The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist suntribune social issues thursday oct 10 2002 street survival depends on shelters growing region needs more shelters workers politicians complain ithe uman factor a series exploring the struggle to provide services for a growing population staff writer jeff mitchell hi k examines homelessness among youth t he way yolan chetty sees it his role as a mentor to an adolescent boy is not defined as teacher parent guidance counselor or lecturer he thinks its most important just to be the kids friend mr chetty a 22yearold york university student who lives in markham has for the past seven months been paired with 13-year- old ryan through the youth assisting youth program yay pairs youth who are identified as poten tially being at risk to drop out of school to break the law or perhaps even wind up homeless with role models who will help steer them in the right direction i am a mentor but more than that im someone he can just talk to mr chetty said my role is more of a friend than that of a father figure its a give and take relation ship he may downplay the impor tance of his role but mr chettyis oneonone involvement is proba bly the most crucial service provid ed by the numerous agencies man dated to cater to the needs of young people according to yay executive director sally spencer mentoring is the kind of positive supportive pro graming that can make the differ ence between a kid choosing self- destructive behaviour or finding the will to take a more positive approach to life many of the young people involved with yay start with obsta cles in their way including unstable home environments poverty or emotional issues what we are doing at youth assisting youth is helping to break the cycle she said mr chetty thinks hes simply providing ryan with the support he needs to realize and strive for his potential hes got it in him to achieve he said he just needs that support youth service providers struggle with huge demands and strained resources trying to help kids deal with joblessness homelessness addiction and educational deficits the goal is to provide hope and to break the cycle in april 2001 a york youth summit report found more than 50 per cent of the regions 500 homeless were under 25 those working with youth see a collaborative approach as the way to tackle a huge issue with limited resources deborah headley is project co ordinator with lifeline a program for youth launched in the spring of 2002 with the backing of york region human resources development corp york region neighbourhood services and the boys and girls club of york region lifeline is a communitybased project that assists youth aged 16 to 24 who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless the goal of the program is to help young people gain control of youth services at a glance here are some of the services available to youth at risk of homelessness in york region transitional and supportive housing services of york region 19058981015 leeder place family shelter newmarket 19058981658 drop zone youth day program newmarket 19058300121 youth assisting youth maple 4169321919 lifeline newmarket 19058950809 kinark child and family services newmarket 18884546275 pathways for children youth and families of york region 9054717877 home base dropin centre richmond hill 9058843070 staff photosteve somerville bonni harkness program director at home base a youth dropin centre in richmond hill speaks with a young man their lives by helping them address life skills including education employment budgeting and per sonal safety the majority of the programs funding comes from an hrdc grant which runs out at the end of next march as a youth worker ms headley has attended a number of forums at which youth have described the services they require we have heard clearly once and again that youth need a voice they need access to education not just schooling they need a place to hang out and they need centralized and collaborative services ms headley said to achieve that a concerted effort is required of service providers she said lifeline has established a presence in each of yorks municipalities but rather than dictate a course of action pro gram organizers are looking to local service providers for guidance they are after all the people most familiar with the community and its youth ms headley said for us this is about community mobilization she said imposing programs that do not resonate with youth and which will have no credibility among them is doomed to failure she said we cant get youth to come in the door we have to entice them in the door ms headley said our philosophy informs and underscores our practice we will interact respectfully and positively with young people and they will do the rest of the work bonni harkness and marg campbell know all about establishing credibility on the street at the home base dropin centre for youth in richmond hill they deal with young people often living on the fringes of society alienated from their homes and a regulationladen society which from their perspec tive seems designed to shut them out the first thing kids are looking for is totally nonjudgmental sup port said ms harkness program director at the centre a yonge street storefront in the heart of richmond hill there are huge trust issues she said and thats the big thing being able to interact with an adult with unconditional support ms campbell executive director with pathways for children youth and families of york region said establishing credibility with street kids was essential to the dropin centres success for a lot of them they have been let down by the adults in their life she said at the same time the response that met home base when it opened in june 2000 was a strong indication of the desire among youths to obtain services geared toward them ms campbell said as quickly as the youth heard a service was here they began to access it she said no one dreamt we would be so successful now the centre which offers kids a place to hang out and make efforts to connect with their fami lies is packed during its operating hours 1 to 8 pm ms harkness estimates the cen tre is in contact with 100 different kids a month some 70 per cent of whom are or have been homeless obviously we knew of the issues or it the centre wouldnt have come about ms harkness said but we had no idea how many kids there were tell that to richmond hill councillor lynn foster at the outset of the current term of council the new rep forward 4 lobbied hard to head up the towns youth action committee assuming its mandate would centre solely on creating recreation opportunities for youth i thought i was going to be look ing at creating skateboard parks and fluffy things like that she said but getting acquainted with local youth agencies and their clientele introduced ms foster to a grim and surprising reality every night across york region there are young people with nowhere to go theyre sleeping on the streets in parks and woodlots and flopping in abandoned buildings youth seeking shelter from the streets of york region have two choices a 12bed shelter for young men in newmarket or the hard- scrabble shelters in downtown toronto many kids terrified at the notion of taking their chances downtown see homeless page 10 enjoyed with family sc friends juarftams destination qiftshop 106 main st n markham village 9054717820 closed monday october 14