More than Necessity; How P:ear Helps Homeless Youths Find Their Purpose

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P:ear is an organization that works with homeless and high-risk youth. Anyone who is under the age of 24 who is unhoused or in unstable housing may join P:ear. P:ear has many amazing programs to help youth find a sense of purpose and community, starting with their kitchen. P:ear provides two free meals a day in addition to cooking classes for the youth in their programs. 



P:ear also supports youth gain important documents like their IDs and furthers education by supporting youth who are training to gain their GED or high school diploma. P:ear also offers training or skill-building that could directly help them gain employment. Such as a 10-week barista training program, and a ten-week training program for the basics of bike mechanics.  



While, currently, they are focused on keeping exposure to the youth to a minimum to prevent Covid spread, and their arts programming is paused. P:ear has an incredibly strong art program for both visual, musical, and performative arts. P:ear also offers a gallery and monthly art walk that displays and sells the youths' pieces, keeping 90% of the profits to generate income. Which is vastly higher than the average Portland gallery.


 To learn more about how you can support or join P:ear please visit their website: https://www.pearmentor.org/





Published by Desiree Evans-Bohn
Portland State University Senior in Arts & Letters, Lane Comunity College graduate in General Study, and Art Practices  

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