LUBBOCK, Texas –21-year-old Dezlyn Rangel said before she came to the Salvation Army’s youth passage program, she was in and out of group home placements her whole life.
While living in the youth passage group home, she was able to hold down a job, graduate high school and most recently was able to move into an apartment of her own.
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“It felt really good,” Rangel said on moving into her new apartment. “It made me feel like all my hard work and all my downfalls that I had and all the obstacles that I went through it all paid off.”
“The Passage program is a supervised independent living program for youth who have aged out of foster care so that they can look like 18 years old to 22,” said Erica Perry, the Social Services Director at the Lubbock Salvation Army.
Perry said the passage program is referral-based through Saint Francis. Once they are settled in, they help youth finish high school, continue their education through college, or help jumpstart a career.