Youth Link
YouthLink serves housing insecure and homeless youth ages 16-24 through nonjudgmental, compassionate, accessible programs and services that empower them to achieve long-term housing stability and wellbeing. Led by an active Voices of Youth Advisory Council and leadership that reflects and represents the 93% of youth we serve who identify as BIPOC, programs include Mobile Outreach, our comprehensive Drop In and Youth Opportunity Centers, and site-based as well as scattered-site supportive housing.
At YouthLink, our mission is to support and empower young people on their journey to self-reliance. We offer homeless and housing insecure youth, ages 16-24, low-barrier access to basic needs like nutritious meals and a food pantry, showers, and clothes as well as onsite physical and mental health care, therapeutic arts, mentorship, and peer support. Youth also access assistance with housing, education and employment, and more. We are on track to serve over 2,500 youth this year.
YouthLink directly addresses food access via an onsite kitchen that has served over 60,000 hot, nutritious meals so far this year, and an onsite food pantry with fresh, frozen, shelf-stable, and grab-and-go items. We empower and support youth to take control of their lives, and through our Voices of Youth Advisory Council (VOYAC) we offer extensive leadership skill-building and mentoring/empowerment opportunities for BIPOC young people who are disproportionately affected by homelessness.
YouthLink’s food service program served 2,335 youth 90,915 hot, nutritious, delicious meals last year. January through June of 2025, we had already served 57,330 meals—34% more meals than the same time frame in 2024—and youth visits to Drop In are up 35%. Youth know they can find the resources they need at YouthLink! Funds will be used to support our food service program: we desperately need more partners and more resources to both sustain and grow to keep up with the demand.
Hunger is often what brings youth through our doors. Youth dealing with housing and food insecurity just want to eat and rest in a safe environment. We offer a caring space for them to enjoy a fresh cooked, nutritious meal (that may be their only hot/complete meal of the day). Sharing meals with their case manager also strengthens the relationship and trust building process that is so critical to our ability to walk alongside young people on their journeys from homeless to stably housed.