SALT LAKE CITY — Halfway through her sophomore year, Cesilia Gonzalez’s mother left her and her two younger brothers.
“She never came home," she said. "She had been arrested and was later deported. From one day to the next, my whole life changed.”
“Had I had that support from the age of 16, with knowledgeable and trained adults, I would’ve known how to finish high school," said Gonzalez. "I would’ve been most likely put in foster care, because the programs exist. But nobody knew what to do, and nobody knew how to handle it.”
The then-16-year-old spent the next two and a half years wandering the halls of Logan High School.
“Nobody really knew what to do, so they basically said 'Good luck' and sent me on my way," said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is not the first to have this experience, said Emily Bell McCormick, Founder and President of The Policy Project.
“We realized that there are a lot of other barriers that kids in Utah are facing that are getting in the way of their education," she said.
McCormick says 1 in 50 Utah students is experiencing homelessness, but only 1 in 3 qualify for free or reduced lunch.
“If you go to class and you’re hungry if you go to class and you don’t smell good and your peers are not nice to you because of that, you’re not going to learn," she said.
The founder of The Policy Project started The Teen Center Project last year. Tonight, McCormick and her volunteers brought community members together to raise awareness for the need to build teen centers in all Utah high schools.
“We’re working with a public-private partnership between the legislature and private donors to help get funding from our legislature this session to help support and expand services for students in our Utah schools," said Mary Catherine Perry, Director of Policy and Government Affairs for The Policy Project.
The Teen Center Project is asking the state legislature to dedicate $20 million toward creating teen centers.
