Registration Opens for the 2023 Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit featuring Award-Winning American Poet and Writer Jimmy Santiago Baca as Keynote Speaker

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Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and Las Vegas Sands are co-presenting the seventh annual Summit, which expands to a statewide focus, targeting Nevada's first youth homelessness plan

08/24/2023 - 01:00 PM

Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and Las Vegas Sands are co-presenting the seventh annual Summit, which expands to a statewide focus, targeting Nevada's first youth homelessness plan

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) and Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) today announced registration is open for the expanded Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit on Nov. 8 at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. Jimmy Santiago Baca, winner of the International Prize for his memoir A Place to Stand, will provide the keynote address.

With support from the UNLV Greenspun College of Urban Affairs and the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the seventh annual Summit shifts to a statewide focus, recognizing the imperative to attack the youth homelessness issue with a broader movement that can more effectively address state-level policy initiatives and create collaborations for innovative solutions.

As the foundation for building Nevada's first standalone statewide plan to end youth homelessness, Summit 2023 will feature:

An update on progress made in the Movement to End Youth Homelessness
A special presentation by youth experiencing homelessness
Regional perspectives on housing and services, fundraising, policy, systems intersectionality and public/private partnerships from southern, northern, rural and tribal representatives
A panel discussion exploring opportunities, challenges, similarities and differences by regional leaders
Breakout sessions focused on turning insights into action for building the statewide plan
An inspirational keynote address by Baca

Long considered one of the best poets in America today, Baca was illiterate at the age of 21 and facing five to 10 years in prison for selling drugs. A former homeless youth, he learned to read while in prison and began to turn his life around, eventually emerging as an artist of the spoken and written word.

A Place to Stand has garnered tremendous critical acclaim for its account of Baca's life before, during and immediately after the years he spent in a maximum-security prison, much of it in isolation. It is an affirmation of one man's spirit in overcoming brutal adversity.

"Working with colleagues from around the state, we are planning an action-packed day of insights, inspiration and concrete steps to coalesce our approach to impacting the high incidence of youth homelessness we have in Nevada," Arash Ghafoori, CEO, NPHY, said. "Coming out of the pandemic, we've seen many factors exacerbate the challenges that lead young people to become homeless. We must take action on a broader scale to combat these developments and create better safety nets for at-risk youth."

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in 2022 roughly 12% of youth experiencing homelessness across the United States were residing in Nevada. In addition, homelessness risk factors have accelerated as the state of Nevada is facing an estimated shortage of more than 80,000 affordable rentals for extremely low-income tenants, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

To expand The Movement to End Youth Homelessness statewide, a steering committee is spearheading content planning and participant engagement for Summit 2023. Members include representatives from University of Nevada, Reno; Eddy House; ACLU Nevada; Nevada Department of Education; Nevada Homeless Alliance; Nevada Housing Coalition; Clark County School District; St. Jude's Ranch for Children; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Las Vegas Sands; Clark County Social Service; Help Hope Home; Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority; and NPHY, with collaboration from the Northern Nevada Continuum of Care and Balance of State Continuum of Care.

"The Movement has gained steady momentum over the years guiding us to great progress on the Southern Nevada Plan to End Youth Homelessness, but this expanded statewide focus has already generated tremendous energy with the groups involved," said Ron Reese, senior vice president of global communications and corporate affairs, who spearheads corporate responsibility initiatives at Sands. "We encourage everyone who can impact this critical issue to be present at Summit 2023 because all voices must be represented and all resources must be aligned to ensure the statewide plan succeeds."

Registration for Summit 2023 is now open, and conference tickets are $100. For more information about Summit 2023 and to register, visit https://nphy.org/summit23.

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 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 work with homeless youth, NPHY creates productive, healthy adults who contribute to society. Strengthening and complementing the high-quality direct services for homeless youth, NPHY is dedicated to advocating with and for the Las Vegas Valley's homeless youth population and serves as a leader in systems-level efforts to eliminate homelessness among Nevada's youth. For more information or to support our life-changing work for homeless youth, please visit www.nphy.org.

About Sands (NYSE: LVS)
Sands is the world's preeminent developer and operator of world-class integrated resorts. Our iconic properties drive valuable leisure and business tourism and deliver significant economic benefits, sustained job creation, financial opportunities for local businesses and community investment to help make our host regions ideal places to live, work and visit.

Sands' portfolio of properties includes Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and The Venetian Macao, The Plaza and Four Seasons Hotel Macao, The Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao and Sands Macao in Macao SAR, China, through majority ownership in Sands China Ltd.

Sands is dedicated to being a leader in corporate responsibility, anchored by the core tenets of serving people, planet and communities. Our ESG leadership has led to inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for World and North America. To learn more, visit www.sands.com.