Las Vegas’ new center for homeless youth honors its namesake

By Camalot Todd

Sunday, July 23, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Shannon West celebrated her last birthday five years ago, but the community came together July 14 to mark the day she would have been 50.

West is the namesake of HELP of Southern Nevada’s shelter for homeless youth. Before succumbing to breast cancer in 2012, she had a passion for volunteering, especially when it helped young people with nowhere to turn. Before a crowd of her friends, local dignitaries and soon-to-be residents of the shelter’s new facility at 1650 E. Flamingo Road, her father honored her memory to christen the place.

“Shannon was humbled to have this center named after her in 2010, and today she would be so proud of this beautiful, beautiful new center that her community — your community — came together to build, and now will be a place for the future of many youths in this valley,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Tom West said. “She knows everything that happened today. She’d be very pleased, very proud and very humbled.”

After eight years in development, the three-story, 37,000-square-foot shelter will house 166 people at capacity (the old location, a refurbished motel at 1417 Las Vegas Blvd. N., accommodated 65).

Along with dormitory-style living spaces, the new Shannon West Homeless Youth Center will be staffed 24 hours a day to offer intensive case management, addiction and behavioral health services, educational opportunities, transitional housing and help with drop-out recovery, money management, on-the-job training and transportation.

As West’s father spoke, Jasmin Duron watched from the front row.

“Shannon West helped me a lot,” said Duron, whose father kicked her out of the house last year, just before she turned 18. She says she spent a few months on the street before hearing of the shelter. “They helped me get my ID, my Social Security, my birth certificate; they’re helping me get a job. Now, knowing that we’re at the new building, I can see more job opportunities and more resources.”

In addition to four-person bunk rooms, the center has six transitional living studios designed to help stabilize homeless youths on the way to living independently. About 6 miles from its former location, the $10 million facility is near UNLV and adjacent to HELP’s main complex, positioning Shannon West residents for better access to a wider range of support services.

Jeremy Wells was impressed as he moved in that sweltering launch day. The 19-year-old said he lost his job as a Walmart manager and eventually found himself without a place to live.

“Becoming homeless was a new thing to me. I didn’t know what to do with it. I was living out on the streets — I wasn’t exactly sure if I was going to eat every day,” Wells said. “When I joined the Shannon West youth center, they helped me out in ways I couldn’t believe. They’re helping me get back on my feet; they’re helping me get a job; they’re helping me to stabilize myself and rebuild myself ... (after) losing everything I had.”

Studies consistently show that children and teens have more challenges than adults when they end up on the street, and Nevada has the highest rate in the country of homeless youths who go without shelter — 1,363 out of 1,672 unaccompanied homeless people ages 14 to 24, based on HUD’s 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report. That’s more than 80 percent.

As the new center more than doubles Shannon West’s capacity, it’s a step toward decreasing that number and helping struggling young people bounce back. West would have been proud indeed.

“Even if you hit rock bottom, you can always lift your self back up,” Wells said. “All you’ve gotta do is fight for it.”