Programs for Transition-Age Youth (TAY)

Daniel’s Place Drop-In Center

Daniel’s Place drop-in center for young adults is located at 3745 Overland Avenue in Los Angeles. The center provides a wide array of services for individuals 18-28 years of age, who are in need of mental health services and are experiencing homelessness. 

Daniel’s Place opened its doors in 1998 and is named after Daniel Greenberg, who was a scholar, athlete, actor, humanitarian, and outreach worker at Step Up and a member of its Board of Directors. Daniel’s Place was created to honor Daniel’s memory and to educate and support young persons in recovery from mental health conditions.

Daniel’s Place provides a safe, comfortable social environment to assist youth in their path to wellness and recovery. This includes securing housing for youth and providing supportive services to help youth begin their transition into independence. Specifically, Daniel’s Place provides:

• Supportive, clinical, recreational, and skill-building groups
• Individual therapy
• Psychiatric, nursing and case management services
• Personal coaching for learning, linkage to education and employment
• Linkage to housing
• Assistance with transportation
• A clothing closet
• A safe place to be 5 days a week

Step Up’s TAY programs are one of the few in LA County offering services specifically targeted to transition-age young adults (TAY) 18–28 years of age. Often young adults have unaddressed trauma and untreated mental health conditions. These challenges severely compromise the health and well-being of young people experiencing homelessness and jeopardize their efforts to reconnect with society and succeed in education and employment. Without appropriate and compassionate intervention, many young people who experience homelessness are at high risk of entering into an irreversible cycle of chronic homelessness, dependence on welfare, long-term mental health conditions, and experiencing barriers to living independently and finding community. Step Up has made the TAY services of Daniel’s Place an organizational priority to deliver the necessary support.

Permanent Supportive Housing

Step Up’s permanent supportive housing communities, and scattered sites across the region offer units for TAY participants from all of the above programs.

Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership (HHYP)

Step Up is a member of the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership (HHYP), a strategic alliance of youth-serving agencies including: LA Children’s Hospital; LA Youth Network; My Friend’s Place; Los Angeles LGBT Center; and Covenant House. The goal of HHYP is to prevent and reduce homelessness among youth and young adults in Hollywood through: service impact; training and capacity building; research and evaluation; and policy and advocacy. The HHYP collaborative mission is to ensure TAY have access to safe housing where physical and mental health needs can be addressed, so they don’t become a life-long disability; reducing high risk sexual, criminal, and substance behaviors; addressing trauma and emotional distress and strengthening protective factors such as family and social supports; promoting mental and physical health; and providing educational linkages and supported employment services building on the individuals strengths, capacities, resiliency, and natural community.