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Flourish Initiative: A CommunityMade List

Flourish is a local non-profit focused on supporting youth and young adults experiencing homelessness and other significant socioeconomic barriers to college and career success. Flourish supports youth through transitional housing for ages 16-24 who are experiencing homelessness. The organization also has a street outreach program that provides basic needs and case management to support youth and young adults experiencing homelessness with the goal of accessing housing. To be eligible for transitional housing and street outreach program, youth must be experiencing literal homelessness, at imminent risk of homelessness (within 14 days), or fleeing domestic violence. Flourish's college and career savings program ($AVES) for low-income youth in grades 6-12 encourages youth to participate in activities that benefit their overall wellbeing. Youth earn funds into a scholarship savings account for them to use when they graduate high school for college and career expenses. The organization's summer internship program places high school juniors and seniors at Columbia-based employers to build job skills. Youth in these programs receive case management services to assist with meeting their basic needs and reaching their goals to support their independent living. This Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, it is more important than ever before to offer kindness and generosity to our neighbors who are experiencing hardships due to restrictions on life-saving resources such as SNAP. CommunityMade Lists are book lists created by local organizations in Boone and Callaway Counties.

User from Daniel Boone Regional Library

18 items

  • When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who…
    Paperback, 2006New York : Scribner, 2006. — 362.8209 WAL
  • If You See Them

    Young, Unhoused, and Alone in America

    Sokolik, Vicki,
    When Vicki Sokolik’s son brought home a classmate who was living on her own and was dropping out of school to support herself, Vicki stepped in to help. As she learned more about the invisible population of young people navigating life alone, she…
    Book, 2024New York : Spiegel & Grau, [2024] — 362.7756 SOK
  • Twelve-year-old Carley Connors can take a lot. Growing up in Las Vegas with her fun-loving mother, she's learned to be tough. But she never expected a betrayal that would land her in a foster care. When she's placed with the Murphys, a lively family…
    Book, 2012New York, NY : Nancy Paulsen Books, 2012. — J HUN
  • $2.00 a Day

    Living on Almost Nothing in America

    Edin, Kathryn J.
    After two decades of brilliant research on American poverty, Kathryn Edin noticed something she hadn’t seen since the mid-1990s — households surviving on virtually no income. Edin teamed with Luke Shaefer, an expert on calculating incomes of the…
    Book, 2015Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015. — 339.4609 EDI
  • Breaking Night

    a Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey From Homeless to Harvard

    Murray, Liz, 1980-
    Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls' home. At age fifteen, Liz found herself…
    Book, 2010New York : Hyperion, 2010. — 362.7409 MUR
  • I See You is a wordless picture book that depicts a homeless woman who is not seen by everyone around her--except for a little boy. Over the course of a year, the boy is witness to all that she endures. Ultimately, in a gesture of compassion, the…
    Book, 2017Washington, DC : Magination Press, [2017] — E GEN
  • Sometimes it’s hard to stay when you live in an old school bus instead of a normal house; when you have mostly just bread and ketchup to eat; and especially when you have to go to a new school where all the other kids already have friends. But the…
    Book, 2023New York : Rocky Pond Books, 2023. — E OTI
  • Free Lunch is the story of Rex’s efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he’s…
    Book, 2019New York, NY : Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W. W. Norton & Company, [2019] — JB OGL
  • "All Out of Pretty" is a gripping, thoughtful look at one girl's journey to figuring out what really matters to her and how to take care of herself in a world where there are no responsible adults for her to rely on. Do you use your looks or your…
    Book, 2018[Berkeley, CA] : Creston Books, [2018] — YA PAL
  • Almost Home

    Helping Kids Move From Homelessness to Hope

    Ryan, Kevin, 1932-
    “Almost Home” tells the stories of six remarkable young people from across the United States and Canada as they confront life alone on the streets. Each eventually finds his or her way to Covenant House, the largest charity serving homeless and…
    Paperback, 2012Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley, c2012. — 362.7756 RYA
  • This simple, touching picture book shows readers a women’s shelter through the eyes of a young girl, who with her mother’s help, uses her imagination to overcome her anxiety and adjust. Includes factual endnotes detailing various reasons people…
    Book, 2019Cambridge, MA : Barefoot Books, 2019. — E GUN
  • Sanctuary

    Kip Tiernan and Rosie's Place, the Nation's First Shelter for Women

    McDonnell, ChristineTentler-Krylov, Victoria
    When Kip Tiernan was growing up during the Great Depression, she'd help her granny feed the men who came to their door asking for help. As Kip grew older, and as she continued to serve food to hungry people, she noticed something peculiar: huddled…
    eAudiobook, 2022Dreamscape Media, 2022
  • On Our Street

    Our First Talk About Poverty

    Roberts, Jillian, 1971-
    A gentle introduction to the issue of poverty, On Our Street explores the realities of people living with inadequate resources. Using age-appropriate language, this book addresses mental illness, homelessness and refugee status as they are connected…
    Book, 2018[Victoria, British Columbia] : Orca Book Publishers, 2018. — E362 ROB
  • 15-year-old Tyler's teenage angst turns to outright rebellion when his family leave London for a new life in Yorkshire. He's angry with his parents about the upheaval and furious at losing his home. With only the dog to confide in, Tyler has no idea…
    eAudiobook, 2021W. F. Howes Ltd, 2021
  • Set in the shadow of the most magical place on Earth, 6-year-old Moonee and her two best friends forge their own adventures, while Moonee's struggling mom and a kindhearted motel manager protect the kids from the harsh reality that surrounds them.
    DVD, 2018Santa Monica, CA : Lions Gate Entertainment, [2018] — DVD DRAMA FLO
  • Filmed in a real shelter with real homeless people, this film tells the story of Gosh, a teenage boy lost in the bleak routine of life in a shelter.
    DVD, 2018Holland, OH : Dreamscape Media, LLC, [2018] — DVD DRAMA HOM
  • How and why do people find themselves homeless? What factors lead to this? Is there help for people living on the streets? What is the answer to ending homelessness in America? The answers to all of these questions and more are covered in depth with…
    DVD, 2022Rancho Palos Verdes, CA : Wonderscape Entertainment, LLC, [2022] — DVD J362.592 HOM
  • The world’s wealthiest country has 4.2 million homeless teenagers. In "Lost in America," Director Rotimi Rainwater along with the help of celebrities and politicians who have been homeless themselves, take a large scale issue down to a very personal…
    Web resource