For the past quarter century, Calgary’s Safe Haven Foundation has been running the successful Haven’s Way program, which has kept young women from becoming homeless and helped others exit from being homeless.

Of the more than 100 girls that have been helped by the foundation, none have fallen back into or have become homeless—a statistic the organization is proud of.

Young women and girls, between 14 and 22 who don’t have child welfare status, are given housing and wraparound supports to help them complete their high school education and build life skills.

“When they come into there, the idea is that they’re going to be able to complete their high school education based on the age they are—most of them are in high school—and just get them back on the right track,” said Carolyn Holloway, Safe Haven’s Community Engagement Officer.

According to statistics compiled by the foundation, of the 250 youth that will be on Calgary streets each night, 77.5 per cent will have left home because of an abusive family member, 20 per cent will experience some form of human trafficking, and 53 per cent will have dropped out of school.

Holloway said there was gap identified by program alumni who needed extra supports to make the transition away from supported living and for young women who needed the support to continue while pursuing post-secondary education.

“It’s that next step in independence for them, to come into Haven’s Harbour and live pretty much independently, but still receive subsidized rent so they can complete their post-secondary education,” Holloway said.

“Before they were having to choose from paying rent or going to school. The idea of Havens Harbor is to enable them to do both.”

The building accommodates nine young women in eight rental units, and when fully completed, will have a lower-level space that will be used for a community hub area, a gym, and some programming spaces.

“A good portion of the youth coming into there will come from Haven’s Way, but we also work with other like-minded programs like Trellis for example. We’ve had a youth just move in from the Highbank Society,” said Holloway.

“Our program team is always out in the community, getting referrals, and getting the word out that this program is available.”

Anonymous donation moves project towards completion

The original Safe Haven goal for the project was to raise $2.6 million over the next few years, but a recent anonymous $1 million donation given to them via the Calgary Foundation has pushed up the timeline towards completion.

“We’re still a little bit in shock about it. We’re a very small organization, it’s so huge for us to receive that donation. It was such a gift over and above in that it’s un-designated, so we can use it where it’s needed most,” Holloway said.

“Before we got this donation, we had raised almost a million. So this has catapulted us ahead, that extra step, to where we can see the finish line now.”

As part of the capital campaign for the project, Holloway said that they had a $1.4 million mortgage on the apartment building, which has now been significantly paid down as a result.

“The sooner we can pay that off, the sooner we can stop paying interest and put that money back into our programs,” she said.

“What’s remaining is about $150,000 that we need for the suites, and then the lower level is going to be just over $400,000, and then about $250,000 left on our mortgage.”

She said that the donation has given the project breathing room, and an opportunity to be completed by the end of 2024.

“It’s a lot of work to raise the money, and we don’t get any fees for service from government funding or United Way funding, or any of those big dollars. So we very much rely on the generosity of individual Calgarians, corporations, and funding organizations,” Holloway said.

“It’s just really given us that boost to get us closer to the finish line.”

Holloway said they still need Calgarians to help them make that final push to complete Haven’s Harbour.

“Sometimes we get questioned about, ‘we only serve six girls, we only serve nine girls.’ But what is the value of one life? We always say that we’re changing. We’re changing these futures one life at a time,” Holloway said.

“We’re very much focused on their individual situation. So for us, it’s not about the numbers. It’s about the long-term impact, and ensuring they never end up on the streets again.”

For more details about the Safe Haven Foundation’s Haven’s Harbour project, see www.safehavenfoundation.ca/havens-harbour.