At Home at Nicollet Square

When opportunity knocked, he answered. Clifton Traxler-Owens, a YouthLink client and resident at Nicollet Square, is a testament to the resiliency young people need to forge a positive path in today’s tumultuous world. “It’s hard to grow into an adult during this time,” he said recently. “Without the opportunities I have had at YouthLink I would have been lost.”

A native of the Twin Cities, Traxler-Owens was born in St. Paul and lived on the east side of the capitol city before moving to the Brooklyn Park area at age nine and staying there through high school. He played basketball and also loved creating music through his church. “Not everyone watches the NBA but music touches everyone’s ears,” he said. “My mom taught me to respect everyone and music helped me relate to people in their own way.” Turning 18 hit him in a real life way. “Watching everything going on in this world…kids not even being able to go to the park…it takes a toll on you,” he said. “I wasn’t focused in school and tried to experience things I shouldn’t have…just being stupid.”

After experiencing challenges at home, he found himself on the street at age 19. “I learned some lessons that I cherish in my life now,” he said. “Being homeless really humbles you. Staying up all night because you don’t have a place to go was a low point. Even though I started to wonder if I would ever get out of this something told me to keep asking questions – how do I get off the street?” One day, he saw a flyer for YouthLink at the library, took a leap of faith and walked through the door of the drop-in center. “The first thing they asked me was if I needed housing,” he said. “I thank God. I just thank God.”

After six months, he was offered an apartment at Nicollet Square, a 42-unit building in south Minneapolis of permanent supportive housing for young people experiencing homelessness. “It’s quiet and I had a roof over my head to start adulthood,” he said. While living at Nicollet Square, he has been working toward getting his commercial driver’s license to become a truck driver and also joined YouthLink’s Voices of Youth Council, a group that provides critical information to YouthLink’s administration representing the lived experience of BIPOC youth to influence strategic planning and programming as well as incite policy change.

“Lindsay [former Nicollet Square Supervisor] encouraged me to do it because she said I would be a great fit,” he said. “I agreed because I never block my blessings…you never know what opportunity will open doors.” He also serves as the Voices of Youth liaison to YouthLink’s Young Professionals Board, which he credits for helping him improve his confidence and public speaking skills.

Even with his positive outlook, he wants the community to understand the ongoing challenges young people face on a daily basis. “Minneapolis has a lot of negative energy…Amir Locke, that could have been me,” he said. “I have been on Fox 9, I have been in the New York Times…sometimes it really sucks living in the United States. There’s a lot of kids who don’t make it but I’ve learned I don’t have time to BS my life. I want to use my energy to make someone glad they met me.”