News

A note from our CEO, Judith Dittman: Dear Friends, Because I know how much you care about the young people in our programs, I wanted to provide you with an update on the ways we are trying to keep them safe during the current COVID-19 outbreak. As of this writing, there are no community spread

Anne Kim is a Northern VA based writer, focusing on some of the issues at the core of our work. Her new book, "Abandoned: America’s Lost Youth and the Crisis of Disconnection" comes out on February 11th. She has an entire chapter dedicated to Second Story and how our work is helping address this crucial challenge. Her book is an excellent way to really understand some of the big issues Second Story seeks to address.

Happy new decade! In 2020 we celebrate not only a new year but a new decade, and we're feeling extra thankful for all the ways we have grown, with your help, over the past 10 years. Read about some of our 2010-2019 highlights.

Second Story's programs are located throughout Northern Virginia and serve young people throughout the entire DC metro area. Take a look at these photos for a peek into the spaces that host young people everyday, some of them 24/7, to provide safe havens and opportunities to grow and thrive...

Together, we can ensure that Second Story’s support will always be available for young people who need it the most. Our goal is to raise $4 million dollars from people like you over the course of the next three years to meet our rising expenses and continue providing uninterrupted support to young people. That’s about $1.3 million dollars a year, and we need your help.

Donate Thanksgiving baskets this holiday season and help feed a family of six through Second Story's Community Based programs.

A young person’s teenaged years are a critical moment in their life, and it’s especially important to Second Story that every young person has the safe havens and opportunities they need to graduate and pursue a hopeful future. Read Colby's story and the supplemental interview with Meghan to learn how Second Story steps in.

Every year families in our community struggle to send their kids back to school with everything they need to thrive. With your help, every August we give away backpacks filled with school supplies, provide information on resources available throughout the county, and celebrate a new school year. With your help we gave away more than 700 backpacks this year!

We relocated our administrative offices and have changed our in-kind donations hours. Donations will be accepted at Second Story for Teens in Crisis (2100 Gallows Rd, Vienna, VA) on Tuesday from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm, Wednesdays from 8:00 am until 11:00 am, and Sundays from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm. 

This summer youth from our Safe Youth Projects are going on lots of field trips, trying fun activities, and learning lots even while school is out. Learn more about what a day in the life looks like this summer at the Springfield Safe Youth Project.

Every summer Second Story provides young people in the community with backpacks filled with school supplies so they have everything they need to begin the new year. We hand them out in our programs and at a super fun back-to-school kickoff in August. Last year we gave away more than 500! We need your help

We are so proud of each of them, thankful for each member of our staff who supported them everyday, and, of course, thankful to you for making it possible for us to provide safety and opportunities to homeless youth and youth in crisis so they can achieve milestones like high school graduation.

Some issues faced by young people today are the same issues they’ve been facing for decades – conflict with their parents and mental health issues, for example – and some issues could have hardly been imagined when our shelter was founded, like cyber bullying and the pressures of social media. We believe it’s essential, then, that we adapt our approach to meet this evolving set of needs.

A new report found that in the past three school years (from 2014-2015 to 2016-2017) the number of identified school-aged youth experiencing homelessness at any point during the year increased by 7%, from a little over 1.2 million to a little over 1.3 million homeless youth. Virginia had an even more drastic increase -- more than 14%.

Second Story has a podcast called Second Stories! Second Stories is dedicated to telling stories of people who had first stories full of hardship and hopelessness, yet were able to change the narrative and write a new one.