Explore AFG

Shelter

“I aspire to be a woman who is intelligent, confident, and successful. Everyday I am becoming more empowered, spiritually awakened, self-sufficient, and everything else that is making me the best person I can be.”
Tempest, former Shelter participant

A 2008 report by the National Center on family homelessness found that 1 in 50 children in the United States are homeless--that's 1.5 million children facing life without a stable living environment. And this study was completed before the current economic crisis. The AFG Shelter provides a safe, stable living and learning environment for homeless young women (age 15-21) who are not being served by the foster care or judicial systems.

Facility

The current AFG Shelter was built in 2002 to address the growing need of homeless young women in metro Detroit. It can house up to 30 young women and up to 10 of their children at any given time. Resembling a college residence hall, the shelter is laid out into suites, with two modest rooms on either side of a shared bathroom.

Transitional to independent living (TIL)

Young women who need shelter beyond two weeks may apply to enter the TIL Program. TIL requires residents to be enrolled in an education program (i.e., GED (General Equivalency Diploma), vocational/technical program; two- or four-year college or university); to engage in counseling to address personal and family issues and challenges; to prepare for, seek and obtain employment; and to participate in programming to develop or strengthen life skills (e.g., financial literacy, healthful meal planning and shopping, and successful parenting and nurturing).

Once enrolled in TIL, the young women learn both soft and hard skills employment and employment-readiness skills including office etiquette, effective communicating, financial literacy, and basic technology. Carol Watson, TIL Curriculum Coordinator, stated, "I think we're doing a really good job of getting them ready to face the challenges that are out there."

For more information about the AFG Shelter and TIL Program, please contact:

Patricia Swift, LMSW
Director, AFG Shelter
Phone: (313) 361-4000
E-mail: pswift@alternativesforgirls.org

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Fast Facts

The AFG Shelter:

  • Provides counseling to residents and helps them acquire the skills they need to lead independent, productive and fulfilling lives.
  • Served 172 homeless young women and their children last year
  • Provides after-care services to former residents for up to 18 months after they exit the shelter.
  • In the past year, 86% shelter and TIL program participants upon exit from the shelter secured safe and stable living arrangements that include moving into their own apartment/home, sharing housing with a room mate and reunifying with family
  • Last year, 75% of those TIL participants who completed AFG’s life skills and career paths program obtained entry level jobs

Partners

The AFG Shelter is supported in part by:

  • Bank One
  • City of Detroit
  • Christ Church Cranbrook
  • Christ Church Grosse Pointe
  • Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan
  • MI DHS
  • ESG
  • FEMA
  • Forgotten Harvest
  • Gannett Foundation
  • HUD
  • Junior League of Detroit
  • McGregor Fund
  • Metro Health Foundation
  • Michigan Women’s Foundation
  • The Skillman Foundation
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • W.K. Kellogg Foundation