Key points:

• The Teen Living Center, the first facility of its kind in Davis County, Utah, is providing new options for local teenagers facing homelessness.
• The 16-bed, residential complex provides access to basic necessities, life skills training, employment preparation and guidance to keep teens on track for high school graduation.
• The nonprofit Davis Education Foundation developed the center with financial support that included $10,000 from Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s (MPC) Salt Lake City refinery.

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Teenagers facing homelessness in Davis County, Utah, are getting access to a level of assistance that was previously unavailable in this part of the Salt Lake City metro area. The Davis Education Foundation (DEF), the nonprofit arm of the Davis School District, has opened the Teen Living Center, a 16-bed residential facility that is the county’s first facility of its kind. 

“In Davis County, there were no shelters for any youth experiencing homelessness,” DEF Partnership & Development Coordinator Sherry Miggin said. “The prompt to develop this facility came from a donor and community partner who asked us where the most vulnerable teens who were homeless would sleep at night.”

The donor provided funds to purchase property for the Teen Living Center. Additional project support came from other community partners, including $10,000 from Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s (MPC) Salt Lake City refinery as part of a broader $25,000 grant. The center will provide access to basic necessities, life skills training, employment preparation and guidance to keep teens on track for high school graduation.

“The prompt to develop this facility came from a donor and community partner who asked us where the most vulnerable teens who were homeless would sleep at night.”

“The living center has a school district liaison who works with Switchpoint, our partner that will run the facility, to help make sure students are in school and succeeding,” DEF Executive Director Jodi Lunt said. “There is also a district case management team and other available community resources to help them transition into adulthood.”

MPC Senior Stakeholder Engagement Representative Dean Adam called the Teen Living Center an excellent fit with the company’s community investment goals.

“Our aim is to strengthen communities and help make people's lives better, and the center has the potential to make truly life-changing differences for many young people by providing stability and direction during a very fragile period of their lives,” Adam said.

DEF serves 72,000 students across more than 90 public schools in the Davis School District. While the Teen Living Center is the district’s first facility of its kind, it may not be the last.

“Once this center is firmly established, we have the intention to create another center at the southern end of the district,” said Lunt.