Her name is Layla. She is seventeen. She has a grade point average of 3.9. And last Tuesday, she slept behind a dumpster because the women’s shelter was full and the night was too cold for the park bench.
In a world that often looks past the homeless, we look through young women. We assume a system will catch them. We assume a shelter has a bed. We assume wrong. Girl And Homeless -RJ01174495-
She looked up, surprised anyone had stopped. "Because if I'm reading," she said softly, "nobody yells at me. If I have a book, I’m a student. If I don’t, I’m just a runaway. The book makes me look like I belong somewhere." Her name is Layla
But for every Layla who makes it, a dozen others are standing on a corner right now, clutching a broken rabbit or a worn-out library book, hoping someone will finally see them. And last Tuesday, she slept behind a dumpster