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How We Serve
New Horizons Ministries was founded on two
basic principals: (1) meet the immediate needs of youth living on
the streets of Seattle; and (2) build long-term, trusting relationships
with these youths. Our objective is to provide love and acceptance to youth,
offering services to help them leave the streets. We do this by running a drop-in center
and working with individual youth through case management efforts.
Since we began this work,
we have intentionally moved toward a broader, more complete approach
to meeting the needs of the youth. As we learn, we have established
a vision for a continuum of care that will best serve the precise
challenges that the youth face. It takes time, patience, and persistence
to walk through these significant life changes. To the best of our
ability, following are the ways in which we provide that continuum
of care.
Outreach
From its very first days until now, New Horizons has pursued relationships with street youth where they are: on the street. We consider outreach our most basic and necessary service. We do outreach to initiate new relationships and to build on existing ones. Being on the street is valuable, because some youth find it easier to trust us if they see us present on the street. In fact, some youth never come to the drop-in center, so being on the street together is the only contact we have.
Currently New Horizons sends teams of paid and volunteer staff on outreach at least five nights a week. We target areas of prostitution and areas popular with youth. We conduct periodic reviews of the effectiveness of outreach, and we are always trying to adapt to the changing street scene.
Drop-In
The drop-in center is a place where youth can receive many services: hot meals, laundry, clothing, toiletries, showers, phones, mail and message service, bus tokens, recreation, social  services, help, and rest. Primarily, however, the center is an alternative to the street, a place of safety, acceptance, and new experiences. Youth can work on their next steps in relationships with staff and with each other. They can learn life skills, such
as how to use washers and dryers, how to operate within boundaries,
how to ask for help. With the assistance of staff, youth can work
on their next steps for exiting the streets.
Currently the New Horizons
drop-in center is open at some time each day of the week. We have
morning drop-in hours, and evening drop-in hours. Our generous staffing
ratio ensures that most needs that the youth bring to the center
will be met.
Case Management
A classic definition for case
management is "work at the interface between clients and their
environments." The youth that New Horizons serves move in
and out of many varied and complex environments: the family home,
which could involve inconsistent, violent, or absent parenting;
the often overrun state social service networks; the maze of private
social service agencies with varying regulations; and the street
itself, with its particular culture, rules, and dangers.
For the length of its history, New Horizons has taken this aspect of case management seriously. The relationships that we build with the youth are not on occasion; they are intentional, sometimes playful, but always purposeful,
with the long-term health of the youth in mind. We start by going to the youth where they are, and then we walk with them where they need to go. We go with youth to talk with their parents, to visit case workers with the Department of Social and Health
Services (DSHS), or to see probation counselors. We find them on the street to remind them of important appointments, and we advocate for them in court rooms, in jails, in rehabilitation programs, and in many other settings.
We can't do this work alone. In addition to our Case Management staff, we have a team of outreach volunteers who develop one-on-one relationships so that they can offer case management services at the level and time of the youth's
readiness. Volunteers are required to attend a training and orientation program. After they begin their volunteer service, they participate in ongoing mentoring and in-service training sessions. Our Case Management staff carry case loads, as well as support
the volunteers with more time-intensive case management issues as they arise.
Life
Discovery Program
The Life Discovery Program hopes to help youth discover their life potential through opportunities that foster their interests, develop life skills and encourage self care. A natural extension of our outreach and drop-in services, Life Discovery offers another step in our continuum of service, moving youth toward skill building and self-discovery in a safe relational environment.
Meeting tangible needs and even providing companionship are often not enough for youth to exit street life. The youth are up against years of neglect, abuse, victimization, and loneliness. Their self-esteem is often extremely low, and they have a hard time imagining how they might contribute to the larger community. For many of them, traditional classroom and therapeutic settings have not helped them thrive. Because the Life Discovery Program is a natural extension of our relationships with the youth, they feel safe taking risks in self-discovery and in learning new things. Our hope is for youth to discover an interest or skill that gives them vision beyond the streets, helping them dream about a future.
Through staff and community volunteers, the Life Discovery Program provides youth activities such computers, photography, hip hop dance, pottery, and acting.  Other Life Discovery activities have focused more on gaining basic life skills like goal setting and budgeting, or learning leadership skills. While some of these opportunities may result in actual employment, our larger goal is that these youth will come to see themselves as talented, competent and with something to offer. As this happens and each youth is thriving and gaining confidence, his or her case manager will work to determine their next steps.
Adaptive
Life Skills Mentorship Program
The Adaptive Life Skills Mentorship
Program seeks to integrate the youths into a supportive working
environment that teaches interpersonal skills, time management,
and problem-solving skills. Each youth is paired with an in-house
mentor and case manager. Together, the mentor, case manager, and
transitions coordinator create daily and long-term goals
to teach the youth these skills.
Many of the youth are ready
to take steps to exit street life, but they are not ready to function
in the mainstream world. Skills such as appointment-keeping or personal
hygiene still must be improved, and most working environments cannot
or will not accommodate teaching these skills. Because our program
is simply another extension of our relationships with the youth,
and because they feel safe with us, we have earned the right to
set boundaries with them. Building on this foundation, we can move
toward more advanced skills, such as integrating the youth into
the larger community of New Horizons. If the youth are learning
adaptive life skills, they will be able to transfer these to any
working or living environment.
It takes many small steps
to make a journey. From outreach, to drop-in, to accepting
case management from one of our staff, these youths are on a journey.
Entering into a scheduled work environment can be a challenge for
anyone. We understand that for youths from the street, extra effort
needs to be made by both the youth and their mentor in preparation
for this step.
Youths work with both their
case manager and a mentor to develop the skills necessary to thrive
in the workplace. Everything from personal hygiene to accepting
constructive feedback is addressed. Accountability is established
as they begin working within a set schedule, logging in upon arrival
and logging out at departure. Each youth who participates in the
program meets with their case manager and mentor to develop a list
of personal objectives and goals. The list is reviewed frequently throughout the 8 week mentorship cycle. Changes
may be made that address individual needs and stated objectives.
The Adaptive Life Skills
Mentorship Program includes mentorships in Food Service, Facilities
Management, Computer Technology, and Office Administration. We hope
to see this program continue to grow.
It would be great to tell
you that each of these programs are carried out with the same clarity
and structure in which we have written the in-house program descriptions
and objectives. Fortunately, the activities accomplish more than
we hope for, by the simple fact that they produce their own outcomes.
Each youth who participates contributes something; a dynamic, a
voice, a tenderness, or a level of enthusiasm unique to him or her.
With this, each activity creates its own distinct outcome that could
not have been programmed. It’s what each youth contributes that
makes any activity successful. We like that.
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