Haven’s Harbour is Safe Haven Foundation’s newest initiative providing housing with supports for youth graduating from the Haven’s Way homes and like-minded programs who are pursuing post-secondary education while learning to live independently. Youth will be able to practice the life skills learned at Haven’s Way while being provided with the security of affordable housing while being supported to reach their goals and create a future of stability to ensure they never experience homelessness again.
This will increase the number of youth we serve by 150% and, in turn, increases the positive impact for their communities of families and natural supports. Looking at Haven’s Harbour in terms of hard numbers, this equates to 3,285 bed nights per year for youth who are safely housed with access to education.
Our first youth moved in to the building in early 2023 with additional young women moving in as suite renovations were completed. It is expected to have all suites occupied by Fall of 2024.
An on-site Community Hub is being completed as funding allows with expected completion by the end of this year. It will have designated space creating opportunities to build community, form relationships, and allow youth to advance their living and life skills. The Community Hub will bring together Alumni, Haven’s Harbour and Haven’s Way youth under one roof for opportunities of celebrations, financial literacy lessons, community cooking nights, and learnings from guest speakers. Older Alumni will organically mentor Haven’s Harbour residents who, in turn, can mentor the girls in the Haven’s Way homes.
As an added benefit, girls will be able to transition out of Haven’s Way sooner, opening the doors in our homes to the younger girls who so desperately need daily support. Haven’s Harbour long term goal is to allow youth to complete their education, advance their independence skills and give them security. It also allows a safe place for youth to continue their healing, rebuild and create new family and natural support relationships and increase their self-esteem
This very concept is clearly aligned with a vision that the Founders have had since the early 2000’s but were unable to embark on as organizational sustainability of our existing programs needed to prevail.
Generous donors through The Calgary Foundation, Rotary Clubs, corporations, granting organizations, and individuals have brought us SO close to the finish line of completing Haven’s Harbour. We have approximately $400,000 left to raise to complete the renovations and have the building fully operational the way we have dreamt and envisioned for so many years.
The addition of Haven’s Harbour means that the Safe Haven Foundation family will continue to grow in profound ways with a strong sense of belonging, learning, and growing. Please consider lending your support to this important project that is opening new doors to extraordinary transformation for our most vulnerable youth.