CLEARLAKE – Organizers of an effort to build a safe house for homeless children and teenagers say they plan to have a facility open in September.

The announcement comes at the start of Homeless Youth Awareness Month, which the Clearlake City Council declared by proclamation Thursday and the Board of Supervisors declared on Tuesday.

Lake County Community Action Agency is the project's lead organization, Executive Georgina Lehne said at the Thursday council meeting, where she received the proclamation from Clearlake Mayor Curt Giambruno.

Lehne said a recent golf tournament fundraiser brought in just under $20,000, which will be used to open the safe house.

She credited Bill MacDougall – principal of Carlé High School and the next Konocti Unified School District superintendent – for starting the safe house effort and choosing the agency to lead it.

Too many youth are forced to leave their homes due to violence, drugs or other factors, said Lehne.

According to information provided by MacDougall, the number of homeless youth often is hard to determine because many them are “off the radar” – they're not known to social service agencies and law enforcement.

Some young people come to be known as “throwaway” youth – runaways who are abandoned or rejected by parents, MacDougall reported.

A study conducted by Healthy Start's McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Assistance Program found that, as of May, there were 594 homeless school-age children in Lake County.

That equals 6 percent of the county's total school enrollment of 9,806 for 2007-08, a slight increase over the 5.3 percent of homeless school-age children from prior years. When the 11 identified preschoolers are added, the total number of homeless youth identified rises to 605.

The California Department of Justice reported that the number of runaways reported in 2007 is down to 144; in addition, there were 33 reports of missing children for other reasons, including abduction, and suspicious and unknown circumstances.

The 2000 Census found that, of the county's 3,000 youth aged 16 to 19, 369 (12%) were neither in school nor employed, MacDougall reported.

He said that statistic suggests that a disturbing percentage of older youth are lost – not in school and not employed, and are likely to be at enhanced risk of homelessness.

Lehne said of the safe house Thursday, “This project has really been a labor of love.”

Additional safe house fundraisers will be planned in the future and donations can be sent to the Lake County Community Action Agency, P.O. Box 6649 Clearlake, CA 95422. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

MacDougall said the group Friends of the Safe House thanks the community for its support in addressing the issue of homeless youth.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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