Double Your Impact on Youth Homelessness

AveNEWS | October 2020

You Make A Difference

With or without a pandemic, Avenues is here for youth. A gift of $84 provides one youth with a week of intensive support.

DONATE NOW

Join Our Team

We're currently hiring for these positions:

Registered Nurse
Family Advocate and Engagement Specialist
Site Manager, Brooklyn Avenues and Minneapolis Avenues
Youth Support Specialists, On Call and Part-Time

Learn More Here

Gratitude This Month

Thank you Connexus Cares for housing and supporting youth. This month Connexus Cares presented Avenues with a $20,000 check. Thank you, Connexus!

This month our Avenues Ally, TopLine Federal Credit Union, spent a day at Brooklyn Avenues to help with yard work. TopLine was part of CU Forward Day, a day where 50 credit unions in Minnesota take part in spreading kindness. Thank you for helping us get ready for winter, TopLine!

The Upper Room made handmade welcome cards for youth at Avenues this month. Thank you, Upper Room!

Graybar volunteers helped get Avenues ready for winter by doing yard work! Thank you for making our youth's home tidy and beautiful.

Thank you Out @ Optum for making inspirational posters for our houses!

Double Your Dollar and Impact

We're excited to announce that Synchrony is matching prescheduled Give to the Max Day gifts, up to $7,500, from November 1-18! Your gift will be matched dollar for dollar.

Give to the Max Day is a state-wide movement of giving, raising thousands of dollars for Minnesota's nonprofits and schools. This year's Give to the Max Day is especially important as families and communities deal with joblessness and COVID-19. Our goal is to raise $40,000 to continue to house youth and families experiencing homelessness and housing instability.

Make a plan for your Give to the Max Day giving. Prescheduled gifts, or gifts made on Nov. 1-18th, are eligible for GiveMN prizes. Gifts made on Nov. 19, or Give to the Max Day, are also entered into day of cash prizes and will be matched. Avenues Board of Directors is continuing its matching tradition by matching gifts on the 19th, up to $7,000. Check out our GiveMN page here and learn more.

You can also inspire your network to support Avenues by creating a Give to the Max Day peer-to-peer fundraiser. Share your Avenues story and why you support youth experiencing homelessness, then encourage your community to make a gift. It's easy and takes less than fifteen minutes to set up your fundraiser! Download our toolkit here.

Avenues on Kare 11

Rena Sarigianopoulos of Kare 11 featured Avenues' ConneQT program this month. ConneQT houses and supports LGBTQI+ youth in the homes of hosts, or community members who voluntarily open their homes and resources to young people in need of a place to stay. Check out the news segment here.

Wilder Research recently released a new report outlining that 23% of youth experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQI+. Host homes are particularly needed during the pandemic. As families struggle with joblessness and the economy, youth are vulnerable to homelessness. Learn more about hosting a youth here.

Thank You Rocki for 14 Years at Avenues

Bittersweet is exactly how we feel to share that Rocki Simões is leaving Avenues for Youth after 14 loving years. Rocki started at Avenues as the program manager for the GLBT Host Home Program (now ConneQT) and is leaving her position as the Assistant Director of Community Based Program. She will be missed. Read her letter to community below.

Dear Community,

I have often heard the word "bittersweet" used to describe mixed feelings, and have used it myself from time to time... but wow, have I not truly embodied its meaning until now.

After 14 years at Avenues for Youth (and 20 with ConneQT, formerly GLBT Host Home Program), I am flying the coop! I am so excited about my next adventure and so sad to be leaving Avenues. It has been here that I have matured as a community worker, that I have been gifted the space and trust to take risks and make mistakes, that I have experienced the highs and lows of leadership and followership and - most importantly - that I have practiced accountability and repair work with youth, hosts, colleagues, and community members . This work has transformed me. Though I can be prone to hyperbole, this is not one of those times.

I will miss being at Avenues. I will miss my co-workers, comrades and fellow trouble-makers. I also know that it is the right time for me to go, and for something new to emerge. I promise I will continue to work relentlessly on issues that most impact our people and our communities. I promise I will continue to work on crushing white supremacy - internalized, interpersonal and institutional. I promise I will continue to stay present throughout the messiness and the magic of it all.

I was 27 years old when I was first hired in 1997 by YouthLink to start the GLBT Host Home Program. I was 37 when I came to Avenues to re-launch that program. Since then I have had several roles here, all of them unforgettable and transformative. I leave at the end of this month, almost 51 and a better human being. Thanks for growing up with me.

With so much Love and Gratitude,

Rocki

Impact Opportunity

Get Out To Vote on November 3rd

Election day is Tuesday, November 3rd. If you haven't voted yet, make a plan to vote the day of. Expect to wear a mask and account for longer than usual lines and waits. If you or someone you know is experiencing homelessness or housing instability, you can still vote using the location of the place you sleep, though you may need to bring someone with you to verify you. Learn more here.