Facing the Harsh Reality of Youth Homelessness Detroit Stands United to Make a Difference

The chill of a Detroit night cuts through even the thickest coat. For Shaunetra Morton, it’s a familiar sting, one she once endured nightly in an abandoned house with no heat, no water, and no hope. The young woman, in her early 20s at the time, was trapped in a cycle of homelessness and abuse. But on a particularly cold evening in 2007, she walked through the doors of Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard—and everything changed. They saw Morton at a time when she felt invisible. “[CHMI] really helped me because I was in a really bad space when I arrived here,” she says. “They helped me become the person I am today. I was able to go to community college, get a bank account, housing, everything to help me through life.” Today, Morton works in the medical field at a major Detroit hospital. Her story, one of triumph against the odds, represents the core of what Covenant House Michigan strives to do every day: provide not just shelter but pathways to a brighter future for youth experiencing homelessness. Morton is one of more than 80,000 young people whose lives have been transformed by CHMI...