The HEART Program is expanding services to help young adults experiencing homelessness through a new grant.

The program is starting out by establishing a drop-in center at its 514 E. Washington St. location in Kalispell. While there isn’t a minimum age restriction for the drop-in center, HEART Program Director Casey Driscoll said the goal is to reach 16- through 24-year-olds and provide or connect them with needed resources.

“We want them to come to us and understand it’s a space for them to be safe,” Driscoll said. “We’re excited to launch the drop-in center and have that bigger reach in the community.”

Being a student is not a requirement to use services.

“Of course, we encourage it, but it may not be the right fit depending on what they have going on in life. They may be working two jobs. We’re not here to make everyone go to college,” Driscoll said. “If they want to get their GED, or want to take college classes we know how to get them connected with programs, funding and materials to do that.”

While the HEART Program got its start aiding teens and children as the community became aware of how many Flathead County students were affected by homelessness, young adults also have been neglected, Driscoll said.

“I think that age group is often overlooked and forgotten in a sense,” she said.

When people think about a homeless person, she said stereotypes come to mind such as, “The ‘old guy on the corner, who may or may not be addicted to drugs.’”

THE HEART Program (HEART stands for homeless, education and resources together) is seeking to be a place and a voice for teens who continue experiencing homelessness into young adulthood.

“If the kid we’re working with at the high school level — if they don’t have stable housing as a high schooler — how can we expect that to magically change for them when they’re in their 20s without intervention or additional services? It’s unrealistic,” Driscoll said.

As of January 2020, 79 unaccompanied young adults, ages 18-24, were experiencing homelessness in Montana on a given day, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, using information reported by the Continuum of Care Program to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The drop-in center will be open from 3 to 6 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursdays. Volunteers are also lined up to serve Monday night dinners from 4 to 6 p.m., starting this month, as an incentive for teens and young adults to stop by.

The drop-in center is funded through a Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program two-year grant through HUD. The Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program is an initiative to reduce the number of youths experiencing homelessness in the U.S. through a comprehensive approach, according to www.hudexchange.info. Grant funding is meant to aid communities in developing and implementing a “coordinated community approach to preventing and ending youth homelessness.”

A full-time case manager, who works at Kalispell Public Schools, was also hired in the summer and will make initial connections with students who may need HEART Program services. These students include individuals who are identified as homeless under the McKinney-Vento Act, which defines homelessness as lacking a fixed, regular, or adequate nighttime residence.

“Overall, her goal is to build trust and relationships with youth to connect them with the resources they so badly need,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll also works directly with K-12 students identified as homeless under the act as the homeless education liaison for Kalispell and Evergreen school districts. As the school district homeless liaison, Driscoll connects students with resources and support such as free meals and transportation to and from school.

THE HEART Program serves K-12 students through its main programs: the Heart Locker, where youths can shop for free clothing, hygiene products and bedding; the Heart Learning Center, which offers students a safe place to hang out, study or use computers after school; and Heart Markets, student food pantries located in Flathead and Glacier high schools and Linderman Education Center that are stocked with perishable and non-perishables, hygiene products and school supplies.

In recent years, the program donated equipment to Kalispell Public Schools’ food service department to reduce student hunger and food waste by packaging and freezing leftover school lunches for high school and middle school students to take home and have hot meals. The HEART Program continues to supply items such as trays and plastic wrap as the school district central kitchen needs to be restocked

“We can’t say enough great things about the central kitchen staff,” Driscoll said about the partnership.

In other new additions to the HEART Program, Driscoll said teens and young adults will have access to a washer and dryer thanks to a recent donation from a community member.

In July, Kalispell Public Schools board of trustees also approved the purchase of a van for the drop-in center using $29,444 in federal money through the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief – Homeless Children and Youth Fund. The move is to remove transportation barriers to accessing the HEART Program and the services it provides. The HEART Program will use the van to ferry teens and young adults to and from its East Washington Street location in addition to other places such as showering facilities.

For more information visit www.kalispellheartprogram.org, call 751-3630, or email kalispellheartprogram@gmail.com.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.