{"id":3346,"date":"2024-12-13T21:20:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T21:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/?p=3346"},"modified":"2024-12-20T19:50:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T19:50:26","slug":"more-than-a-workforce-program-a-st-paul-youths-journey-from-homelessness-to-stability-and-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/more-than-a-workforce-program-a-st-paul-youths-journey-from-homelessness-to-stability-and-success\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than a Workforce Program: A St. Paul Youth’s Journey from Homelessness to Stability and Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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More Than a Workforce Program: A St. Paul Youth's Journey from Homelessness to Stability and Success<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dear Face to Face Friend,<\/p>\n

As 2024 comes to a close, I find myself taking stock of all that\u2019s happened this year.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fortunate to have constant reminders from the young people at Face to Face that despite everything happening in the world today, progress is still possible because they are living proof.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just this week we heard from Marcus*, a young person who shared part of his journey around this time last year.<\/p>\n

Last year he told us he was sleeping in a hallway when he first heard about Face to Face.<\/strong> He was relieved to hear about our day shelter, SafeZone, so he could get two hot meals, food to take with him, and access to showers and laundry, which really helped while he interviewed for jobs.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Many youth experiencing homelessness come to SafeZone each day to shower, eat breakfast, then go to work.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0<\/p>

He started to work with our navigators through one-on-one coaching, as part of our Employment and Education program (which many organizations call workforce development). He completed a paid internship with Face to Face then went on to complete a paid job training program with a partner organization (also what many would call a workforce program). He said, \u201cI was really proud of myself after I graduated.\u201d<\/p>

Marcus recently checked in with us and we\u2019re excited to share he has been employed for 10 months and has a home \u2013 an apartment he\u2019s sharing with a roommate!<\/strong> He is studying to take his driver\u2019s license test and is determined to pass as it will open more employment opportunities for him. He told us:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cThere’s times in my life that I wanted to break apart, but then getting that support made me remind myself \u2013 Dude, you got this! That definitely helped me out.\u201d<\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Through all these challenges, he remains a positive, upbeat person because he sees how improving his circumstances positively affects those around him and sends a ripple effect through our whole community. \u201cI was always trying to help out the next person.\u201d<\/p>

This is why our support goes way beyond simply offering a workforce program. We provide holistic support to young people even when their job training programs end, because youth and<\/em> their goals are constantly evolving and growing.<\/strong> Face to Face remains a home base young people can return to as they establish stability in their lives and move on to create goals to improve their physical and mental health, develop leadership skills, and become advocates for their communities.<\/p>

If you are feeling discouraged right now and wondering if all our hard work toward economic and health equity will ever be enough, just imagine 130 youth like Marcus overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds,<\/strong> because that\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing each day at SafeZone.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Did you know, since we started providing dedicated substance use navigation at SafeZone in September, 53 youth have taken the huge step of deciding to seek substance use support?<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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<\/p>\n

If you want more youth to find our life-changing support, please share about Face to Face with the young people in your life. That\u2019s how most find us.<\/p>\n

We also invite you to be part of all the progress happening in the lives of young people at Face to Face by donating to support youth before the end of the year.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve already received 56% of the $75,000 we need to raise by December 31, thanks to 43 amazing supporters. Join them in committing to provide another year of support for youth like Marcus, so we can celebrate his successes and those of many others, again next December.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Together, we can show our community\u2019s young people we are committed to seeing them receive the economic and health equity they deserve.<\/p>\n

With gratitude for all you do for our community,<\/p>\n

Hanna<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Hanna Getachew-Kreusser<\/a>
Executive Director
Face to Face<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0<\/p>

*Pseudonym<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ud83c\udf81 Give a gift to youth today \ud83c\udf81<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m excited to personally invite you to a unique and meaningful event: Together at the Table: An Ethiopian Dining Experience with Friends of Face to Face, taking place on Thursday, September 19, 2024,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","hide_page_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-donate","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3346"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3395,"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3346\/revisions\/3395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/face2face.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}