2024 Beneficiary
The mission of Preble Street is to provide accessible barrier-free services to empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, housing, hunger, and poverty, and to advocate for solutions to these problems.
To break the cycle of homelessness, youth and young adults need an integrated system of care and safety. Preble Street Teen Services provides low-barrier access to shelter, food, basic needs, casework, mental health supports, education and employment services, and a variety of housing options for youth experiencing homelessness. Our team is proud to work alongside young people who are the experts of their own experiences and to support them toward their goals of independence, stability, and safety.
More than 350 young people across Maine receive support from Preble Street Teen Services each year through several different resources:
- The Preble Street Teen Center is the hub of services for homeless and runaway youth ages 12 through 20. This low-barrier drop-in center, located in Portland, ME, helps to meet immediate needs — providing warmth and safety, case management and counseling services, nutritious meals from the on-site soup kitchen, laundry and clothing, crisis intervention, and education and employment services. Staff work closely with young people to build positive relationships, enhancing their self-esteem, and offering them the opportunity to develop life skills that promote stability and independence.
- Maine’s largest youth shelter at 28 beds, the Joe Kreisler Teen Shelter offers a safe place for homeless and runaway youth ages 12 through 20. The Shelter offers a full range of services to assist young people in making plans to stay off the street, and coordinates supports with the Preble Street Teen Center, located right across the street.
- Serving eleven out of sixteen Maine counties, Preble Street Teen Outreach caseworkers provide intensive, short-term services to rapidly resolve periods of homelessness in the community that a youth would want to stay in. Preble Street has traditional Street Outreach for youth in York and Cumberland counties, including walking routes through urban hubs. We also work in close partnership with local schools to ensure connections and support for students experiencing homelessness.
- Preble Street Teen Housing programs provide youth and young adults experiencing homelessness with supportive services and a safe place to live as they work toward the skills needed to independently sustain housing. We offer multiple pathways to housing, including Transitional Living Programs, Transitional Housing, Rapid Re-Housing, and housing vouchers with supportive services. This flexibility allows us to work with youth with varying needs for support.
For youth who have experienced the trauma of homelessness, there is nothing more important than safety and stability. Preble Street Teen Services provides that and so much more. We are excited to partner with the 2024 TD Beach to Beacon 10K and be a part of this world-class race…especially as we continue to look for better ways to support Maine’s young people and end youth homelessness.
In 2024, Preble Street will begin construction on Joe’s Place, a state-of-the-art facility in Portland, ME, that will provide 24/7 support to homeless and runaway youth. Currently, youth must move each morning and evening between the Preble Street Teen Center and the Joe Kreisler Teen Shelter, two buildings directly across the street from each other. By bring the Shelter and Teen Center together under one roof with Joe’s Place, youth will finally have the daily stability that they deserve.
Through Preble Street’s 50-year history of working with people experiencing poverty, food insecurity, and homelessness, we know that by helping young people today, we can make a long-term impact in addressing homelessness in Maine.
If you’d like to be a part of the Preble Street Beach to Beacon team, email b2b@preblestreet.org!
Thank you for your support of Preble Street and our work to end youth homelessness!