New Irving Nonprofit Rescues Homeless Youth

Bob Harris remembers how his own father became homeless. His dad was just 16 when his alcoholic father flew into a rage and kicked his son out of the house for good.

It was 1945, and Harris’ father, Ben Harris, was left to wander the streets of Dallas before his scoutmaster helped him get a room in the local YMCA.

Bob Harris carried the memory of his father’s pain for years. Today, he has devoted himself to saving youth in similar circumstances.

Harris is the co-founder and executive director of Level Pathways, a non-profit based in Irving that helps get kids off the street, sees them through high school and gives them a leg-up on building a productive life.

It’s a growing problem in the suburb and across the region.

The Irving Independent School District (ISD) reports that 240 Irving teenagers are unaccompanied, a term often assigned to homeless youth. Personally, Harris estimates the number is closer to 300 because he has spoken with many homeless students who are not on that list.

You might not see these kids huddled on the streets, the way you see adult homeless. Many of them survive by couch surfing at friends’ houses, living transient lives that make it all but impossible to do schoolwork or develop life skills, Harris added.

Level Pathways’ mission is to help them find more settled lives. The non-profit serves youths ages 14-24 and works to place them in homes with vetted sponsor families until they graduate high school or college.

Level Pathways helps in other ways too. They offer tutoring, references for health care and employment, and basic life skills instruction.

Since January, the organization has placed six students with sponsor families, three of whom graduated this spring.

After the students graduate, Level Pathways helps them find their next step in life, whether it be to attend college, find a job or join the military.

These students’ situations are often complicated by difficult or strained family relationships, not simply poverty, Harris said.

“A lot of homeless teenagers are homeless because of poor parenting,” he said. “It seems extreme to you and [me]... but it’s very real.”

Level Pathways’ first student was a high school senior who is a US citizen and was left behind when her undocumented parents were deported, according to a December 2017 Level Pathways press release.

“They knew and she knew that despite a potentially difficult life she would get a better education in the US,” the press release stated.

Harris knows of another young woman whose foster parents turned her out of her foster home the day after she turned 18.

Other youth are abandoned by a single parent who no longer wants them after getting a new partner, he said.

Harris managed a manufacturing company for 30 years before he sold the business and got involved in nonprofit work. Level Pathways is the third organization he has directed.

He is inspired by “Uncle Bob” - the scoutmaster who mentored his father and whose name he carries. Harris knows that his father was able to overcome his troubled upbringing and give him a bright childhood and future because of this scoutmaster’s mentorship.

Now it’s his turn to help. Harris can’t think of a worthier cause than supporting teenagers and young adults who are struggling to survive on their own.

And while Level Pathways is not religiously-affiliated, he personally finds inspiration from his Christian faith.

Homeless youth are modern-day orphans and “God sees taking care of orphans and widows as true religion,” Harris said.

Harris wishes more Irving residents were aware of the challenges these youth face.

They aren’t conspicuous because “they want to look like their peers,” he said. “They’re not going to be pushing shopping carts.”

“We want to get them before they learn that lifestyle.”