The Robertson Building

Eva's Initiatives' (Suite 370) story begins in 1994 with a single shelter for homeless youth in North York called Eva's Place. It was founded by a dedicated woman named Eva Smith who through her work at the North York Board of Education saw youth daily who were having significant problems in school and learned that in many cases this was a result of homelessness. At the time, it took a lot of convincing for people to recognize that homelessness was an issue, and more importantly that it was a reality for growing numbers of youth in their own neighbourhoods.

Eva's Place became a haven for these youth and also became the first initiative towards an award winning and precedent-setting organization that, fast-forward twelve years later, has just been unanimously chosen as the sole youth employment training site for the City of Toronto.

Eva's growth and success has by no means come easily. Maria Crawford, the Executive Director since 1996, has had to fight her share of battles to achieve the awareness and committment necessary to develop and maintain three service sites (Eva's Place, Eva's Phoenix, and Eva's Satellite), launch a national initiative that assists service organizations across Canada to develop programs for youth and grant National Innovation Awards that profile innovative groups working with youth across the country.

A secret to the success of the organization is an approach to providing service that relies on youth feedback to generate its programming and mandate.

As Maria explains, "what we did fairly early was address our primary frustration: we would work with youth, get them a place to stay, and hook them up with a job only to have them return a few months later with everything having fallen apart. So, through youth working groups and taskforces we talked to them about what was happening: what wasn't working, and what they actually needed to succeed and become independent. They told us quite frankly that they needed the same things we did: a decent job and a decent place to live, but also because of personal life circumstances many of them hadn't learned some of the basic life skills we take for granted. They wanted a supportive environment where they could make mistakes and learn those things. We find that sometimes homeless youth are the best consultants we could ever have and they haven't steered us wrong yet."

As a result of a collaborative effort of staff, youth, donors, and volunteers Eva's Phoenix opened in 2000 housing the employment training program and Eva's Print Shop, a graphic communications training facility and non-profit commercial print shop. All of the printing business supports youth.

With the new facility there was a City capital grant for construction, but these are never enough and most of their financial support came from the Buzz Hargrove Training Supports Program. The program was conceived and continues to be operated by Gerry Schwartz, the CEO of Onyx Corp. and is an invaluable supporter of the organization's work.

"Buzz and Gerry have taken a personal interest and have been real champions both behind and in front of the scenes - a large part of our success is due to their support and efforts." Rather than simply providing youth with employment option one, or two from which to choose Eva's Phoenix works holistically on a case by case basis to assess career path interests before working on partnerships to make that happen. Volunteer companies and individuals take on youth and provide training and mentorship that can result in full-time employment. This year Eva's Phoenix will see over one hundred youth in their training programs.

Eva's Satellite first took shape in emergency circumstances to accommodate homeless youth who were using drugs and alcohol (in the traditional shelter system people are turned away if they are under the influence). With about six weeks notice from the City of Toronto Eva's Satellite set up shop beneath the intersection of Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave. "We were literally and figuratively an underground operation that was supposed to last only one winter as a kind of out of the cold, immediate response project. But the youth came, and they came in droves. It quickly became clear to us that there was a real need for a place for youth struggling with drugs and alcohol."

Eva's Satellite has adopted a harm reduction approach to working with youth with a "model that's educational rather than punitive where we work with the youth to help them reduce the harm in using. We often find that once youth are aware of the harms, they want to make changes in their life." For Eva's this model, still in its pioneering stages, is the only approach that makes sense in terms of results and cost effectiveness, and is now being supported and promoted by the City of Toronto's Health Department.

Maria is very excited that Eva's Satellite, which was moved to a rundown office building after its first year underground, will be breaking ground on a brand new facility this fall. The new building is a perfect example of how Eva's makes things happen by dedicating tireless energy to fundraising initiatives that really drive their operations.

The evolution of the organization shows no sign of slowing as the clearly indefatigable staff continue innovating. In the beginning there was Eva's Place, and the shelter remains home to Eva's flagship Family Reconnect Program. "Finally this year we have statistics to show the amount of money we have saved the system by investing substantially early on with youth to get them out of the shelter system for good."

When asked about plans for the future Maria is a bit secretive not wanting to let anything out of the bag prematurely, but Eva's is never at a loss for ideas and assures us that "if we had the resources, I could tell you eighteen things we're going to do right away!"

Something Eva's is doing right away is hosting its second Taste Matters, a wine and food tasting event to benefit homeless youth on October 18. Contact 416.977.4497 x124 for more information.

Also if you would like a quote on printing services from Eva's Print Shop you can contact Business Manager Alexandra Djukic at 416.364.4716 x256 or alexandra@evas.ca

www.evasinitiatives.com