LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An organization in Louisville that has supported children and families for more than 140 years is also ensuring homeless teens and young adults aren't forgotten.
Home of the Innocents was established in 1880 to enrich the lives of children and families, offering residential and community-based behavioral health services, therapeutic foster care and adoption services, long-term care for medically complex children, along with supportive resources for homeless young adults.
20 years ago, the Home of the Innocents established Pathways Home. A program that is the primary housing provider for homeless young adults in the city, serving people ages 18 to 24. The program gives young adults the resources they need to be independent.
Malik Madole grew up in foster care, but became homeless when he was a teenager.
"I was struggling, I had nothing but my ID and social," Madole said.
The Home of the Innocents has been helping homeless 18 to 24-year-old’s find housing. At 10pm EST on @WDRBNews, why a man says the program helped him achieve his career dream. pic.twitter.com/MYmghvhL8m
— Molly Jett (@MolJett) August 27, 2023
Madole left Louisville's West End for the Home of the Innocents when he was 17.
"I was nervous, I didn't want to talk to anybody, I was skeptical of who these people are," Madole said.
Madole said Pathways Home changed his life.
"They were seeing how hard I was going, what I was going through as far as trying to get in school, trying to get home from being homeless," Madole said. "Just seeing myself now, it's just like I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Malik Madole.
Now 25 years old, Madole credits the program for helping him become a recording artist singer. He was taught life skills like financial literacy and connected to housing.
"Building up skills, so that they never need assistance again," said Joe Hamilton, Vice President of Prevention and Pathways Home.
In 2015, the Coalition for the Homeless counted 418 young adults between the ages of 18 to 24 who were living in adult emergency shelter or on the streets.
"It's really providing the stability needed to make transformative life, improvement enhancements," Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the nonprofit helps the young adults who are the most vulnerable, whether they're sleeping in cars or struggling to find jobs.
"I think a lot of times, people think of home the innocence is just serving children, but we're actually serving whole families, especially focused in this case on young adults and the need," Hamilton said.
"We're going to school or going to work, we're getting jobs, we're getting scholarships," Madole said. "We're getting grants, and these are those kind of things going to keep motivating."
Hamilton said for a majority of the people Home of the Innocents helps serve, the program is their last resort. Home of the Innocents has served about 2,000 homeless people in the last two decades in Louisville.
To learn more about the Home of the Innocents, click here.
Related Stories:
