Avenues for Homeless Youth is a transitional housing program—a home—where youth can live as they stabilize, build trusting adult relationships and work toward their personal goals for independent living. Avenues operates the following three programs:
Shelter & Transitional Housing
Our North Minneapolis shelter and transitional housing program serves 15 homeless youth ages 16 to 20. The program includes:
- Basic needs support—clean bed, three meals per day, personal hygiene supplies, laundry facilities, clothing and weekly bus passes, 24 hours per day caring by trained staff
- Intensive case management services and ongoing aftercare
- Health and wellness care and education
- Independent living skills training and
- Employment and educational support.
GLBT Host Home Program
The GLBT Host Home Program provides transitional living arrangements for 10 homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and young adults ages 16 to 21 in safe, supportive, volunteer host homes. Founded in 1998, this community-based program is coordinated by Avenues, but supported by a vast array of individuals and other youth-serving agencies. The host homes receive training and ongoing support from Avenues, while the youth receive case management by the referring agencies.
Suburban Host Home Program
The Suburban Host Home Program aims to provide transitional living arrangements for 10 homeless youth and young adults ages 16 to 21 in safe, supportive, volunteer host homes in the suburbs of Hennepin County. Launched in the summer of 2011, this community-based program is coordinated by Avenues, but supported by a vast array of individuals and other youth-serving agencies. The host homes receive training and ongoing support from Avenues, while the youth receive case management by the referring agencies.
Central to Avenues’ programming is our focus on each youth’s individual goal plan that addresses their immediate needs, education, employment, housing, mental health, physical health, independent living skills and relationships.
At Avenues:
- We utilize a harm reduction approach to care, which means we accept and work with the youth from where they are at in their lives.
- We encourage youth to engage in self-determination and make their own choices and decisions. Youth actively participate in weekly house meetings, independent living skills training classes and empowerment groups (expression through art group, men’s group and women’s empowerment group).
- We have adapted a trauma-informed model of care. Through staff training and discussions that have led to changes in our policies and practices, we have created an environment that recognizes the severe trauma most of our clients have experienced in their young lives and allows for healing to occur.
Youth are welcome to stay at Avenues as long as they are working on their individual goal plans and respecting house rules. The average length of stay, excluding the overnight emergency bed, is 93 days. We have been intentionally working to increase the time youth stay, and thus improving outcomes.
Watch this video! Avenues' Youth Counselor Michael Lee aptly states via a very moving spoken word performance the great need for housing for youth experiencing homelessness...and the angst experienced as a youth counselor having to turn away young people when there simply isn't room at the shelter.