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Causes: Children & Youth, Children & Youth Services, Homeless & Housing, Homeless Centers, Human Services
Mission: The mission of new avenues for youth is to work in partnership with our community to prevent youth homelessness and provide homeless and at-risk young people the resources and skills needed to lead healthy, productive lives.
Programs: New avenues for youth takes a complete approach to addressing youth homelessness and its root causes, delivering supports and resources that enable fostering at-risk and homeless youth aged 14-24 to overcome their barriers and realize their potential. Through direct service, community partnership, advocacy, and data-driven evaluation, we help young people exit street life and prevent those at-risk of homeleessness from experiencing it. In the 2016-17 program year, 1,472 youth received services from new avenues in the areas of basic needs & safety, education & career, and achieving self-sufficiency.
basic needs & safety: when they first come through our doors, they are looking for: a meal, a shower, and respite from the streets. New avenues meets these basic human needs and establishes a connection, initiating a process of recovery. - over 23,000 meals were served in our drop-in day services center. - we delivered 1,343 hours of drug, alcohol, and mental health counseling. - we connected over 100 youth through art and music in our artist mentorship program (amp). -the sexual & gender minority youth resource center (smyrc), which serves the social, safety and - see schedule o for continuation resource needs of lgbtq youth - who are at risk and experience high rates of homelessness - served 313 young people
education & career: while the youth we serve have tremendous potential, high rates of dropout and low levels of employment create imposing barriers to their stability. New avenues' education, job-training, and employment-placement programs get them on track for the future. - 515 youth received services in our education program, engaging in activities focused around highschool credit attainment, ged and college preparation, and re-engagement with learning. 52 youth either secured geds or were entered into new post-secondary enrollments. - through our promoting avenues to employment (pave) program, which prepares youth for employment and careers through job readiness training, mentorship, and other supports. 148 youth received job and internship placements.
self-sufficiency: for youth to exit homelessness and those at risk to avoid it, they must develop life skills, set personal goals, and connect to the community. Our personalized case-management approach to homelessness prevention and intervention helps youth achieve self-sufficiency and our housing programs provide the opportunity to learn independent living skills. - our case managers helped 149 youth access supports and services to achieve the goals of their individualized case plans. -75% of youth exiting case management were safe and stable. - pdx-connect, a suite of programs that helps youth in foster care who are at high risk of homelessness develop the skills and access resources to transition into healthy adult lives, served 292 youth. -87% of youth exiting our transitional housing program moved to safe and stable housing