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2019
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It is an exciting time at Covenant House Vancouver. We were thrilled to celebrate the completion of Phase One of our capital expansion project at 1302 Seymour St. Our Community Support Services (CSS) and female-identified Crisis Program moved...
On average, every day we
helped 130 youth across
all our programs
In 2017, we faced a challenge: the number of youth experiencing homelessness was rising, and we simply didn’t have the space to accommodate them. We launched an ambitious expansion project to better serve these young people, and we’re thrilled to announce the results of that effort. Welcome to 1302 Seymour St. It’s a brand new, 5-storey facility, located just across the street from our location on Drake & Seymour.
Our new building as given us the opportunity to enhance and expand on our services based on direct feedback from the young people we serve day-in and day-out. We have expanded our Drop-In services to include a laundry room and showers...
In total this year, we served 1,037 individual youth
Each of our services are offered with genuine compassion and acceptance, with the understanding that trust is the foundation upon which we can help our youth build a new path away from the trauma of the streets. It adds up to a continuum of care. Our carefully designed continuum of care model, or “one-stop shop,” for youth in crisis comprises of three programs: Street Outreach and Drop-In, Crisis Program, and Rights of Passage. Each program includes ongoing support from an Integrated Case Management team, who are all certified Social Workers.
The Outreach Team seeks out young people living on the streets, in single room occupancies, or those at-risk of becoming homeless. The Outreach Team is the “face” of Covenant House Vancouver. They build trust with the youth and encourage them to access our programs where they can get something to eat, clothing, an outside referral or just a friendly conversation. Housing workers and Mental Health Clinicians are also available.
When Sally was 14, she was kidnapped and forced to do sex work. For two years, she was held with 12 other underage girls in a human trafficking ring.
Our 63-bed Crisis Program offers safe housing, food, clothing and counselling to young people aged 16-24 who are ready to make a change in their lives. We take care of their immediate needs first, which are usually medical attention, food and rest. We encourage youth to create their own plan for independence, and support them to achieve their goals and dreams.
Ryan had a lot of people in his corner, as the team of youth workers made it a priority to find a way to empower him.
This is a transitional living program for young people who need housing, structure and support as they strive toward independence. We teach basic life skills that many of us take for granted, such as budgeting, cooking, cleaning and goal-setting. We also provide emotional support and counselling. We are proud to report that 100% of youth in Rights of Passage transition off the street.
Jim came into the Rights of Passage program over two-and-a-half years ago. Intelligent and personable, he has a knack for leading roundtable discussions.
Throughout the year,
742 youth accessed the
services provided in
our Drop-In Centre
Our incredible volunteers donated almost 6,000 hours of service this year.
After 13 years of service, we gave a heartfelt “thank you” to our now retired Board Chair, Sean Muggah and welcomed our new Board Chair, Allan Seckel.
We broke ground on our second purposely-designed building at the intersection of Drake and Seymour Streets. This second new building will be another safe and welcoming place for youth.
We hosted a roundtable on homelessness and housing initiatives with Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Adam Vaughan and Member of Parliament, Hedy Fry.
Together with Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, we nominated Nicola Wealth for an Association of Fundraising Giving Hearts Award in recognition of their outstanding contributions to our community. Thank you, Nicola Wealth!
We held our first virtual Sleep Out: Home Edition to raise critical funds and awareness for homeless youth while still practicing safe physical distancing.
Andrew Teel, who created the fundraiser “Twoonies for Teens” in support of youth who are experiencing homelessness, was a Courage to Come Back Award recipient in the Youth Catagory. Congratulations Andrew!
We participated in the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness and led a talk on Gender Specific Programming: Lessons Learned Pictured above: young man practicing self-care in our Crisis Program.
We were honoured to be chosen as the recipient of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 50/50 Program. Pictured here is winner Jayme M, one of our 50/50 Program winners!
We were honoured to win a 2020 Canadian Green Building Award in the category of “Institutional (Small)” for our new 1302 Seymour Street building.
A total of 419 youth stayed in our Crisis Program