Meet Bina Velinor, Residential Supervisor, Eva’s Satellite. “Our House” Bina Velinor has been with Eva’s for just over a year now. She believes that one of her essential tasks is connection. The first thing this Supervisor does each day, after checking in quickly with her staff, is to take a moment to connect with the youth she serves. “I may sit down with a young person, or sometimes I even play basketball with the youth,” says Bina. “And then, [...]
Dobijoki Bringi’s approach to life has never been ordinary. She’s always been an innovator and someone for whom limitations do not exist. That’s the same approach she took when first starting as a Housing Success Worker at Eva’s. Dobijoki Bringi, Housing Success Worker at Eva’s Dobijoki felt it was necessary to have a stronger understanding of the housing market and the different experiences that may confront young Black people when searching for housing, so she attended some [...]
Kola Iluyomade, Housing Program Manager at Eva’s. Eva’s Initiatives for Homeless Youth was always intended to be more than just a shelter where youth could lay their heads…it was designed to be a home. Indeed, Eva Maud Smith, who founded the organization in 1989 under the name North York Emergency Home for Youth, believed in creating a circle of care around the young people she served. Today, Eva's is striving to keep this legacy alive. We are [...]
There is no doubt that this is a very different world than just a few weeks ago. For young people, no matter their situation, adolescence can be a difficult and challenging time, but for youth experiencing homelessness, their challenges are heightened and exacerbated by their circumstances. Trying to navigate a pandemic and manage existing traumas can increase anxiety levels and set youth who have been making progress back even further. Here at Eva’s, the young people we serve are [...]
...are resilient and driven. The most common characteristics of youth experiencing homelessness is a determination to overcome the circumstances that lead to their homelessness and a desire to improve their lives and learn the skills they need to be housed and employed. … face unique barriers. Homeless Canadians share common concerns such as a lack of access to affordable housing. But homeless youth face their own unique barriers. For example, for many reasons, homeless youth typically have not gained [...]
Last updated November 9, 2021 How is Eva’s managing COVID-19? As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, our organization remains committed to protecting the health and safety of young people and staff. This includes abiding by protocols to reduce the risk of transmission within our shelters and housing programs while continuing to provide wraparound supports for young people in need. We have put in place several changes including: Adapting our programs to be able to support young people [...]
Meet Eugene Silva. He has been the chef at Eva’s Place for 22 years. He started as a cleaner in 1996 then became the cook a year later. At Eva’s providing healthy nutritious food is central to ensuring that young people are able to grow and progress to a life of inter-dependence. As a chef at Eva’s Eugene is central to this. When it comes to his dishes, Eugene tries to cook food that reflects the cultural makeup of [...]
This month we are proud to celebrate the many achievements and accomplishments of Canadians of African descent, including our founder Eva Smith and her many friends, colleagues and contemporaries, whose advocacy and resistance contributed so much to the City of Toronto, our country and laid the ground-work for our organization. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. We are grateful and honoured to celebrate their legacy. Kamala-Jean Gopie https://youtu.be/7VU8bcgx_14 At Eva‘s Initiatives we [...]
Each day Dion Fitzgerald walks into his office at Eva’s Satellite, he feels invested in what he does. Among many other experiences, this can also likely be attributed to an act of resistance. As a child, when Dion was called the N-word, his response to the cutting words and the physical attack that accompanied them, was to fight back. Yet, despite the fact that a racist word had been weaponized against him, his mother, who understood clearly the impact [...]
This blog post is the fifth part of the Eva’s Innovation Lab Spotlight series The conclusion of Eva’s National Housing Strategy Solutions Lab has identified several promising interventions expected to expedite and sustain young people’s exit from homelessness and housing precarity. First, one must understand why young people are experiencing homelessness and how they can exit it. As our previous post explains, the key to predicting young people’s risk of experiencing homelessness is the Snowball Effect and the Opportunity [...]
This blog post is the fourth part of the Eva’s Innovation Lab Spotlight series This year, Eva’s Solutions Lab has been working to identify barriers and possible interventions to the pathways, young people take in and out of homelessness. As a culturally and systemically responsive organization, this work is central to the work we do. The Solutions Lab team found two key trends on what drives and prolongs journeys into youth homelessness: The Snowball Effect and The Opportunity Gap. [...]
