Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and Las Vegas Sands Set Southern Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit for Nov. 17

Continuing their multi-faceted, long-term partnership, NPHY and Sands will host the community to accelerate efforts in Powering the Movement to End Youth Homelessness

Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and Las Vegas Sands announced the sixth annual Southern Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit will take place on Nov. 17 at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

With support from the UNLV Greenspun College of Urban Affairs and the Las Vegas Review-Journal, this year’s Summit will focus on Powering the Movement to End Youth Homelessness in Southern Nevada, as community leaders outline the complex challenges vulnerable youth face resulting from today’s rapidly changing employment landscape, a scarcity of affordable housing, heightened mental health needs and breakdowns in support networks.

Amid this backdrop, Summit 2022 will launch The Movement Institute – an innovative, inspiring and hands-on advocacy training to empower community members to “Be the Movement to End Youth Homelessness.” The institute has been designed to educate community members – both those involved in The Movement and newcomers who want to champion positive change for vulnerable youth. After its debut at Summit 2022, The Movement Institute will provide an ongoing advocacy forum to integrate community members into the fight to end youth homelessness in Southern Nevada.

“Even before the crises of the past several years, Southern Nevada had one of the highest rates of youth homelessness in the nation,” said Arash Ghafoori, CEO, NPHY. “The elevated barriers our community’s youth face today are disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable and are likely to exacerbate youth homelessness. As we continue to re-orient our response to addressing the impacts of the pandemic and today’s environment, we are at another crossroads. It is imperative that we find a renewed commitment to lifting up youth in crisis and putting them on a path toward the futures they deserve.”

Summit 2022 sessions will include:

• An update on The Movement to End Youth Homelessness
• Unveiling of the new Southern Nevada Youth Homelessness Needs Assessment
• Community leader presentations about the changing landscape and challenges vulnerable youth face
• An inspiring youth panel discussion addressing systems-level change
• The Movement Institute advocacy training session

Presenting Summit 2022 as lead organizers is one facet of the 2022 partnership between NPHY and Sands that also includes Sands Cares funding and support for capacity-building for the implementation of NPHY’s five-year strategic plan. Since 2014, Sands has invested more than $2 million to support NPHY in fueling The Movement to End Youth Homelessness, providing immediate relief for youth in crisis and building the organization’s capacity and capability to address the high rate of youth homelessness in Southern Nevada.

“Overcoming the forces that lead youth to homelessness can only be accomplished when all sectors of the community come together,” said Ron Reese, senior vice president of global communications and corporate affairs, who spearheads corporate responsibility initiatives at Sands. “Summit 2022 presents a way for anyone – our fellow corporate partners, civic leaders, service providers and the community at large – to get involved by participating in thought-provoking sessions where they can learn about the issue and The Movement Institute where they can find out how to take action.”

For more information and to register for the 2022 Southern Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit and The Movement Institute, visit https://nphy.org/summit22.