Holiday Gift Card for Unaccompanied Minors

(ages 12-18)

Oneof the capstone projects for CapCityKids is giving gift cards to youth around the holidays, ensuring that even older teenagers are able to enjoy the season. This fills an unmet need, as most other organizations focus on giving gifts to children 12 and under. CCK purchases the gift cards and shares them with the homeless school liaison to distribute.

This program also creates a connection point for the liaison to
check in with the student about their well-being and potentially learn about other needs. The student recipients of these holiday gift cards have often revealed that they spent the money to purchase something for a younger sibling or an ailing parent.

There are more than 650,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report. In 2023, homelessness increased nationwide across all household types.

650k-homeless

Many of these families have multiple children, which makes it difficult to get the necessary things they need, especially around the holidays. Additionally, there are thousands of youth each year who enroll themselves independently in school and are not under the legal care of an adult; they are called unaccompanied youth.

CapCityKids Unaccompanied Youth Program aims to identify students that migrate from home to home between the ages of 12 and 18 and provide them with gift cards so that they may purchase themselves a gift or necessities around the holidays. Most other holiday gift programs, including Toys for Tots, are targeted to children under 12 years old.

In 2023 alone, the CCK Unaccompanied Youth Program provided more than 2,800 Visa and Walmart gift cards to homeless youth ages 12-18 who may not have received a gift otherwise.