Choices for Youth

About Choices for Youth:

Founded in 1990, Choices For Youth's (CFY) main focus is to provide young people with adequate, stable, and age-appropriate support systems during a transition period in their lives. This involves employing a "Harm Reduction" philosophy where youth are met and accepted regardless of what choices they are currently making. CFY combines a supportive housing environment with on-site educational opportunities and employment preparation and training. CFY serves over 1000 youth each year.

Supportive housing programs include the Shelter for Young Men, the Lilly House, and RallyHaven. The Shelter for Young Men provides an emergency safe place for young men and gender non-conforming youth who are homeless. The Lilly house, a 14-unit affordable housing facility modeled after Eva's Phoenix, offers youth up to one year of housing, allowing for focus on education and employment. It provided housing for 25 residents in 2016, of which 5 youth moved back with their families and 7 moved to their own apartment. The RallyHaven program provides long-term supportive housing to youth at risk of homelessness. This program housed 11 youth in 2016, and CFY is building 6 new affordable housing units.

In addition, CFY has outreach & youth engagement programs, including a pre-employment program, support to expecting and young mothers, and transition programs for youth entering adulthood. Outreach programs help 884 different youth and served over 7,700 meals in F2016.

In 2014 CFY’s intensive support program, Moving Forward, provided 220 professional appointments to 13 youth experiencing complex mental health issues. Because of this program, 75% of participants secured stable housing.

CFY also offers employment-training programs for youth through its Impact Construction social enterprise. The business provides construction services while providing at-risk youth the support and training needed to transition to independent and sustainable full-time employment. It provides a three tier program system, accommodating the various needs of participants. In F2016, the program had 35 youth. The charity reports that 70% of graduates of the program are employed or in post-secondary education.

Financial Review:

Choices For Youth is a micro-cap charity with donations of $366k in F2016. Its administrative costs are 18% of revenues and the charity does not report any fundraising costs. For every dollar donated to the charity, 82 cents goes towards the charity’s programs, falling within Ci’s reasonable range. The charity has ($127k) in funding reserves due to long-term debt.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Choices For Youth for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated August 3, 2017 by Josh Lam.