Founded in 1990, Choices for Youth (CFY) helps young people in St. John’s Newfoundland to secure stable housing, employment, and education while improving health and family stability. By working with young people, the charity hopes to prevent long-term homelessness or poverty in adulthood. CFY takes a "housing first" approach, first finding them a stable place to live and then working to help with employment, family relationships, and other needs.

In F2018, CFY allocated $2.6m to housing services, which include a range of options to best suit clients’ needs. The emergency shelter averaged 86% occupancy through the year with 118 male or gender non-conforming individuals who each stayed for an average of 24 days. Longer-term housing was provided to 60 clients who accessed housing in CFY’s Lily building and 26 individual units within the wider St. John’s area. Programming includes camping trips, yoga, drumming circles, and cooking classes. Clients may be expected to find employment or attend educational programs. Support from staff is available throughout the time that the young people are in housing, working to meet individual goals and successfully transition to independent living.  

Recognizing that having a job is crucial for these young people to succeed in independent housing, Choices for Youth works to find employment for them. CFY operates social enterprise programs which employed 51 clients during F2018 in construction, manufacturing, and retail positions. CFY’s Impact Construction completed its first job outside of St. John’s, giving 12 clients full-time employment for 12 weeks to remove asbestos in Argentia, Newfoundland.

Choices for Youth operates Family First programming which works with families to create healthy home environments. In F2018, 33 young people who were no longer living with family were supported in reconnecting with a relative such as a cousin, sibling, parent, aunt or uncle, or a grandparent. CFY facilitated 204 counselling sessions to support the reconnection. Each week, CFY works with young mothers and their children to discuss and deal with financial struggles, mental health, education, nutrition, and parenting.

CFY deals with the physical and mental health needs of young people in St. John’s at the charity’s main location. It offers hot meals, recreational activities, and art therapy sessions. In F2018, the public health nurse had 916 visits. CFY offers new syringes to people who have a dependence on drugs in exchange for used syringes, distributed 35 kits of naloxone to treat opioid overdoses, and educated 91 individuals on the use of naloxone.

Choices for Youth is a small charity in terms of donations, with $564k in F2018. CFY received $6.0m in government funding, representing 74% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 13% of revenues less investment income. The charity reports that it has no fundraising costs. For every dollar donated, 87 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Choices for Youth has $324k in gross funding reserves and $304k in interest-bearing debts. The charity could cover less than one month of program costs using net funding reserves.

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

Updated on May 31, 2019 by Madison Kerr.