Sleep Out During Youth Homelessness Awareness Month

For the first time ever, Covenant House is putting our stake in the ground and claiming November as Youth Homelessness Awareness Month. As part of this effort, our annual Sleep Out events that typically start in the summer and lead up to our Executive Edition across various cities in the fall, have all been scheduled this year during Youth Homelessness Awareness Month.

The Covenant House Sleep Out invites participants (aka Sleepers) to spend a night sleeping outside, either at a Covenant House or a location of your choosing. Sleep Out is not about pretending to be homeless. Corporate partners, community and business leaders, families, and individuals around the world Sleep Out to show their solidarity with those who are experiencing homelessness — and to amplify the message that everyone deserves a safe place to sleep.

Participating raises awareness about the youth homelessness crisis, and raises critical funds to help Covenant House provide 24/7 shelter, sanctuary, and relentless support.

Miles G. Jackson is a fourth-year Sleeper, who was invited to his first Sleep Out by Rachel Brosnahan in 2019. He said, “There’s no better way than participating in Sleep Out to expand your empathy when it comes to homelessness.

“You can read all the articles you want, you can donate all you want, but until you actually meet and listen to people who have experienced homelessness and/or who are actively working to end it, I don’t think you can fully grasp its nuances and complexities,” said Miles.

This year there are more ways and more places to Sleep Out, and there are more industries involved. Sleep Outs take place at 19 of Covenant House’s affiliate sites across the 34 cities and six countries where we operate. In fact, we are hosting our first Sleep Out in Mexico City this year, led by Covenant House board member and former New Jersey state governor and senator, Jon Corzine.

There will also be Sleep Outs in cities where there is no Covenant House location, like the one in Boston, MA, and Research Triangle Park, NC, hosted by Cisco on Nov. 17. Cisco is one of our largest corporate partners and a Sleep Out Signature Partner: a company who has led Global Sleep Out teams for five or more years, engaged hundreds of employees, and raised over $1 million for Covenant House.

The company has set its most ambitious goal yet for the number of sleepers they hope to recruit and the amount of funds they hope to raise. Cisco employees will Sleep Out at Levi’s Stadium near the Cisco headquarters in San Jose/San Francisco. Covenant House has hosted the event in the area in previous years, but this year’s event is the first since 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the timing is perfect, since we opened a new house in Santa Clara in the spring of 2021. All of the Cisco locations can be seen at www.sleepout.org/cisco.

Delta is also holding their own Sleep Out at major airports and at their campus in Atlanta on Nov. 3. Participating locations for that day’s event also include South Florida, and Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York. Delta Sleep Out teams also will be participating on Nov. 17 in Los Angeles, Detroit, Washington, DC and Mexico City. All Delta Sleep Out locations can be seen at www.sleepout.org/delta.

Accenture will also host a Sleep Out on Nov. 17, and aims to surpass its own previous Sleep Out numbers. Accenture Sleep Out locations can be seen at www.sleepout.org/accenture.

Sleep Outs have also been planned by individual Sleepers who have put together their own teams and chosen to sleep out from anywhere.

Throughout the night, Sleepers learn about the crisis of youth homelessness, participate in a candlelight vigil, hear directly from Covenant House frontline leaders, alumni, and youth, and share in deep conversation with teammates. You can host a Sleep Out anywhere, as long as the location is safe and legal. You pick the day, the place, and the people. We provide the planning tools, activity ideas, and event support to create a meaning full engagement experience for your team. There are even virtual programming options.

“I’m excited to Sleep Out again because I remain in a position where sleeping on the street for a night is a choice,” said Miles. “I want to continue to support an organization that actually changes lives for the better in the long term. I want to Sleep Out again because every year the Sleep Out fills me with gratitude for the work that Covenant House does, but also fills me with rage that their practices are not mainstreamed. And at the center of those practices, from what I’ve seen, is genuine love and care, not just meals and beds. And what could be more important or worthy a cause than that?”

For more information, visit our Sleep Out website at sleepout.org.