“Megan, Sarah, Lona, Nina, Liliana, Miesha, Marvetta, Susan, Nikki, Dakota…like all the girls who have walked through this door, that’s what makes this worth it for me. I know we’re just changing starfish lives here, but we’d like to impact the ocean,” says Monica DuPea, the founder of the Nevada Youth Empowerment Project (NYEP), beaming with a smile despite recent challenges of having had to recently deal with costly sewer repairs.
NYEP is a Reno-based nonprofit founded in 2007 that provides housing, life skills training, and support to help young women transition from foster care or homelessness to independent adulthood.
The project currently consists of two homes for the program participants to live in and one more being constructed which will complete NYEP’s continuum of housing - first meeting young women where they are at and moving them towards where they want to be. These different stages are called the Community Living Program (Faland House), the Affordable Housing Program (Sonder House), and the being worked on Gen Den.
This latest addition will be a 10-unit housing complex for five graduates of the Community Living Program, as well as five local seniors, who are in need of low income units. For the girls to move into Sonder House, they must meet certain expectations of independence and accountability.
“The strive for independence and the support with that, because this program wants you to be independent…it’s just like really caring to be yourself and they’ll help you or give you the resources that you need to be independent in this shitty world,” says Megan, a resident at the Community Living Program since April of 2024.
Megan had a difficult childhood where she faced a lot of adversity and it led her to homelessness until she moved into the Eddy House. She struggled with substance abuse but then found NYEP where she says she has been making great progress ever since.
One of the biggest obstacles facing NYEP currently is funding, with monetary issues recently exacerbated by the sewer system at NYEP’s Community Living Program house on Faland Way recently failing and causing a major backup that prevented the girls from using the showers and toilets like normal.
A gofundme raised $4,745 but the bill to complete the repair added up to $27,286. An update on the fundraiser from earlier this week indicates: “NYEP is awaiting the meeting of the Board of Directors of the SIB, which is chaired by Treasurer Conine for their consideration. Their next regularly scheduled meeting is Nov. 11th.”
This refers to the Nevada State Infrastructure Bank and Nevada State Treasurer Zach Conine.
“We’ve applied for a State SIB grant/assistance, and the Treasurer’s Office tells me it will require board approval and could take about 30 days to process,” the fundraiser indicated on October first. “There is a possibility, not guaranteed, that the funding could be voted down or delayed. These are always risks in state processes. In the meantime:
We’re keeping the GoFundMe open as a safety net in case the state decision falls through or is reduced. If the state does fully fund the repair, we promise to refund donations to anyone who requests it. Your support isn’t just paying a bill, it kept us afloat during the crisis, allowed the repair to happen fast, and gave us time to mobilize state help.”
Meanwhile, if all goes well, the Gen Den is expected to be completed by June of next year, giving even more depth to the program NYEP runs, turning young local women from difficult journeys to fulfilling independence.
For those interested in applying for a spot in the housed program, according to written out details on the NYEP website, “applicants must be 18-24 years old and identify as female, cannot be pregnant, planning pregnancy, or have custody of children, must abstain from drug or alcohol use and show no current signs of psychosis, must desire and need support transitioning to stable adulthood, must be physically and mentally able to participate in program activities, including school, volunteer work, and employment,” and have a 12 to 24 month commitment.