Choices for Youth 

Address: 261 Duckworth Street, St. John’s, NL, A1C 1G9 

Mandate:

Help youth to secure stable housing, education, and employment, while working toward family stability and better health, through innovative programming and social enterprise.

Target Population:

Youth aged 16-29.

Highlights of Programs/Services Offered:

Housing 

• The Choices Shelter: For Young Men and Gender Non-Conforming Youth
  • Youth are able to stay at the shelter for up to a month, while working on their own housing plan and connecting to financial and other support services. 
• RallyHaven: Accessible supportive housing for at-risk youth facing homelessness.
  • With 26 housing placements spread over multiple units in downtown and central St. John’s, the RallyHaven program provides long-term supportive housing to any youth at risk of homelessness. 
• The Lilly: Affordable longer-term housing located in downtown St. John’s for youth facing homelessness to begin individualized support programs
  • The facility provides affordable housing and related supports to 14 homeless and at-risk youth. It consists of 1- and 2-bedroom units, with shared community spaces in the larger kitchens and eating areas, as well as in the living, recreational, and art spaces. 
  • Tel: (709) 739-1019 

Outreach, Health and Family Services 

• Outreach and Youth Engagement: The Choices for Youth Outreach Centre is often the first point of contact with youth in need of support.
  • Youth can personal care items, warm meals, access to a telephone or computer, access to a shower, and the chance to get out of the elements and into a warm, safe space. There are also medical professionals on-site to support youth with emergent healthcare needs. Once basic needs have been met, we can work towards identifying challenges in a young person’s life and helping them navigate the systems and boundaries to help them move forward. 
  • Drop-In Centre: 12-16 Carter’s Hill Place, St. John’s 
  • Phone: (709) 754-3047 
• Momma Moments: A community based, healthy-living, peer-to-peer program for young pregnant and parenting women.
  • The Program currently runs in St. John’s and Conception Bay South, where groups meet once a week for programming that emphasizes overall wellness – mental, physical, spiritual, and social – for mother and child. 
• Family Reconnect: This program supports and facilitates the reconnection of youth with a family member – a cousin, a sibling, a parent, an uncle or aunt, or a grandparent.
  • The Family Reconnect team supports young people and their families by facilitating the process of reconnection, offering counselling, and continuously working with the young person to help them achieve their goals. 
• Youth in Transitions: Skill building and lifestyle coaching with the Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development
  • Youth in Transitions is a life-skills based program which provides up to 60 individuals with individualized support staff connected to the Outreach and Youth Engagement Team. 
  • Youth in the program work to develop skills like budgeting, meal planning, laundry, and transportation — and with the host of programs available at Choices for Youth, they are positioned to provide additional support to youth in the program as required.  

Education, Employment and Social Enterprise 

• Jumpstart: Pre-employment skills training for youth ready to transition to longer- term employment or educational programs.
  • The program operates three times a year and ranges from 6-8 weeks depending on the employment sector focus. Youth build skills such workplace responsibility, team work, financial management, and personal development. 
  • Other opportunities include household repairs, carpentry, gardening, and more recently, a variety of art programs. 
• Impact Construction: A social enterprise construction company that offers on-the- job safety and construction training for at-risk youth ready to secure long-term, sustainable employment or pursue skilled trades training.
  • Tel: (709) 631-9256 
• Neighbourhood: A retail social enterprise, which sells gently used clothing for children, youth, and adults. 
• The Shop: At The Shop, young people manufacture, package, and ship products for partner agencies, including building Sucseed hydroponic units, assembling SmartICE sea-ice monitoring systems, and bottling Wild Mother Provision’s Beer Vinegar. 
• Youth Leadership Council: Leaders who give back by consulting on youth programs, providing mentorship, and supporting CFY with their perspectives and experiences. 
• General Educational Development (GED): Youth are able to access on-site GED support to prepare them to write the GED test. 
• Employment Support – For young people looking to remove barriers to competitive employment or accessing education, they can access a support worker and training sessions to help reach their goals.