By Beatrice Liebrecht
The Alba Collaborative is a program that supports 9-17-year -olds who are living in unstable environments, have run away or have been kicked out of their homes. The Alba Collaborative was launched by New Avenues for Youth in 2020 to help prevent youth homelessness in the Portland community.
With the objective of reuniting adolescents and their loved ones, the Alba Collaborative provides crisis intervention, emergency shelter and housing, mentorship and family mediation. Their outreach team also meets the youth in their communities—at schools, parks and other public places—to connect them with wraparound services. This year they are celebrating their fifth anniversary of hard work and community impact. Sarah Nedeau, Senior Director of Programs at New Avenues, states, “Over the last five years, 91 percent of the youth who have come to the Alba Collaborative have left the program to stable homes”
In response to the rising number of homeless and at-risk adolescents in Portland, local business and community leaders established New Avenues for Youth in 1997. The founders wanted to give young people access to education, job training and chances for healing and growth since they saw that the community needed more than simply basic needs like food and shelter. They felt that every young person should have the opportunity to flourish and have a reliable, independent life. Nedeau says the Alba Collaborative is “a key program of New Avenues for Youth’s wider homelessness prevention services.” She continues, “These services aim to stop homelessness before it even starts because we know that every day a youth spends on the streets increases their risk of long-term homelessness.” The name Alba translates to “dawn” or “sunrise” in Spanish and Italian, reflecting the program’s initiatives to bring hope, new beginnings and fresh starts to the youth they aid.
The Alba Collaborative provides a number of important services aimed at preventing and resolving youth homelessness. Those include emergency shelter, case management, family mediation and reunification assistance and affirming programs for adolescents who identify as LGBTQIA+.
Alba works to provide assistance through family mediation and reunification programs, with an emphasis on reunifying young people with their families whenever possible. They put a strong emphasis on programs that are affirming and culturally appropriate, especially for adolescents who are LGBTQIA+, youth who have survived sex trafficking and youth who have been harmed by gangs. The Collaborative also provides Safe Place locations throughout the community that work to connect adolescents with assistance promptly. The Alba Collaborative offers a wide range of services by utilizing alliances and other programs with the same goal: to prevent and intervene in youth homelessness.
Through customized case management, the program assists the youth in determining and pursuing their objectives, while also providing them mentorship. They also offer resource recommendations, job training and placement and assistance with basic requirements.
The Alba Collaborative operates under a culturally responsive partnership model, providing 24/7 crisis services to youth experiencing or at risk of housing instability in Portland. Multnomah County’s Department of Human Services, Youth Progress, New Avenues for Youth and the National Safe Place Network are all partners in this joint initiative.
“We’re proud of all the work we’ve done at The Alba Collaborative and all the youth we’ve helped gain stability,” Nedeau notes. In the past five years, the Collaborative has connected with 1,100 youths, making it a key program of New Avenues’ wider homelessness prevention services.
The Alba Collaborative has been commemorating this milestone by sharing the story of the Collaborative and its mission with community partners, business leaders and donors to encourage contributions, “so we can continue doing this valuable work in the community,” Nedeau explains. There is always more to be done so they don’t pause their efforts to continue to connect with youth in the community.
After a fantastic five years, the Alba Collaborative is here to provide a safety net when needed, working with families and adolescents to provide a safe shelter, resources to assist youth achieve long-term stability and an extra layer of support. Nedeau highlights, “If you or someone you know could use some support, please reach out to us at info@newavenues.org.”