Homeless youth finds hope at Covenant House

By John Spano

Nov. 26, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

For Christine Duvernay, the most important thing about turning 18 last year wasn’t getting the right to vote.

It was getting kicked out of her foster home.

Duvernay soon found herself sleeping on the streets of Hollywood, vulnerable to economic and criminal exploitation, like an estimated 1,000 other homeless youths every evening.

She was saved, she said, by Covenant House.

“I have a future. I have goals,” the animated young woman said in a recent interview at the shelter for runaways and homeless youth. “If it wasn’t for Covenant House, I would be on the streets.”

Christine’s story is a familiar one to George Lozano, who runs the charity’s two California shelters, in Los Angeles and Oakland. The Covenant House building on North Western Avenue stands out as a beacon in bright yellow, orange and ochre.

“We provide a sanctuary and a safe environment for our youth,” said Lozano, 59. “We commit to providing them certain programs and services, and they in turn make a commitment, or a covenant, with us that they will stay in the program.”

Counselors prowl the streets of Hollywood every evening of the year, looking for young people without options. Between 50 and 75 youths are contacted nightly.

There are beds for 94 in the shelter’s U-shaped complex, which surrounds a central courtyard garden and playground. It’s an urban oasis shielding youths from some of the toughest streets in Los Angeles.

A typical room sleeps four in double bunk beds. The interiors are spartan, with closets and built-in drawers but little furniture. Here they can sleep, have meals, take classes, get medical care and exist in safety while working to move into independent living.

The residents reflect the surrounding homeless population. Many are runaways or have been kicked out of their homes. More than half have “aged out” -- turned 18 -- and because the state no longer pays for their support, they have been turned out by their foster parents. More than a third, Lozano estimates, have been sexually abused.

“Some kids on the streets sell their bodies. We call it survival sex,” Lozano said. “You might call it prostitution.”

The shelter is part of a group of dozens run by Covenant House International, which was founded in 1969 in a New York City apartment. Today, the organization houses 60,000 youths each year, Lozano said.

The Los Angeles chapter was founded in 1989 and now has a full- and part-time staff of 120 operating on a budget of $10 million. There is no endowment, and virtually all of the income is from private sources, Lozano said.

There are more homeless youths in Hollywood than anywhere else in Los Angeles County, and probably in all of California, Lozano said.

Unlike skid row downtown, where most of the homeless have criminal records and mental health issues of long standing, the kids here can still turn their lives around.

“They come to Hollywood because they hear about the glitz and the glamour and they think there’s opportunity here,” Lozano said. “They’ve heard of Hollywood; they haven’t heard of Kalamazoo.”

Covenant House has received help from Paramount Studios, local banks and law firms. Actors Charlize Theron and William Shatner have pitched in. This being Hollywood, the annual fundraiser was held this year at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Covenant House received a $25,000 grant from The Times Holiday Campaign, based on donations from readers.

When Christine talks about the future that she can now see, she describes small steps: Get more education, get into cosmetology school and get a degree, open a shop.

She has taken advantage of a unique course of study on filmmaking that the HBO cable network has helped create at Covenant House. She has made films. And the old Hollywood dream dies hard.

“Hopefully, I’ll get into the film industry,” Christine said.

The annual fundraising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $500,000 in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771.

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