|  By texting 69866 with the word SAFE and their location any runaway, homeless and street youth in Fresno can now get immediate access to help and safety.
Our Sanctuary and Youth Services, in partnership with the City of Fresno and Fresno Area Express, is running a bus ad campaign which incorporates the National Safe Place “Text 4 Help” initiative on the interior and exterior of city buses. The ad is designed to encourage troubled teens and youth in crisis ages 11-17 to text the word “safe” and their location; youth, in turn, will receive a text with the address and phone number to a nearby resource. In Fresno County, they will be referred to one of our Safe Place partners or our Sanctuary Youth Shelter.
“The ‘Text 4 Help’ campaign allows us to reach even more youth in crisis through the use of a cell phone,” says Joe Martinez, Sanctuary and Youth Services Community Relations and Outreach Manager. “In fact,” Martinez says, “nearly 90% of teens have regular access to a cell phone and 66% of those say they prefer text messaging to calling. We strongly believe that by communicating to youth in a way that they’re comfortable with, we will reach thousands more youth needing help that we have in the past.”
In its 25 th year, Safe Place is a national youth outreach program that educates young people about the dangers of running away or trying to resolve difficult, threatening situations on their own through a network of sites that serve as access points to local youth shelters. Safe Place sites are marked by a yellow and black “Safe Place” sign and include all Fresno city buses, Fresno Unified School District campuses, WalMart stores, Boys and Girls Clubs of Fresno County, and Circle K stores, to name a few. |
