Maggie's GTMD Fundraiser for The Link

Please join me in supporting The Link for Give to the Max Day! 

On any given night in Minnesota, nearly 5,000 youth will go to sleep without a safe place to sleep. Among them, 35% identify as Black and 15% as Native American or Indigenous—groups disproportionately affected by housing instability. Furthermore, nearly 1 in 4 of these youth identify as LGBTQIA2+, highlighting the urgent need for culturally responsive, youth-informed solutions. 

I am proud to work as a Grant Writer at The Link. The Link is a Twin Cities nonprofit that helps youth and young families find stability and opportunities through safe housing, holistic services, healing, and culturally responsive, youth-driven programs. At The Link, young people not only receive resources but are empowered to lead, advocate, and drive change in their communities.

The Link provides crisis support, housing, and supportive services to around 2,000 youth each year across the Twin Cities Metro who are:

• Experiencing homelessness: Youth who don't have a safe place to sleep - often because they have been kicked out of their home, fled domestic violence, or aged out of the foster care system
• Sexually exploited: Young people who have been sexually exploited or trafficked - vulnerable youth are often targeted by traffickers who prey on their need for food, shelter, or a sense of belonging
• Justice system involved: Youth who are not attending school or who have been involved in crime - most often because of poverty or underlying trauma affecting them and/or their family

In response, The Link offers youth-driven programs that empower young people to transition out of crisis into safety and stability. Our staff work one-on-one with youth to heal from trauma, reengage in school, build healthy relationships, and pursue their aspirations. 

Every dollar makes a difference! For example...

• $25 helps provide a bus pass so a young person can get to work or a safe place to stay 
• $50 helps provide basic needs kits that Street Outreach workers distribute to youth on the streets while helping them find safety
• $100 helps provide a night of housing and intensive services to a youth or family transitioning out of homelessness or exploitation
• $250 helps provide one month of paid leadership opportunities to a young person on The Link's Youth Advisory Committees
• $500 helps provide a young person with the one-on-one support they need to attend school and work towards graduation
• $1,000 helps provide a deposit for a young parent exiting homelessness with their children

Your donations to The Link on Give to the Max Day help ensure youth in our community have access to the resources they need and the opportunities they deserve.