Our mission ...

to provide emergency shelter, short term housing and support services for homeless youth in a safe and nurturing environment.  Through such service, Avenues seeks to help youth achieve their personal goals and find a positive transition into young adulthood.

VISION:

Avenues for Homeless Youth will be a recognized leader in the movement to eliminate youth homelessness, while providing a model of empowering these youth to self-sufficiency.

MISSION:

The mission of Avenues for Homeless Youth is to provide emergency shelter, short term housing and support services for homeless youth in a safe and nurturing environment.  Through such service, Avenues seeks to help youth achieve their personal goals and find a positive transition into young adulthood.

AVENUES CORE VALUES:

The guiding principles that have a profound impact on how everyone in the organization thinks and acts. 

HISTORY:

Avenues for Homeless Youth (formerly Project Foundation) was formed in 1993 to respond to the severe lack of housing and supportive services for our community’s homeless youth.  The founder, Michelle Basham, recognized that while many services were available to assist with family reunification, there was no age-appropriate and safe shelter in Minneapolis specifically designated for homeless youth who could not be reunified with their families due to severe abuse, abandonment, neglect or exploitation.  Facing adult issues – lack of housing, unemployment, incomplete education and lack of access to healthcare – without a safe program to help them, most of these youth are destined for life on the streets.

In response to this critical community need, Avenues for Homeless Youth started in the basement of Walker Church as a planning group interested in providing a program that offered homeless youth safe shelter on a short term basis while also helping the youth address their longer term needs through case management services.  The program opened its doors to homeless youth on December 5, 1994 in a renovated house on Pleasant Avenue in south Minneapolis.

By summer 1995, Avenues for Homeless Youth was turning away as many as 100 youth each month.  In response, the Board of Directors purchased a building at1708 Oak Park Avenue in north Minneapolis.    With the second facility, the organization was not only able to increase the number of shelter beds it provided, but also to expand the support services it offered homeless youth, such as computer training, independent skills training and social activities, crucial to preventing homelessness in youth. 

In January 2004, the organization created a new strategic plan, a new mission statement, and a new vision statement. The new name, Avenues for Homeless Youth (AHY), adopted by the Board of Directors in spring 2004, was selected because it described the population served and its commitment to achieving measurable outcomes.  

ACTIVITIES:

Current Program Activities

Avenues for Homeless Youth provides housing, support services, and enrichment services.

Housing. Avenues for Homeless Youth provides emergency shelter and short term housing for up to fifteen youth per day.  Avenues addresses the basic needs of youth by providing resources such as shower and laundry facilities, three meals per day, and hygiene products.   Housing is available to youth 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Youth can remain at Avenues for Homeless Youth as long as they follow house rules and make progress on their case plan.  Youth Counselors provide direct supervision of youth 24 hours per day. Additionally, the House Supervisor and Program Director provide overlapping and integrated supervision of the program. The effectiveness of services is determined by the average number of youth served per day, the number of youth who move onto transitional or permanent housing, and the number of youth who are employed and/or are going school.

Support Services - In exchange for housing services, youth are required to address the long-term issues that will guide their future. Every youth we serve must be committed to his or her own transition into independent living. With the immediate needs of shelter, food and clothing being addressed, youth are then able to begin planning and implementing goals that will lead to self-sufficiency. Each youth is required to develop a case management plan with a case manager to prepare them for independent living.  The case plan identifies short and long term goals around the five areas of: permanent housing, employment, education, psychological well-being, and physical well-being, and then outlines steps to achieve those goals.  The Case Managers monitor the implementation of the plan closely, providing referrals and linkages to community services in pursuit of those goals. The youth also meets with a nurse within 1 week of residence to receive a medical assessment, referral to dental and medical providers and to provide ongoing medication management and health education. 

Enrichment Services - Avenues also coordinates a youth empowerment program that addresses cultural and social issues.  Through art, poetry, literature and photography with professional instructors and community partners, youth explore social issues and how they impact the success of youth moving out of homelessness.  Youth also participate in weekly support and discussion groups addressing issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention, safe and healthy relationships, substance abuse and depression.  Youth also participate in leisure and personal development activities such as rock climbing, pet therapy, resident committee, and Avenues’ recreation and exercise room.

Programmatic Plans and Priorities

Avenues for Homeless Youth has established the following programmatic priorities for the next year as a result of internal and external analysis.

• GLBT Host Home Program – Avenues will establish a GLBT Host Home Program to address the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth who need additional support received by residing with a volunteer family.
• Youth Empowerment – Avenues will continue to focus its programming efforts based on a youth empowerment model  by establishing a  Youth Advisory Board
• Mental and Physical Health – Avenues will continue to grow its Mental and Physical Health program by providing a mental health case manager, hiring a licensed therapist, and providing health education groups.
• Community Advocacy – Avenues will increase its involvement in community advocacy through the support of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.