Community Forums and Ally Trainings):
At the community level, we offer ally and advocate training to groups who work with and support youth, and hold events to educate the public. The safe schools initiatives we participate in also act as prevention.
Intervention (Resource Centers):
At the intervention level, our drop-in centers offer a variety of services to not only meet the basic needs of youth, but to increase their self-efficacy, and provide them with knowledge and skills needed to become self-sufficient, healthy LGBTQ and allied adults.
Crisis response (Safe and Sound):
Crisis response for LGBTQ youth in Utah who are homeless, suicidal, or have been victimized, have lacked until now because of legal barriers, and lack of resources. These barriers are being addressed now in ways they have not previously, and our ability to help youth in crisis is growing. After a careful evaluation of the Safe and Sound Host Home Program, we have decided to make key changes to the housing services model. This change reflects both our desire to reach more youth in need and recent changes in Utah law regarding sheltering youth overnight. Through collaboration with the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition and several other local partners, OUTreach is working toward creating a 24-hour line for youth who are suicidal or experiencing housing or family crisis, and a system for transporting youth to safe sanctuaries. In addition, due to recent legal changes that we helped push, it is now possible to establish youth shelters in Utah.