The Youth Opportunity Center (YOC) at YouthLink, part of the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County’s initiative to end homelessness, will celebrate its fifth anniversary in 2016. In that short time, this unique model of collaboration has grown from five service providers, before the YOC’s inception, to twenty-seven today, with others on the horizon. The…
Earning your high school diploma or getting your GED is no small feat when you’re experiencing homelessness, but on June 17th we celebrated a group of youth who did just that. One family of donors provides the highlight of our graduation ceremony each year. The Tiffany L. Harmon Memorial Scholarships, created in remembrance of…
On June 17th we had one of our favorite events – our annual graduation ceremony to celebrate youth who received their high school diploma, earned their GED, or completed a postsecondary certification or training course while experiencing homelessness. It was a moving ceremony complete with graduation march, certificates of achievement, youth and community speakers, and…
One of YouthLink’s interns, Mai, shares her thoughts on viewing homelessness as a public health issue. When we talk about public health, we’re talking about health issues in our communities, figuring out why those health issues exist, breaking beyond the surface barriers to understand the issues on a deeper level, and finding solutions to improve…
Parenting is one of life’s greatest joys—and struggles. After all, we all want what’s best for our children, but how can you provide “the best” when your family is also struggling with homelessness? This Mother’s Day, you can help young mothers who have come to YouthLink in search of resources by making a donation to…
Shannon Brennan is YouthLink’s Therapist, and helps young people overcome trauma they’ve experienced so they can heal and move forward. In this article, she explains why working with youth from a trauma-informed perspective is so important. We recognize many of our clients may have experienced multiple childhood traumas in addition to the trauma of being homeless…
When you want to let off steam or lose a few pounds, where do you turn? If you’re like most people in our community, you lace up your tennis shoes and head to the gym. This spring, we are asking you to help make physical fitness and access to simple things like a gym or…
We’re so excited to share our new website with you! An online presence is an important way to reach our community and the young people we serve. But we recognized there was a better way to reach our audiences than what we had before. YouthLink’s previous website was outdated— it wasn’t easy for young people…
Carl knows his way around lots of professional kitchens, but he found his calling cooking for YouthLink’s Drop-In Center, where he has presided as chef and kitchen manager for 20 years. In this role, Carl has supervised the creation of tens of thousands of meals for young people experiencing homelessness. “Good food is a great…
“Hi, my name is Matt and I’m 19. I am homeless in the Minneapolis area, and I don’t have any resources. I will probably be sleeping on the streets tonight in downtown for the first time. I really want help. I don’t have anyone or anywhere to turn to. I would call, but I don’t…