Youth Program

We want to empower the highest risk youth by interrupting cycles of violence, exploring interpersonal relationships, and providing wraparound supports.

Many youth-based services restrict youth that are more than 21 years old or labelled “High Risk”, often due to gang affiliations, drug use, or criminal histories.

This inability to access resources frequently causes youth to be pushed further into street culture as a means of survival.

The high prevalence of mental health and substance use disorders also means youth are less likely to make bail or have healthy family support, promoting a cycle of costly justice issues at the client and system levels.

The Hub’s Youth Program (for ages 17-29) seeks to address these concerns through the following methods:

Violence doesn’t always happen between 9am-5pm. This is why our team responds at all hours, ready to engage, ready to connect, and ready to interrupt cycles of community harm [1]. Credible messengers [2] attend these scenes, to help mitigate and resolve conflict with peaceful and restorative solutions.
We support high risk youth involved in the criminal justice system with system navigation, custody support, and release planning.
Each youth has a unique story, so we dedicate ourselves to supporting them on their individual journey, respecting their timelines, and moving at their pace. We prioritize their goals and needs in every aspect of our service delivery.
Our outreach model is evidence-based, focusing on areas with concentrated violence. Our team of credible messengers, tailored to the neighbourhood, provides disconnected youth with safe pathways to services and mediates conflicts. Relationships may start with hesitation, but our team remains patient and persistent, always reaching out with a message of hope.
Saturday nights from 7pm-11pm, youth from various areas gather for food, meaningful discussions, and connection.

[1] Violence interruption: the practice of supporting those most likely to inflict harm to find alternatives in moments of crisis, showing up after violence to prevent further violence, and supporting community healing after violent incidents.

[2] Credible messenger: individuals who hold credibility and are well respected in their community.

“To solve a ***sticky problem, you need a sticky solution* or a number of sticky solutions”** - Thomas Abt, Founder of VRC

The Hub is committed to bridging the gap between the academic and frontline space through trauma-informed data collection, partnerships with academic institutions, and contributions to violence prevention literature from the Canadian context.

Youth Engagement Report 2024