Jackson Street Youth Services opened its updated shelter located at 555 NW Jackson Ave. on June 1, dedicated to young adults that need a place to stay.

According to Hannah Miller, development director of Jackson Street Youth Services, the main function of this organization is working to provide stability and safety for youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness. JSYS has a number of programs that work to meet youth where they’re at in those crises and to prevent them.

“Our full age range that we’re serving is 10 to 24,” Miller said. “The shelter that the open house is for is really one of the main programs that people know us for.”

According to a press release, there was an open house on Thursday, June 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. offering light snacks and a tour. It was also optional to bring a “housewarming gift” such as snacks, hair ties, brushes, hygiene products, and everything else that might be useful to the program.

The house is reopening because JSYS did a very extensive renovation job. Their original thought was to do what they were calling a “refresh project” according to Miller.

“We were going to paint and redo the floors, get new furniture. But we had a donor who really stepped in and stepped up and allowed us to really dream much bigger than we had planned to, and so it’s a fully renovated shelter now and it is beautiful,” Miller said.

Jackson Street Youth Services has other services other than their shelter, like an outreach program located in Albany. The organization is also planning further expansions.

More information about this program can be found here.