Avenues For Youth

See schedule ocommnity-based programs avenues for youth coordinates one community-based program in which members of the community open their homes to youth experiencing homelessness. Youth may stay with community members for a few nights or up to a year. The conneqt host home program is a community and volunteer-based initiative that matches youth experiencing homelessness ages 16 - 24 with volunteers in the community recruited, screened and trained by avenues. Conneqt supports youth who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer. Their hosts are lgbtq themselves or allies. The process of matching youth and community members is youth-driven. While living with community members, youth receive all basic needs and have the opportunity to work with their case manager and other specialists on our team to identify and address their longer-term personal goals. The hosting arrangement is often life-changing, both for community members and youth. The overall goal is to provide youth experiencing homelessness with the stability, support and coaching they need so, when they leave the community members' homes, they have a vision for their future and are building the skills and relationships needed to pursue that vision. Simultaneously, we are fostering connections and building community. During fy24, conneqt supported seven young people in host homes. Of the four youth who moved out of their host homes, 100% moved into stable living arrangements. This is a very strong outcome, exceeding our goal of 75%, and speaks to the hard work of our staff, hosts and the youth participants. Another 16 lgbtq-identified youth received intensive case management support but did not did not live in host homes during fy24. Additionally, 50 youth received support through drop-in and outreach.

See schedule oavenues for young families rapid rehousing programavenues for young families supports homeless-youth led families. This "rapid rehousing program" supports youth-led families by helping them locate an apartment in the community, providing temporary rent subsidies and wrapping comprehensive services around the entire family to give them a strong start toward independent living. Rent subsidies are provided by grants from the us department of housing and urban development and the state of minnesota's homeless youth act (hya). During fy24, avenues supported 31 young families, including a total of 32 adults and 43 children. Of the eight households who exited the program, 100% achieved stable housing. This was the second year in a row that 100% of youth headed households achieved stable housing upon leaving the program.