Justine Burton is pictured in this 2018 file photo.

Justine Burton knows from experience the risks of being homeless as a teen or young adult.

At 16 and with no family to turn to, Burton was forced to live on the streets in Kansas City, Mo. It was a situation that put her in vulnerable positions as she coped with a daily struggle to secure the basics for survival.

“I was out there in all kinds of weather,” she said. “I remember it well. When you’re on the streets, you’re doing what you have to do. All you are thinking about is having something to eat and shelter. That’s when you really get exploited. People tell you they will keep you safe and feed you and you don’t have to worry about anything, but after that, it’s payback time.”

Burton said she was able to escape the streets at 21 because she believed in herself. She earned a college degree from Fort Hays State University after first receiving an associate degree from Kansas City Kansas Community College.

“It took me a while to get my degree,” she said. “I had to fight. In myself, I always thought I was meant to be something different — that there was something I was meant to do. You have to fight because there are so many negative things going on.”

Burton founded the Lawrence nonprofit Stop Gap Inc. in 2008 to help vulnerable teens aging out of foster care prepare to navigate the adult world. It’s a population of young adults who often find themselves at age 18 with few life skills and no parents, mentors or guardians in their lives to show them the ropes, she said.

“For former foster care kids, it can be a lonely and very scary time, because once they leave foster care, so many things hit them,” she said. “In six months to a year, sometimes less, many are homeless. Some may couch surf with friends for a while, but there’s a limit to that. When they are homeless, they are vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation.”

There will be a fundraiser to help Stop Gap advance its mission from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 21, at the hair salon Paisley & Stripe West, 846 Illinois St. Alexandra Cedeno, a stylist with the salon, said all proceeds from the day will be donated to Stop Gap. To make an appointment, call 785-551-7222.

For the past nine years, Stop Gap has been helping teens in foster care prepare for their 18th birthdays through its Youth Empowerment Outreach Program, Burton said. The program offers an eight-week class to foster care children ages 14 through 17, she said. Offered alternately to boys and girls, the class teaches life skills that most teens would learn from parents, such as basic budgeting or expectations of landlords.

Burton said the class also attempts to link the teens to social service programs available in the community and helps teens secure employment by sharing tips on how to fill out applications and what employers are looking for during job interviews. Employers visit her classroom at Victory Bible Church and also open their job sites for onsite classes, Burton said. The class also meets at the Dwayne Peaslee Technical Training Center to learn what it has to offer, and Burton arranges visits from representatives of the Willow Domestic Violence Center to talk to the students about how to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy relationships.

Her goal for 2018 is to focus on Stop Gap’s next step, Burton said. Her plan from the start was for the nonprofit to complement its outreach program with a transitional group home called Lighthouse, which would give foster children turning 18 a home for up to two years as a bridge into the adult world, she said.

“They will not be coming there to watch TV,” she said. “The program will be set up to help kids get an education or into a jobs program. It will be a group home where kids learn how to take care of themselves.”

It will require $350,000 to find a house and furnish it for four to five young adults, Burton said. As founder and CEO of Stop Gap, she has been its sole fundraiser, she said. She is in the process of forming a Stop Gap board of directors to help with fundraising and take advantage of expanded opportunities, she said.

“Once we get that, we can really get going,” she said. “Lighthouse is something that is really needed. I see so many kids who, when they leave my classroom, become homeless because there is nowhere else for them to go.”