What It Is
In 1988, the government of British Columbia took an interest in street kids and established a provincial "Reconnect" program. They began funding agencies across the province to provide services to street kids. Some of these programs are called Reconnect and others use different names.
This provincially legislated program was designed to assist street involved youth (and more recently, sexually exploited youth). Communities around the province developed programs that reflected the specific needs of the youth in those communities.
Purpose's Role
Purpose has a contract with the Ministry for Children and Families to provide the Reconnect program in Bumaby, New Westminster, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and Coquitlam. To carry out this contract we employ seven full-time and one half-time employees. The streetworkers are expected to have an undergraduate degree and experience with at-risk or street youth.
Streetworkers spend most of their working hours on the streets of the cities making contact with street kids. They will also get called by the police or other agency who may become aware of a child on the streets. Once the contact with a youth is made, the streetworker will do whatever is necessary to try to turn that youth's life around.
These might involve:
- helping youth to look at their options and make positive decisions
- providing information on services that can help the youth
- connecting the youth to someone who can help them find shelter
- connecting the youth with people and places to keep them safe
- supporting the youth by being available to talk and work out problems
- being available by cellphone
- advocating for youth when necessary
Each streetworker will make contact with approximately 75 different kids each month. Each day, they walk the same route observing the street scene, looking for ways to make contact with youth. This might include giving a youth directions, making change, directing youth towards services, or helping a youth get a bus ticket. The street worker makes his/her presence known and, in conversation, tries to build rapport.
On occasion the Ministry for Children and Families or another agency will refer a young person to the Reconnect program. Or, a parent will call looking for help because their son or daughter is spending more time on the streets than at home, has run away or is missing. In these instances, a file will be opened and detailed notes kept while the streetworker completes an assessment and provides service to the youth.
Although streetworkers may spend many hours with youth, they may not see any change at that time. However, the ground work is done that will assist the youth to make changes in future. For example, one streetworker spent many months meeting with a young woman who was living on the streets. Over the months, they met at McDonalds and talked about many things. The young woman admits that, at first, she was interested only in bumming cigarettes from the streetworker. However, over the months, something changed for her. Eventually, she made a decision to change her life. She is a success story. She graduated from the Purpose Young Adult Learning Center in 1998 and was chosen valedictorian.
Every summer, streetworkers provide recreational activities to at-risk youth. Last year, 8 of the youth who attended the summer program had dropped out of school. In September, 6 of them made of the decision to return to school as a result of being involved in the summer recreational program.
