Abbotsford – A new outreach program in Abbotsford is already making great strides addressing at-risk youth homelessness through a coordinated service that goes into homeless camps, high-risk living situations and schools to identify and connect vulnerable youth with the necessary supports, housing options and resources they need to help them realize a better path for themselves.
The SWIFT Program is a joint partnership between the City of Abbotsford, Abbotsford Police Department, the Ministry of Children and Family Development and Cyrus Centre which aims to bring three levels of service and response together to support at-risk youth, aged 13 to 24, and respond to known unsafe circumstances, people, and potential living situations, including homelessness.
Due to the vulnerability of youth, at-risk youth in Abbotsford often intersect with homelessness, substance use and mental health challenges, street disorder, educational challenges, exploitation, and poverty. Prevention and response are often considered as two different areas to address, and as such providing continuity of care for vulnerable youth can be problematic and insufficient to meet their complex needs, which the SWIFT Program aims to address.
Since starting to work together in September, the outreach team has already helped six previously homeless youth move into housing, located five youth who had been reported missing and helped four youth into detox or substance-use treatment. The team currently has a caseload of 60 Abbotsford youth.
Through its coordinated partnership, the SWIFT Program is able to connect unattached at-risk youth to a variety of services, respond to victimization, exploitation and abuse, provide basic needs including food, harm-reduction and housing, and identify already-established resources to help at-risk youth build on successes. The program is funded thanks to the Strengthening Communities’ Services grant received by the City of Abbotsford. The Strengthening Communities’ Services grant is funded by the Province of BC and Government of Canada and administered by the Union of BC Municipalities. The grant will fund the program for one year, and the City is hopeful the success of the program will help in securing long-term, ongoing funding.
