New Avenues for Youth is a Portland-based nonprofit organization that’s opening doors for youth experiencing homelessness through a model of empowerment.
Their housing spaces as well as the programming they provide focus on equipping young people with the tools they need to navigate systems that are often exclusive if not openly oppressive to them.
New Avenues was recently profiled in The Oregonian with a feature that focused on Unity House, a collective housing space run by New Avenues for Youth where queer youth experiencing homelessness can live. Unity House operates on the Oxford House model, wherein no staff reside on-site: instead, the youth on site run the house.
New Avenues piloted this unique model within their organization last year in a similar housing space, New Doors. New Doors is a housing space for youth with experience in the foster system or who are still currently in the foster system. In addition to these houses, they also offer transitional on-site housing in their downtown Portland location. Kristen Lambert, communications coordinator with New Avenues for Youth, notes that for the youth that they serve, “Unity House and [New Doors] is the step before independent living in the community.”
Although New Avenues for Youth’s housing programs are a major component of their work, they take a multifaceted approach to combating youth homelessness. They offer an array of services for youth: a drop-in space for basic needs and safety, with meals, showers, clothing and hygiene products; meals served Monday through Saturday three times a day; an alternative high school for youth seeking a continuing education or their GED; tutoring and college preparation support; and a robust job training program, PAVE.
Their job training program aims to empower youth by giving them access to resources and strengthening the skills they need to navigate the employment system. PAVE gives them access to basic interview skills, job searches, job and internship placement, and the chance to work with an employment specialist.
In addition to providing these resources, New Avenues also gives the youth they serve the opportunity to find work at one of their social purpose enterprises: two Ben and Jerry’s locations and a screenprinting business, New Avenues Ink, that employ teens. Last year, New Avenues provided 95 paid job opportunities for youth in the Portland community.
New Avenues’ Unity House in particular represents something of a watershed for services in the Northwest: It’s one of the only independent houses for queer-identified youth wherein they live independently. New Avenues’ Sexual & Gender Minority Youth Resource Center (SMYRC), their resource center for queer and trans youth, chose Unity House’s current residents from a pool of 18 applicants, with the qualifications that the house’s residents be sober, in school or employed and be active volunteers at SMYRC.
New Avenues’ leadership considered their resources for queer youth experiencing homelessness to be particularly important, as around 40% of youth experiencing homelessness in Portland’s tri-county area identify as LGBTQ, according to their institutional research. A large number of them also have experience in the foster care system, says Kristen Lambert.
The majority of the folks that New Avenues serves are actually older teens, falling into the 18- to 24-year-old range. Adult services aren’t always able to serve the needs of folks in their early 20s, so programming like the type New Avenues offers is particularly essential in the Portland community.
To get involved with New Avenues for Youth or donate to their programming, go here.
Thanks to Kristen Lambert of New Avenues for Youth.
