Homeless youth find more than shelter at Youth Quest

Randy Leblanc stops by Youth Quest for a hot coffee and conversation

Youth Quest is a transitional housing program for homeless youth ages 16 to 20 in Moncton. Their mandate is to provide safe, quality care and guidance to youth looking to bridge social, emotional and financial hurdles on their quest from troubled to taxpayer.

Cathy Manuel is the associate director of Youth Quest. She says Moncton has a bigger homeless problem than it realizes. It just depends on how you define homelessness.

“Homelessness is not just about having a place to sleep, it’s about having a place where you feel you belong.” Manuel said.

About 85 percent of the young people Youth Quest deal with on a yearly basis are residents of Moncton. They see a rise in transient youth coming through in the summer, but it accounts for less than 15 percent of their yearly drop in.

Over 500 youth a year use the services of Youth Quest, with over 5000 visits annually. Many of these youth are homeless or on the fridge of homelessness. This puts them at a very high risk of ever having a permanent place to live.

Youth Quest offers over 20 services in total, under their sister company Moncton Youth Residences, including the drop in program. They also help youth get back in school with a GED program. This allows them to get a grade 12 equivalency.

Other programs include job readiness, a clothing depot, and outreach programs helping youth deal with their situations at home.

Randy Leblanc is a client of Youth Quest. He is 23 years old and currently on social assistance. He rents a room with his brother and says the services offered at the drop in centre help him get by month to month.

“I often drop by for a coffee and a few snacks,” Leblanc said. “Sometimes I pick up a few things like toothpaste or soap when I need them.”

Cathy Manuel is associate director of Youth Quest

Cathy Manuel says the need for these programs is on the rise. They have seen a constant increase in the number of new clients coming through the doors in the four years they’ve been open. She says it’s not always easy to measure the success of the programs, but seeing individuals overcome small barriers is success enough.

“Sometimes it’s as simple as regaining the trust of a young person,” Manuel said. “The loss of trust at an early age can lead to a downward spiral for young people, creating the need for programs like this to help build them back up.”

Randy Leblanc agrees. Just seeing a few nice faces when he first started coming to Youth Quest made him feel at home. Now he drops in daily to chat with the staff, have a shower, and stay connected on the internet.

“I’ve gone a month without having a shower and almost that long without having a decent meal,” Leblanc said. “The services offered here are important to a lot of people.”

Sean Tobin is the executive director of Mobile One Community Services. He operates one of the only mobile food banks in the country. He says even thought the numbers using his service are not rising dramatically, they are steady and far too high.

“We have a huge problem in this city with young people not having access to food all the time,” Tobin said. “I know clients who don’t eat the last week of the month because they don’t have food.”

Sean Tobin is the executive director of Mobile One Community Services

Of the over 101,000 meals he and his organization served last year to Moncton and surrounding area residents, more than 18% were served to youth between the ages of 12 to 18.

Tobin thinks it’s a combination of a few problems. He says it seemed to rise dramatically in 2006 with youth dropping out of school and moving out of their parents’ homes at a young age. He thinks youth are starting to realize the importance of education and the stability staying with their parents can offer. But he is afraid for the future.

“I just hope they use these services to overcome their circumstances,” Tobin said. “Because the next generation of youth is going to need these services even more.”

Short URL: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/?p=1809

Posted by Jason Murray on Oct 18, 2009. Filed under Features, This Week's Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.