OKC Teen Starts Nonprofit Organization to Help Homeless Teens

He spent most of his childhood homeless and in foster care. Now, Jaden Alexander is ready to give back to other Oklahoma teens in that same situation. Alexander says he was moved from one foster home to the next and never felt at home, so he took to the streets when he was just 12 years old.

“It's really rough being homeless,” he said. “You know living couch to couch, sleeping outside, shelter to shelter.”

Hungry and sometimes eating out of trash cans, this is how he said he spent his childhood in Tulsa.

“A lot of people look at homeless people as bad people, and we're really not bad people. We're just people that need help,” he said.

Even though Jaden said he didn’t get enough help, he never lost faith. Now, at age 19, he finally has a roof over his head and food to eat. But his inspiring story doesn’t end there.

“I want to be the voice for those who don't have a voice,” he said.

He moved to Oklahoma City and is becoming that voice through a nonprofit he created, the Compassion Action Youth Services Corporation. He already found a spot in Oklahoma City where he hopes to one day open the Compassion House.

“It will be a 365-day shelter, 24 hours 7 days a week,” he said. “I want to house up to 100 youth at a time with no waiting outside or anything like that a drop-in center where they can shower get resources, hang out and but also just have a family they feel like they haven't had.”

His website is up, and he is also campaigning through GoFundMe, anything to get his mission up and running.

“Get people into jobs, people into housing get people into schooling, you know. Get people all those essential resources that a human deserves,” Alexander said.

For more information on Alexander’s nonprofit, click here: https://sites.google.com/view/compassionactionyouthservices/home

If you would like to help on his GoFundMe campaign, click here: Fundraiser by Jaden Alexander : Fund startup for CAYS. (gofundme.com)

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services released this statement in connection with Alexander’s efforts:

“Oklahoma Human Services is grateful to the many community partners across the state who step forward in support of children in foster care, their families, and foster families. Everyone can do something to support foster care in their community and we encourage individuals to learn how they can get involved by visiting our website at https://okfosters.org/get-involved/. The agency also continues to need more foster families in every community to serve children in state custody, particularly families who are willing to serve children with significant behavioral health needs. For more information about becoming a foster parent, visit https://okfosters.org/ or call 1-800-376-9729.”