LAS VEGAS, Sept. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Las Vegas Sands
Corp. (NYSE: LVS) and Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY)
today announced they will launch a major coordinated regional
effort to address youth homelessness, kicking off with
Intersections: The 2017 Southern Nevada Youth Homelessness
Summit during Youth Homelessness Awareness Month in
November.
Summit 17, planned for Nov. 2 at
The Venetian Las Vegas, aims to accelerate community awareness of
the problem and will kick-start a year-long planning process to
create the Southern Nevada Plan to End Youth Homelessness. This
community-wide master plan is targeted at reducing the high
incidence numbers and addressing the myriad of problems underscored
by youth homelessness – from criminal behavior to health
consequences and more.
According to the latest data available from U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in its 2016 Annual Homeless
Assessment Report, Las
Vegas/Clark County had the
third highest number of unaccompanied homeless children and youth
living on the streets and in shelters of any major metro area in
the United States – following only
New York and Los Angeles. In addition, the State of Nevada continues to rank first in the
rate of unaccompanied homeless youth living unsheltered,
demonstrating a lack of resources in the community.
"Youth homelessness is not a standalone problem, and it is
intimately connected to so many other critical issues that deeply
affect our region's economy, public health, safety and quality of
life," said Ron Reese, senior vice
president of global communications and corporate affairs at Las
Vegas Sands Corp. "We hope that civic and business leaders, service
providers and policy makers who can help turn around these alarming
statistics and impact our city's vulnerable youth will join this
important endeavor."
Summit 17 is presented by NPHY and Sands Cares, the corporate
giving program of Las Vegas Sands Corp., with support from the UNLV
Greenspun College of Urban Affairs and the Las Vegas
Review-Journal. The event will showcase the youth homelessness
issue through data and personal stories, as well as deliver
insights from a range of experts. Current highlights planned
for Summit 17 include:
- A state of the union on youth homelessness by the UNLV
Greenspun College of Urban Affairs
- A review of the national policy landscape by Darla Bardine, J.D., Executive Director of the
National Network for Youth (NN4Y), the
United States' largest public education and policy advocacy
organization devoted to homeless youth
- A personal story by Giuseppe
Pizano, a former homeless youth
- Interactive focus group sessions exploring the intersections
between youth homelessness and other key community issue areas,
including human trafficking, education, immigration and LGBTQ
issues
Beyond creating awareness and insights, Summit 17 will launch a
year-long community work group effort to build a youth homelessness
"attack" plan for Las
Vegas/Clark County, with
the Southern Nevada Plan to End Youth Homelessness slated to be
presented at the second annual Summit in 2018.
While many other communities across the nation have developed
coordinated plans to end youth homelessness, Southern Nevada must band together to create
systemic and lasting change for this exceptionally vulnerable
population. Southern Nevada is
also in direct competition with other communities for very limited
federal government and national foundation dollars for homeless
youth programs, making it even harder for our community to create
and offer critical services.
"Our city's homeless youth get lost in a system that is
currently better at addressing the outcomes of their situation –
for example, crime, substance abuse, trafficking, pregnancy and
truancy – instead of the root cause of not having the fundamental
support system of a reliable home," said Arash Ghafoori, executive director of Nevada
Partnership for Homeless Youth. "We can impact many of these issues
if we solve the underlying problem of getting kids off the
streets. Our theme of 'Intersections' underscores the need to
address all of the facets that contribute to youth homelessness and
exacerbate the impact on our community."
For more information about Intersections: The 2017 Southern
Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit, please visit
http://www.nphy.org/summit17/ .
About Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is the world's pre-eminent
developer and operator of world-class Integrated Resorts that
feature luxury hotels; best-in-class gaming; retail; dining and
entertainment; Meetings, Incentives, Convention and Exhibition
(MICE) facilities; and many other business and leisure
amenities. LVS pioneered the MICE-driven Integrated Resort, a
unique, industry-leading and extremely successful model that serves
both the business and leisure tourism markets.
LVS properties include The Venetian and The Palazzo resorts and
Sands Expo in Las Vegas, Sands
Bethlehem in Eastern Pennsylvania,
and the iconic Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Through majority ownership in Sands
China Ltd., LVS owns a portfolio of properties on the Cotai Strip
in Macao, including The Venetian
Macao, The Plaza and Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Sands Cotai Central
and The Parisian Macao, as well as the Sands Macao on the
Macao Peninsula.
LVS is dedicated to being a good corporate citizen, anchored by
the core tenets of delivering a great working environment for our
more than 50,000 team members worldwide, driving impact through its
Sands Cares corporate giving program and leading innovation with
the company's award-winning Sands ECO360° global sustainability
program. To learn more, please visit www.sands.com.
About Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY)
NPHY is the most comprehensive service provider for the thousands
of homeless youth in Southern
Nevada, serving hundreds of youth through our core programs
and touching the lives of thousands more through outreach each
year. NPHY's programs stabilize homeless teens' lives, meeting
their immediate needs and providing a safe, supportive environment
and a path to self-sufficiency. Through our work with homeless
youth, NPHY creates productive, healthy adults who contribute to
society. For more information or to support our life-changing work
for homeless youth, please visit www.nphy.org.
Contacts:
|
|
Kristin
Koca
|
Lanette
Rivera
|
Las Vegas Sands
Corp.
|
Nevada Partnership
for Homeless Youth
|
Kristin.Koca@sands.com
|
summit@nphy.org
|
702-414-3218
|
702-969-2196
|
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SOURCE Las Vegas Sands Corp.