March 21, 2025
Youth homelessness is hard, dangerous, and preventable. SleepOut is a night spent outside to raise awareness and funds to address critical needs and transform lives in New Hampshire.
About SleepOut
Thank you to our Sponsors for supporting SleepOut 2025!
In its 11th year, SleepOut raises community awareness and funds to support essential services for young people who are experiencing homelessness in New Hampshire. Each year an estimated 15,000 young people experience homelessness in the state. Through SleepOut, our participants serve as Advocates and spend a night outside in the cold each March to stand in solidarity with these young people. SleepOut supports New Hampshire’s only low-barrier emergency youth shelter and safe space located in Manchester, youth drop-in centers in Manchester and Rochester, and a range of support services that lead to long-term stability.
Instead of sleeping outside together as a public demonstration of support for youth experiencing homelessness, advocates participating in SleepOut 2025 will sleep remotely outside. This change is necessary as a direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in July 2024 regarding Grants Pass vs. Johnson which allows municipalities to criminalize sleeping in public places.
An in-person gathering will take place at Bronstein Park in Manchester from 6:30PM – 8:30PM on March 21 – all our welcomed to attend. This will be followed by remote SleepOuts at a location of choice for our Advocates across the Granite State. Advocates and Teams who volunteer will raise financial support for Waypoint’s Homeless Youth and Young Adult programs and services through a peer-to-peer fundraising model and sponsorship. For more information on 2024’s event, click here.
Here is how you can help.
- Be an Advocate: Volunteer to SleepOut and become an Advocate for ending youth homelessness. Advocates are given tools to help obtain pledges from friends and colleagues to support a fundraising goal of at least $100 and meet or exceed it.
- Organize a Team of Advocates: Gather a group of colleagues, friends and family for a collective effort to support this cause, and your organization may match the funds raised by participants. Promotional tools are provided to make it easy to coordinate a Team.
- Become a Corporate Sponsor: Encourage your company to sponsor SleepOut 2025. Recognition and benefits are commensurate with the level of sponsorship. Donate: Through an online portal, you can contribute to SleepOut 2025 directly or support an Advocate or a Team. Prefer Venmo? You can donate to SleepOut through Venmo also.
To learn how to help us support homeless youth through SleepOut, please contact Cindy Stewart at 603.518.4205 or stewartc@waypointnh.org.
Youth Homelessness in NH
Almost 15,000 youth are likely to experience some form of homelessness in New Hampshire this year. Most people are surprised that the number is so high – primarily because youth homelessness tends to be an almost invisible problem.
You can’t always tell if a youth is homeless. Some are in school. Some have jobs. Some look like any other kid walking down the street with a backpack.
But they are struggling. Some are escaping abusive or neglectful homes, or have been rejected from their own families for their sexual identity or orientation. Some wrestle with trauma, mental illness, or addiction. Some are hungry, cold, scared, and are taking desperate measures to survive. Some will fall prey to human trafficking. And most are flying under the radar of their own communities.
Waypoint's Response to Youth Homelessness
Waypoint is the only agency in NH that provides comprehensive services for young people who are experiencing homelessness.
The Street Outreach team puts boots on the ground and serves as a lifeline to at-risk youth, offering two essential things: the basic elements to survive and the stuff with which to succeed.
The Runaway & Homeless Youth Program provides crisis intervention and prevention in schools and the community, and can help youth resolve family conflict.
The Youth Resource Centers in Concord, Manchester, and Rochester provide access to basic needs such as food, clothes, showers, and laundry, as well as life-changing services such as mental health counseling, substance misuse treatment, educational advocacy, job skills training, and more.
The Transitional Living Program provides housing and supportive services to youth experiencing or on brink of homelessness as they advance toward self-sufficiency and success.
The Rapid Rehousing Program provides short-term rental assistance and services to young people experiencing homelessness so they can obtain housing quickly, establish stability, and increase long-term self-sufficiency.
Overnight emergency shelter provides a safety net for youth experiencing homelessness in Manchester.
