Eric Rice is an assistant professor at the USC School of Social Work.

A homeless young woman who I have known for five years just called my cell to ask me for advice. She is being regularly harassed in the park where she has been sleeping for past several weeks. We talked on the phone for a half hour about what was happening and went over her options. I told her I wanted to get her in touch with a lawyer. Before I ended the call, I asked her if I could call her back on the number showing up on my phone and she said, "Yes, this is my cell."

That's right, this young homeless woman has cell phone. And she's using it to reach out to me to try to get some answers about her legal rights. And yes, I promised to call her back once I had more information.

One of the most important resources homeless teens and young adults can acquire is a cell phone. Imagine for a moment that you are homeless. How would you get a job if an employer could not call you back? How is your social worker going to follow up with you about housing opportunities if they can't call you back? This is the reality that homeless youth face every day.

I have been working with homeless teens and young adults since 2003 and a few years ago more and more youth started talking to me about how important telecommunication technology was to them. So I conducted a survey with about 200 youth and published the results in the "Journal of Urban Health."

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