'We're $200K away from the worst case scenario': Downtown Mission issues plea to save youth centre

Staff at the Downtown Mission say the Windsor Youth Centre is facing a funding emergency, and its future hangs in the balance as they appeal to the community for help raising $200,000 by the end of the year and another $100,000 by the middle of next year to keep it running. 

Centre alumni joined Mission employees at a news conference Thursday to help make the case for keeping the service alive.

Michael Nicholls, now 30, said he started frequenting the centre in 2013 after discovering it while walking by one day.

"I sat down and started talking with them, realizing that this place could be a safe space, as I was just hanging out with the wrong people at the wrong time, getting myself into trouble, trying to figure out how to set myself straight," he said.

"I ended up going back there almost every day finally realizing, 'Wow, this is like a family."

Staff helped him go back to school, and centre programs helped him sober up and manage his anger, he said.

Another former client, Amber Salerno, said she's been drug-free for nine years.

Youth need services just for them, director says

The youth centre serves more than 250 unique young people and more than 40 young families with babies and toddlers each month, according to Mission Executive Director Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin.

It has seen more than 15,000 visits so far this year alone, said  Director of Youth Services and Administration Ashley Marchand.

Launched in 2011, the centre provides a drop-in, young parents support group, wellness and recovery group, one-on-one outreach support, a gay-straight alliance for 2SLGBTQ+ youth, anger management, informal counselling, life skills, recreational activities and meals.

Its services are vital because youth do worse when forced to mix with the adult population at facilities like the Downtown Mission, Marchand said. 

"Often adults experiencing homelessness are in their later years. They've lived their lives, right? They've established life skills, and something fell off the rails for them," Marchand said.

"Often the young person experiencing homelessness hasn't even gotten that start yet either. They left an unsafe home situation. Maybe they came through the [children's aid] system, and they don't have the launch, the support that most of us have to get started."

Vulnerable youth are at higher risk of exploitation, human trafficking and increased trauma when integrated into adult services, she added.

The youth centre's $450,000 per year budget is covered by donations, grants, and proceeds from third-party-organized fundraisers, Ponniah-Goulin said.

But the Downtown Mission is running at a deficit due to increased demand and increased costs of programming, according to a news release issued by Mission staff Thursday.

It will be forced to cut programming if it can't secure funding by year-end.

"It is pretty dire," Ponniah-Goulin told reporters, blaming the shortfall in part on economic uncertainties resulting from shifting U.S. trade policy. 

"I think we're $200,000 away from the worst case scenario."

But Ponniah-Goulin said she is also confident that Windsor-Essex will step up to help it continue to run the centre.

"They've always been able to do that, and I feel like they will continue to do so," she said.

"Companies, organizations, groups — everyone is struggling … But I think we'll all do what we can."