Evergreen Youth & Family Services Inc

Emergency shelter: the evergreen youth shelter program serves youth 9 to 17 years of age who are homeless/runaways or experiencing personal school or family crisis. The shelter is open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. The shelter serves youth from 14 counties in minnesota including three american indian reservations (leech lake, red lake, and white earth). The shelter is a safe place for youth and families to get help they need when facing traumatic situations in life. Services are available for both residential clients and community youth and families who do not require a shelter stay. The shelter provides shelter, food, clothing, hygiene products, individual and family crisis intervention, and parent education and coaching. In 2024 the shelter served 145 unduplicated youth. There were 192 total client stays and 1252 client days. The average length of stay was 6.5 days.

Evergreen youth services: evergreen's second site, evergreen youth services, is anchored by the youth drop-in center which is open 34 hours per week. The drop-in center provides day shelter, meals, snacks, laundry and shower facilities, computer access, a youth emergency food pantry, hygiene products, and baby supplies. The staff at the drop-in-center provide safe and supportive adult guidance and referrals to multiple evergreen programs including youth shelter, transitional housing, independent living skills, on-site mental heath therapy, safe harbor and crime victim services as well as referrals to other community based programming. In 2024 there were 2,618 client drop-in visits. There were 61 unduplicated youth served in various grant programs.

Other programs: the organization is a regional trainer on youth and family issues and annually hosts a conference for youth-serving professionals and parents. The annual conference equips youth-serving professional with additional knowledge on how to effectively service youth; give best practices that can improve outcomes for children, youth and families in high-risk situations; and offer networking opportunities for youth-serving professionals. The organization also works in partnership with other community services providers to provide a continuum of services to youth and families in the community. In 2024 there were 204 conference attendees. Evergreen also has state prep grant funding that funds a youth health educator position that provides group education to evergreen youth and other youth in the community on safe and healthy relationships, general health and wellness and sti education/prevention.