As homelessness, abuse and high school drop-out rates continue to rise among Cape Girardeau County teens, one coalition seeks the public's help to turn the statistics around.

The Putting Kids First coalition is made up of 13 organizations -- including Big Brothers Big Sisters, the United Way of Southeast Missouri and Community Counseling Center -- that support the mental health and well-being of children and teens in the county. It conducted a needs assessment finalized in 2012 that surveyed 27 agencies in the county that provided mental-health services and programs, searching for gaps in service.

Based on the number of people who received help from the agencies and the number each was forced to turn away, the results in the study showed about $5 million was needed to help the programs assist all teenagers in need and create services currently unavailable in the area. The suggestion recommended by the coalition to address that need was establishing a community children's services fund.

In the early 1990s, Missouri passed a law allowing counties to levy a tax and establish these funds to provide mental-health services to children living within the county. Eight counties in the state have established a community children's services fund; in seven of the counties, voters approved a sales tax and voters in the eighth county approved a property tax.

Ashley Beggs, executive director of the southern region of Big Brothers Big Sisters, attended Thursday's Cape Girardeau County Commission meeting to present the coalition's petition to put Proposition K on the ballot. The petition was signed by 2,906 registered voters in the county, which equals 8 percent.

Voters will determine in August if they want to approve the sales tax equal to one-quarter of a cent.

Beggs said a number of issues led to the decision from the coalition, but a few statistics in particular stood out.

"When we did the report and it was finalized in the fall of 2012, there were 131 youth that were reported homeless in the county," she said. "Since then, that number has increased to 240."

High school dropout rates are another problem, she said. Cape Girardeau County ranks 102 out of 114 counties in Missouri for annual high school dropouts. The county was ranked at 84 two years ago.

Beggs said other counties with a community children's services fund began seeing results after they were established. St. Charles County, the first to establish such a fund, saw a "significant decrease" in teenage pregnancy and juvenile offenses.

Should the sales tax be approved by Cape Girardeau County voters, she said the coalition would form a board with an executive director to oversee the fund. It would be locally controlled so the board would have the flexibility to direct funds toward the biggest perceived needs in the county.

Based on the needs assessment, Beggs said the fund could help establish a temporary homeless shelter for teens. The county currently has no facility that will accept unaccompanied minors.

It also could expand or create new services for unwed mothers and teenage parents, outpatient psychiatric treatment and school-based prevention. Beggs said the coalition already is reaching out to the community to explain the county's unmet needs and will continue to do so before the Aug. 5 vote.

"That's the greatest focus is the needs and trying to find ... a solution we know works to make sure kids in our county are taken care of and can grow to be successful citizens," she said.

srinehart@semissourian.com

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