Success is a Mindset.

We started this year with eagerness as a lot of our youth are facing homelessness on top of all of their buried trauma from childhood, generational trauma, and lack of support and recognition from their community. We had a few unique scenarios with some of our youth that pushed us to find creative avenues to support them. This is where all of the red tape and bureaucracy keeps people marginalized. We are very grateful for our lines of support that have come around our youth in their vision to success. We are very proud to say we have our young lead team navigator, named Malia, who is a single mom, has gotten her daughter into daycare, as she has been couch surfing, and found side work alongside her job at Hope for Homies. We have been able to support her with navigating housing and finally, we have her and drivers Ed, and on her way to getting her drivers license. Her life lived experience navigating not only herself but a foundation for her and her daughter has been a testiment to the power of being seen and heard. Her story, is one story of many in our community who are seeking support and community and kinship. We are blessed that we have the opportunity to watch this young lady grow and achieve these milestones in such a short time.

We have moved to families who were facing eviction and have been able to support them, and their time of need. We take creative measures to support our people through the bureaucratic red tape that doesn’t see the unique barriers our people face. We see them, we hear them, and we stand with them.

Spring is the season of new beginnings. New opportunities. We are gearing up for hiking season and being able to bring our youth into nature to see the changes each season brings. In the meantime, we have been navigating trails around snohomish county and have been tidying up local parks from garbage. We see the value and importance of being outside even when the weather is not sunny—just as life is not always rainbows and butterflies we still have to be determined to push through any obstacle that comes our way—even if that means walking in the gray, wet weather. We walk together, and we stick with it.

Success begins as a mindset. We see success in each face that comes through our doors, and our hope is that our people, through community and support, see success in themselves embracing a success mindset.

Tairyn