A small crowd gathers Tuesday afternoon for the rededication of the Center for Independent Living at Las Vegas Boulevard and Foremaster Lane. The center, which shelters homeless youth, underwent three years of renovations donated by local trade unions. Photos by Craig L. Moran. Erik Broersma, 19, sits in his studio apartment at the Center for Independent Living, a nonprofit organization that helps homeless youths. The teen was briefly homeless before coming to the center. He since has found a job and enrolled in night school.

Erik Broersma considers himself one of the lucky ones: he was only homeless for one day.

"I've lived here since January," the 19-year-old said Tuesday inside his tiny studio apartment on Las Vegas Boulevard and Foremaster Lane. "It's a pretty good place. I can hopefully get on my feet here. If I was still living at home, I would probably be getting into a lot of trouble."

Broersma had "a really bad relationship" with his parents, he said. But since leaving home, the teen has managed to get a job as a night security guard and enrolled in night classes to earn a high school diploma. He says he now is able to focus on his future.

"I want to get my own place and a car," he said. "I want to get a better job. I'm thinking about joining the Army."

It's a much better life because Broersma found the Center for Independent Living. The nonprofit organization provides housing, counseling, substance abuse treatment and job placement to homeless youths between 16 and 21.

The 12-year-old center celebrated a grand reopening this week after three years of renovations donated by local trade unions. The changes included adding a commercial kitchen, sprucing up residents' rooms and adding four emergency apartments.

The facility houses up to 40 local young people at a time. They can stay as long as they are enrolled in school, are working or both.

They also must be drug-free, are required to save at least 80 percent of their income and must observe nightly curfews.

"They stay varying amounts of time," Dr. Fred Gillis, the center's director, said. "We have some that stay two or three years."

The center's goal is to prepare the young people to care for themselves by teaching them how to find a job, cook for themselves, get along with roommates and pay bills. Residents, who come from unstable or abusive home environments, also take advantage of counseling services.

"I get depressed sometimes," Broersma said. "They have counselors who care about you."

Kandice Roberts, 20, is one of the center's success stories.

"When I was 17, my mom up and left," Roberts said. "I didn't know what to do or where to turn."

But Roberts recently moved into her own apartment after spending two years living at the center. She had managed to save $5,000 and now has a job at a nearby pawn shop.

"This isn't one of those fluff agencies that can't show their progress," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said at the center's grand reopening ceremony. "The young people who come here to get back on their feet go into the community, get jobs and go to college. It really makes a difference."

The center is one of seven valley nonprofit groups that joined together last year to form a regional homelessness committee to fight chronic homelessness in the valley.