Mission Statement

LAYN’s mission is to empower abused, neglected and homeless adolescents to become self-sufficient. We do this by providing street outreach, food, emergency shelter, transitional living apartments, and educational enrichment programs in a nurturing and safe environment.

the YOUTH

One at a time, our youth are forced on to the streets. They leave alcoholic and drug dependent families where physical and sexual abuses are an inescapable part of their daily lives. While some leave on their own volition, many are thrown out or abandoned on the street; a burden their families no longer want or need. Of the 12-17 year old runaways we see, most of their parents never report them missing.

Each night, as many as 7,500 homeless youth will sleep on the streets of LA. While some may have the mistaken notion that street life is romantic, they find that nothing is further from the truth. On the streets they will fall victim to prostitution and drug abuse, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. “Squats”, where youth often settle, under freeways or in
abandoned buildings, are filthy and violent beyond belief. They become desperate, and their problems with institutions and authorities become chronic. If LAYN does not intervene, they grow up to become welfare burdens at best. At worst they become criminals.

our HISTORY

Founded in 1984, The Los Angeles Youth Network (LAYN) is a California non-profit organization whose mission is to end homelessness one kid at a time, by providing shelter, food and counseling for the abused, neglected and abandoned. The goals for each child are to successfully complete the permanent transition away from street life to a safe and secure living environment and to fully participate in society.