Pubdate: Mon, 26 Jan 2015
Source: McGill Daily, The (CN QU Edu)
Copyright: 2015 The McGill Daily
Contact:  http://www.mcgilldaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2638
Author: Jasreet Kaur

HEAD & HANDS REINSTATES STREET WORK PROGRAM

Youth Outreach Project Doubles Capacity With New Hire

Last November, Head & Hands hired a second employee for its Street 
Work program, restoring the program to the capacity it had before 
budget cuts forced its discontinuation in 2011. The program was 
partially reinstated in 2013 with the hiring of a single street 
worker after substantial fundraising.

Head & Hands is an organization that caters to the needs of youth 
between the ages of 12 to 25 in Montreal who may not have access to 
certain resources, ranging from counselling to legal services to free 
condoms to clean needles.

Street Work is the group's outreach program, whereby street workers 
move around the Notre- Dame-de-Grace (NDG) neighbourhood to meet 
clients and provide services, such as active listening and 
on-the-spot counselling, while also conducting harm reduction and 
drug awareness workshops at schools, community centres, and group homes.

"[The program] focuses on supporting marginalized youth using an 
educational approach that's rooted in risk reduction," said Victoria 
Pilger, Funding and Partnerships Coordinator at Head & Hands.

"We have a team of two street workers and [...] they reach youth on 
their own turf - in bars, parks, metros, group homes, shooting 
galleries, basically anywhere where youth can be reached."

Donald*, a past client of Head & Hands, attributed many of his 
successes to the Street Work program in a video testimonial.

"Without it, people like me would continue to be on the streets. I 
wouldn't be where I am today, I wouldn't have an apartment, I 
wouldn't be able to look for work, I wouldn't be stable, I wouldn't 
have my beautiful dog, I wouldn't have my beautiful wife. You know, 
it helped me," Donald said in the testimonial. "The Street Work 
program got me off the street."

In 2011, the Street Work program was suspended after budget cuts 
forced the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) Montreal to cease 
funding for the program. According to Pilger, PHAC faced a near 30 
per cent reduction in its budget.

"We're seeing that government funding for all social programs [is] 
shrinking, especially for programs that are using a non-judgmental 
and harm-reduction approach," said Pilger.

The program was partially reinstated in 2013 after Head & Hands began 
fundraising in the local community.

"We launched a two-year campaign and we turned to our community for 
support. Over those two years, we were able to partially re-launch 
the program in the fall of 2013 - we raised the funds to bring back 
one street worker full-time," said Pilger. This fundraising continued 
until another street worker was hired in the fall of 2014.

Since the program's initial reinstatement in 2013, street worker 
Sara* has managed to reach almost 500 youth around the city. 
According to Sara, the addition of an extra street worker comes as a 
significant achievement for the program, and will allow Head & Hands 
to expand its focus while continuing to provide resources for those 
who currently require them.

"I go into schools, community centres, and group homes for the most 
part," said Sara. "There's always so much to do, and there [are] so 
many dreams I have for the program, [such as] having a little bit 
more time to vamp up the drug workshops and spend time [on it]. 
Thankfully, we got a new street worker, and we sort of shift our 
schedules so that we're able to meet with more people."

"[I also get to] develop deeper relationships with clients because 
I'm able to spend more time with them, because I know there's another 
street worker who can take certain calls or go to certain areas that 
I haven't been to in a while," Sara continued.

"Having our Street Work program back means that now we're able to 
listen and hear what's going in our neighborhood from really 
important voices - from youth who see NDG from the perspective of 
homelessness, poverty, social exclusion, from within the youth 
protection system, and other experiences of marginalization," said Pilger.

"Our street workers are able to be our eyes and ears on the ground 
[...] and hear the voices of youth that we might not have been able 
to hear without the program."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom