
Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope
Inside the lives of homeless teens––moving stories of pain and hope from Covenant House
Almost Home tells the stories of six remarkable young people from across the United States and Canada as they confront life alone on the streets. Each eventually finds his or her way to Covenant House, the largest charity serving homeless and runaway youth in North America. From the son of a crack addict who fights his own descent into drug addiction to a teen mother reaching for a new life, their stories veer between devastating and inspiring as they each struggle to find a place called home.
- Includes a foreword by Newark Mayor Cory Booker
- Shares the personal stories of six homeless youths grappling with issues such as drug addiction, family violence, prostitution, rejection based on sexual orientation, teen parenthood, and aging out of foster care into a future with limited skills and no support system
- Gives voice to the estimated 1.6 million young people in the United States and Canada who run away or are kicked out of their homes each year
- Includes striking photographs, stories of firsthand experiences mentoring and working with homeless and troubled youth, and practical suggestions on how to get involved
- Discusses the root causes of homelessness among young people, and policy recommendations to address them
- Provides action steps readers can take to fight youth homelessness and assist individual homeless young people
- Written by Kevin Ryan, president of Covenant House, and Pulitzer Prize winner and former New York Times writer Tina Kelley
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Book details
- Author
- Kevin Ryan
- Imprint
- Trade Paper Press, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Pages
- 256
- Formats
- Paperback
- Subjects
- Social Science › Poverty & Homelessness
- Topics
- youth homelessness · runaway teens · poverty · drug addiction · Covenant House · foster care system · community outreach · teen mothers
- ISBN-13
- 9781118230473
About the author
KEVIN RYAN is the former President and CEO of Covenant House International, the largest charity in North and Central America serving youth facing homelessness, trafficking, and exploitation. He is the author of Almost Home, a national bestseller co-authored with former New York Times reporter Tina Kelley.
Ryan holds a Bachelor of Arts from Catholic University of America, a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, and a Master of Laws from New York University School of Law. He was named a Skadden Fellow and a Wasserstein Fellow at Harvard Law School.
When not writing, Ryan has spent his career as a child advocate, serving as New Jersey’s first public Child Advocate, New Jersey’s first Commissioner of Children and Families, and a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.





