Stand Up for Kids

OC Community Group Helps Homeless and At-Risk Youth with the Support of Local Partners

A young man left Mississippi five months ago with simple goals: Stay sober, find work and learn to be grateful for the kindness of others. Sobriety is perhaps the most challenging for Alexander. The 21-year-old, who lives in Mission Viejo, says he grew up in a dysfunctional household and became an addict early in life. He began with alcohol but transitioned quickly into more destructive habits such as fentanyl, crystal meth and heroin. Then, Alexander made a commitment to himself to turn his life around. He got a job as a cook in a local chain restaurant. Staying busy at work helped him avoid the hopelessness and suicidal feelings that were constantly haunting him and gave him the courage to pursue new dreams—to study nursing and become a paramedic.

Alexander credits his recovery to StandUp for Kids, a national nonprofit organization that helps at-risk and homeless youth get off the streets. He says that intervention steadied and lifted him up when he needed it most, and the reason he is a strong advocate for helping others now. “They helped me with getting my job in order, helped me with housing, food, things of that nature,” says Alexander about the group’s Orange County chapter, based in Costa Mesa. “And so, I don’t like just taking. I feel great about being able to give back to an organization that has helped me out so much.”

UnitedHealth Group is among the local companies that support StandUp for Kids, enthusiastically organizing ways for local employees to get involved, contribute or volunteer. Longtime Optum associate Diana Lyon, a senior business process analyst from Lake Forest, presented the opportunity to the company’s Southern California-based team and it was warmly welcomed. In July, UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare and Optum employees participated in a virtual mentoring program. Lunch was provided for at-risk and homeless teens and then employees spent time online with those kids in a virtual “hangout” session that included icebreakers and a chance for grown-ups and youth to share experiences, ask questions and learn from one another.

This month, StandUp for Kids also culminates its first Virtual End Youth Homelessness Run/Walk Event and campaign, which began in April. This is an effort to raise awareness and funding for their mission to end the cycle of youth homelessness in Orange County. “The overall goal for the event is to raise $30,000 — and that will support 20 youths through our programs. We can take them off the streets,” says Michael Olson, the organization’s director of development. Olson says it’s difficult for StandUp for Kids to locate homeless youth in the OC. “They’re resourceful and harder to find. They are harder to track down. So, we use community partners who have more access to that population to then refer them to us.” Annually, the organization supports approximately 400 at-risk and homeless youth in the area.

Once the youths enter the program, StandUp for Kids has an 85 percent success rate in placing youth on a positive track to a better life. The kids are enrolled in the weekly mentoring program; basic needs, such as housing and food, are addressed; and education and work opportunities are identified.

For his part, Alex has been a ready and willing participant. He currently has two mentors that he works with two or three times a week who discuss goal setting and help him “walk through life.”

“It does help me realize that I am doing a good job and that I do have something to be proud of,” adds Alex. “I may have played the biggest role in my recovery and being a strong self-advocate, but I definitely couldn’t have done it without the support of StandUp for Kids.”