Each year, approximately 4.2 million youth, young adults and teens experience homelessness in the United States, including 700,000 unaccompanied minors, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
The organization reports that approximately one in 30 youth ages 13 to 17 will experience homelessness each year. NCSL notes that these figures may undercount the true number of homeless youth due to varying definitions of homelessness and the difficulty of reaching unhoused young people, many of whom are not in shelters and frequently move between temporary sleeping arrangements. Its Voices of Youth Count research reflects that youth homelessness affects rural, suburban and urban communities at similar rates.
For Diane Schuman, the scale of the crisis underscores why she has spent 13 years volunteering at Covenant House Atlantic City. After being asked to speak to young residents about job readiness over a decade ago, she’s kept showing up each week to help them create their resumes, fill out job applications and show them how to present themselves. Now, she is on the nonprofit’s program board.
Schuman was also asked to join the nonprofit’s first annual Sleep Out, an overnight event that raises awareness and funds for the organization. She’s been attending it each year ever since.
Most Sleep Out events across the country take place around the same time; Covenant House Philadelphia is hosting its Sleep Out at Citizens Bank Park this year.
In Atlantic City, the event begins with a candlelight vigil, where Schuman will read a passage that opens the ceremony and guides participants into reflection. The vigil honors young lives lost.
“We pay homage to all the kids that they’ve lost throughout the year,” she said. “It’s very solemn and it sheds light on the crisis of youth homelessness across our country.”
Since its first event, participation has grown exponentially.
“It was small, and each year grew bigger and bigger and bigger,” Schuman said. This year, 36 individuals are expected to sleep outside in cardboard boxes.
The experience is meant to be uncomfortable. “It’s just to make it more real, to understand what a kid might feel… scared, alone, cold, hungry,” she said.
The emotional impact stays with her.
“Volunteering is a privilege,” Schuman said, noting the stories she hears — stories involving trafficking, abandonment, addiction and aging out of foster care.
Schuman has a personal fundraising goal of $2,500 and leads a team aiming for $10,000. She said she is moved by the generosity she sees, even from donors struggling themselves.
“This is something that’s very unique to the Covenant House,” she said. “And my feelings is that nobody in America, especially youth, should ever be homeless… It’s my privilege to help them and volunteer.”
The upcoming Sleep Out begins Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, at 8 p.m. and runs through Saturday morning, concluding with breakfast and reflections from 6 to 7 a.m.
The event proceeds rain or shine, as Covenant House emphasizes on its website: “Young people on the street don’t always have a place to seek refuge until they find Covenant House. During the Sleep Out, the same goes for you.” This year’s fundraising goal is $275,000.
