Covenant House 50 Years: Rising to Tomorrow

We’d like you to meet some of the individuals who make up our Covenant House Alumni Community. They may have turned to Covenant House for help, but there is so much more to our youth than homelessness.

Margaret Elisabeth (they/them)
Alumni, Covenant House Texas

“At Covenant House, I found the first person to take an interest in my life. In that moment, I didn't feel homeless or like a marginalized kid.”

Veronica (she/her)
Alumni, Covenant House Michigan

“My experience, as it relates to my larger life story, is whatever I went through in regards to being homeless or in an abusive relationship, I am able to use that to my good and help other people just know that this won’t always be. There is always a brighter side.”

Carlos (he/him)
Alumni, Covenant House California

“At Covenant House, the whole community helped me transform my life. Leaving home is what moved my mom to get help for her mental illness. Mental health is now an open conversation in my family.”

Hannah (she/her)
Alumni, Covenant House New York

“I can still name all of the people who played a role in giving me a voice, clearing a path for me and my child, and believing in me. It felt good to be seen and heard after so many years of feeling alone.”

Julissa (she/her/ella)
Alumni, Casa Alianza, Covenant House in Mexico

“I had goals when I arrived, but I didn’t know how I would achieve them. Suddenly, I had a whole team to support me. They allowed me to reach where I am now, independent.”

Lennon (he/him)
Director of Legal Services, Covenant House New Jersey

"When I became an attorney, my goal was to work with people of color, to really become someone in my community that we didn't have access to. To me, it was about exposure. It was about letting people see Black attorneys. People don't end up at Covenant House by accident."

Elijah (he/him)
Alumni, Covenant House New Orleans

“To me, art don’t always have to be visual. Each phase of your life you go through different traumas, different learning experiences. The struggling parts are the strokes of the paintbrush. Each stroke hold an emotion in it. And each one of them strokes expresses a different side of the artist. So, it’s up to you on how that painting will come out in the end. That’s what I think home is.”

Phuego (he/him)
Alumni, Covenant House Florida

“Over 20 years ago the staff at Covenant House planted a seed. They showed me love and support and provided room and board and so much more to me.”

Wandalynn (she/her)
Alumni, Covenant House New York

“Being a resident at Covenant House solidified my desire to be a social worker or psychologist because I wanted to gain the knowledge and tools necessary to fix what I witnessed and experienced as a youth in New York City."