YouthCare
YouthCare’s mission is to serve youth who are experiencing alienation, conflict and homelessness. We provide a safe and supportive environment that helps youth develop life skills and self-sufficiency. We create opportunities for change and success.
Description:
YouthCare is the largest provider of services to homeless and runaway youth in Seattle/King County, providing a continuum of care that takes youth from the streets all the way to independence and success. Among YouthCare’s services for homeless youth is the Orion Center, a multi-service center for street-based and homeless youth in downtown Seattle. Services offered through Orion are:
• Drop-In Services provided to 900 youth (unduplicated) annually include more than 7,000 meals, shelter referral, crisis intervention, hygiene services and safety from the streets.
• Case Management services are provided to 300 youth each year, focusing on connecting youth with housing, education, and employment.
• Peer Training and Employment provides positions for homeless youth as outreach workers and peer health educators.
• HIV/AIDS Services provide case management to HIV-positive homeless youth and young adults in collaboration with Northwest Family Center and Children's Hospital. Nearly 30 HIV-positive homeless youth each year receive case management.
• Street Outreach workers from the Orion Center contact youth in the University District, Downtown, Aurora Avenue, and on Capitol Hill offering a way off the street. Outreach makes over 10,000 contacts per year with high-risk youth.
• Orion School is one of the Seattle School District's Interagency School program and offers credit courses at the center. The Orion School serves 100 youth per year.
Housing Services in YouthCare’s continuum of care include Emergency Shelter and Independent and Transitional Living Programs. Life skills training and life skill coaches are an integral part of the transitional living services. Over 200 youth are served annually in YouthCare housing programs.
YouthCare administers a comprehensive Employment Training and Education program for homeless and at-risk youth. One component of the program is pre-employment training in collaboration with the YWCA, the Working Zone Tile Project. The Tile Project teaches homeless youth critical job skills through the art of working with ceramic, clay and mosaics and serves 25 youth annually.
YouthCare has developed and now implements a unique employment-training program, the Youth Barista Training and Education Program (BTEP). YouthCare and FareStart collaborate on BTEP, which teaches homeless youth barista (coffee making) and employment skills while providing the long-term support necessary to prepare for independent living. This program serves 48 unduplicated homeless youth annually.
Finally, YouthCare’s newest employment training program, YouthTech, is a partnership with InterConnection Reuse and Recycle Learning Center, Digital Bridge Technology Academy, and Learning Center North. YouthTech teaches computer software and hardware skills, and serves 25 youth annually.
History:
• In 1974, YouthCare began as a six-bed shelter for runaways.
• In 1979, service delivery was extended to work directly with youth on the streets—today we have social workers on the streets five nights each week reaching out to homeless youth.
• In 1983, YouthCare’s Orion Center was formed as the collaborative effort of 7 different youth service providers to bring critical programs for homeless youth together under one roof. More than twenty years later, the Orion Center continues to be a key resource for homeless and high-risk young people. The Orion Center has been replicated in other cities as a model program for this population.
• In 1989, YouthCare’s Straley House, an 18-month transitional living program, was created to help homeless youth learn essential life skills to transition into adulthood. One of the first transitional living programs in the western United States, Straley House opened in response to the lack of safe, structured transitional living resources for youth over 18 aging out of foster care or exiting street life. The Straley House model has been replicated three times within YouthCare due to its high success rate.
• In 1997, YouthCare created TREC (Therapy, Education, Recreation, and Community) the first adventure-based therapy program for homeless youth.
• In 1998, YouthCare opened the first transitional living program for sexual minorities, ISIS at Ravenna.
• Also in 1998, the Home of Hope Apartments were created to provide case management and reduced rent for young people transitioning into market rate apartments in the Greater Seattle area.
• In 2003, YouthCare partnered with FareStart to open a unique Barista training program providing employment training, job placement, and case management.
• Also in 2003, YouthCare became one of the first agencies nationwide to contract with the Office of Refugee Resettlement to house a shelter/case management program serving the specialized needs of refugee youth, including an on-site International School.
• In 2006, YouthCare purchased a new building for the Orion Center, after a successful capital campaign.
• In 2007, YouthCare launched YouthTech, an innovative computer training program in collaboration with InterConnection, Digital Bridge, and Learning Center North.
• Also in 2007, YouthCare renovated and opened the Orion Center as a new, Multi-Service Center for homeless and at-risk youth and young adults, providing emergency services along with education and employment training.
Contact person: Mary Crandell, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (206) 694-4509
Address:
Web Site: http://www.youthcare.org
Directions:
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From I-5 Northbound:
Follow I-5 North to the 65th Street exit.
Go straight through the exit to 65th and turn right on 65th.
Follow 65th Street east to 25th Avenue NE.
Turn right onto 25th. Head south to NE 54th Street.
Building is on the. . . (more) |
Miscellaneous Information
| Liability |
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No
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| Does your organization welcome court-ordered community service volunteers? |
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Yes
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| Does your organization have volunteer positions for youth 12-18? |
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Yes
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| Last updated on November 6, 2009 |
