Chicago nonprofit Ignite helping youth experiencing homelessness rebuild their lives

Chicago students are getting ready to go back to school soon, but if you don’t have a home, getting good grades is even tougher. A Chicago nonprofit called Ignite gives kids experiencing homelessness the foundation to launch their future lives.

Using an orange mobile outreach van, Ignite travels around the city to bring services to young people experiencing homelessness.

“Anything from information on what we can to for them to our safe sex kits to our hygiene packs to our food. We can pass out all those things right here,” said Ignite director of outreach and prevention Chineze Mogbo.

It’s a way to reach kids who need help, especially since they say it’s often difficult to tell their friends, teachers, or others in their lives that they’re struggling with homelessness.

“We help them move from survival to resilience,” said Ignite president and CEO Stephanie Piccirilli. “We work with them one on one to find out what they need to rebuild their life and move forward so that they can grow into a young adult and thrive.”

Ignite started in 1976, after Congress passed a law providing funding to help runaway youth.

“We were able to be funded through that act, and start out doing street outreach. We had an office in the Greyhound bus station,” Piccirilli said.

The organization has grown a lot since then, now helping around 700 young people every year, and not just with housing.

“Ignite’s a place where you can be very comfortable. … It feels like a normal environment for teenagers and young adults,” said Saniah Perry, who attended the Sparks program at Ignite, which helps people prepare for their careers. “Not only did it give me a job, but it gave me friends. Last summer, when I was working at Sparks, I was very reserved and I didn’t really want to leave my house … and Sparks gave me an outlet to go outside every day to talk to people, to learn more about other people, and not just only be inside yourself.”

After being part of Ignite, Perry and others like her are prepared for a brighter future.