The Link

The Link partners with youth to overcome homelessness, exploitation, and involvement in the juvenile justice or child welfare systems. We provide crisis intervention, basic needs, housing and wraparound support,doing whatever it takes to make sure youth move out of crisis and build the skills, confidence, and power to lead. Through paid leadership opportunities and youth-driven programming, we equip young people to shape solutions, influence systems, and create the futures they deserve.

The Link is a North Minneapolis-based, youth-led nonprofit whose mission is to work with youth and families to overcome the impacts of poverty and social injustice. We serve youth ages 10-24 facing homelessness, exploitation, and juvenile justice and foster care involvement, and connect them to nutritious food, stable housing, and wraparound care. Positioning youth as leaders, we uplift youth as changemakers, while healing trauma, restoring dignity, and building a more just, connected community.

Youth come to The Link in crisis, often without food, shelter, or support. We meet those urgent needs first, knowing access to basic needs is the foundation for healing and long-term stability. From there, we partner with youth as they find stability, reclaim their futures, and build their leadership skills. With programs co-led by youth with lived experience, we build power and possibility from the ground up, ensuring youth leave not just more stable but empowered to shape a more just world.

Most youth come to The Link with nothing. A donation from Seedlings would provide flexible funding to meet immediate needs like food, hygiene supplies, and safe shelter, essentials that are often the hardest to find funding for. Access to basic needs and consistent food is the critical first step for youth to stabilize, heal, and begin building the futures they deserve. These funds ensure youth are met with dignity, care, and support from day one.

At The Link, youth aren’t just participants, they’re paid leaders, earning $22/hour to co-design and guide our work. From advisory committees to conference presentations, youth are at the center of every solution we build. Through our co-leadership model, young people with lived experience shape services and drive systems change, ensuring our programs remain rooted in real experience. This kind of support is what makes healing and leadership possible for youth who’ve too often been left behind.