At a Rotary meeting this week I had a discussion with a fellow Rotarian who knew I was writing a book on Reducing Homelessness: A Social Marketing Approach.

He shared that he wanted me to be aware that 22% of homeless youth have spent time in Foster Care, and that this statistic had inspired he and his wife to develop a nonprofit organization, Route 21, one with a vision to train youth with lived experience in Foster Care to participate in a training program that will prepare them to be a mentor for middle school and high school youth currently in Foster Care. 

In the end, this strategy is intended to reduce the risk of youth currently in Foster Care from leaving and becoming homeless.

And it was clear to me why this approach is a strong social marketing one, as the Messenger is definitely one that would be trusted, given their lived experience and expertise from training.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash