Latest news with #RukshiniPonniahGoulin
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
'We're $200K away from the worst case scenario': Downtown Mission issues plea to save youth centre
Staff at the Downtown Mission say the Windsor Youth Centre is facing a funding emergency, and its future hangs in the balance as they appeal to the community for help raising $200,000 by the end of the year and another $100,000 by the middle of next year to keep it running. Centre alumni joined Mission employees at a news conference Thursday to help make the case for keeping the service alive. Michael Nicholls, now 30, said he started frequenting the centre in 2013 after discovering it while walking by one day. "I sat down and started talking with them, realizing that this place could be a safe space, as I was just hanging out with the wrong people at the wrong time, getting myself into trouble, trying to figure out how to set myself straight," he said. "I ended up going back there almost every day finally realizing, 'Wow, this is like a family." Staff helped him go back to school, and centre programs helped him sober up and manage his anger, he said. Another former client, Amber Salerno, said she's been drug-free for nine years. Youth need services just for them, director says The youth centre serves more than 250 unique young people and more than 40 young families with babies and toddlers each month, according to Mission Executive Director Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin. It has seen more than 15,000 visits so far this year alone, said Director of Youth Services and Administration Ashley Marchand. Launched in 2011, the centre provides a drop-in, young parents support group, wellness and recovery group, one-on-one outreach support, a gay-straight alliance for 2SLGBTQ+ youth, anger management, informal counselling, life skills, recreational activities and meals. Its services are vital because youth do worse when forced to mix with the adult population at facilities like the Downtown Mission, Marchand said. "Often adults experiencing homelessness are in their later years. They've lived their lives, right? They've established life skills, and something fell off the rails for them," Marchand said. "Often the young person experiencing homelessness hasn't even gotten that start yet either. They left an unsafe home situation. Maybe they came through the [children's aid] system, and they don't have the launch, the support that most of us have to get started." Vulnerable youth are at higher risk of exploitation, human trafficking and increased trauma when integrated into adult services, she added. The youth centre's $450,000 per year budget is covered by donations, grants, and proceeds from third-party-organized fundraisers, Ponniah-Goulin said. But the Downtown Mission is running at a deficit due to increased demand and increased costs of programming, according to a news release issued by Mission staff Thursday. It will be forced to cut programming if it can't secure funding by year-end. "It is pretty dire," Ponniah-Goulin told reporters, blaming the shortfall in part on economic uncertainties resulting from shifting U.S. trade policy. "I think we're $200,000 away from the worst case scenario." But Ponniah-Goulin said she is also confident that Windsor-Essex will step up to help it continue to run the centre. "They've always been able to do that, and I feel like they will continue to do so," she said. "Companies, organizations, groups — everyone is struggling … But I think we'll all do what we can."
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Windsor Youth Centre pleads for donations amid $200,000 funding shortfall
Without a new funding source, the Windsor Youth Centre's Wyandotte Street East building could be forced to close, seen on Aug. 7, 2025. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor) Under the pressures of rising demand and fewer donations, the Windsor Youth Centre (WYC) is turning to the public to address financial pressures. Run as a program under the Downtown Mission, the WYC launched an urgent fundraising initiative on Thursday morning to help address a $200,000 shortfall. The centre is asking for community leaders, businesses and organizations to step forward with a $10,000 donation this year and next year. Through the 'Vital Services for Vulnerable Youth' fundraiser, the centre aims to raise at least $100,000 by Dec. 31, and an additional $100,000 by June 30, 2026. 'I think we're $200,000 away from worst-case scenario,' said Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin, the mission's executive director. 'I'm confident that Windsor-Essex will come in and join us and help us keep these young people safe and keep them going forward with hope.' The WYC offers several programs, drop-in services, and meals to youth aged 16 to 25. So far, the centre has recorded more than 15,000 visits in 2025. Windsor Youth Centre Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin, left, and Ashley Marchand, are turning to the public for help funding the Windsor Youth Centre, seen on Aug. 7, 2025. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor) Without funding to address their financial needs, the mission will have to close the WYC site on Wyandotte Street East. 'We do want to keep all of the services of the Windsor Youth Centre going. We don't want to reduce ours as we have had to in the past,' Ponniah-Goulin noted. The centre relies entirely on grants and donations to keep its doors open and does not receive any consistent government funding. 'Some grants that we've applied for, unfortunately, we haven't been able to get,' Ponniah-Goulin said. Annually, the WYC spends about $450,000 on programs, staff, and building costs. In an email to CTV News, Andrew Dowie, the MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh, did not directly answer questions about providing consistent funding to the centre. 'I met with representatives of the Windsor Youth Centre this spring, and at that time shared with them some of the provincial funding programs that can be applied for, including the Ontario Trillium Foundation,' Dowie wrote. At a news conference on Thursday, Michael Nicholls, 30, credited the WYC for helping him turn his life around after he stumbled upon it. 'I was just hanging out with the wrong people, wrong time, getting myself into trouble trying to figure out how to set myself straight,' Nicholls said. Help from the centre allowed Nicholls to return to school and access programs for addiction and anger management. Today, Nicholls tests his cooking skills at the centre as a volunteer. 'I ended up going back there almost every day, finally realizing, wow, this is like a family,' Nicholls said. While the WYC serves under the Downtown Mission, Ashley Marchand, the director of Youth Services and Administration, warned that their shelter and youth services shouldn't be under the same roof. 'So, without having a place like ours to be able to feel safe, feel secure, they will be stuck in that survival mode and they will fail to be able to thrive forward,' Marchand said.
CTV News
31-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
Downtown Mission reacts to dramatic rise in Windsor-Essex homelessness
The Downtown Mission is reacting to the city's recent Point-in-Time count of homelessness in the community. New numbers show 672 people are currently experiencing homelessness in Windsor-Essex — a dramatic jump from the 251 counted in 2021. 'It's not a pleasant message to share with our supporters and community partners. Volumes for services and programs are at an all-time high. Shelter beds, meal programs, Food Bank, Phoenix Program (Addiction Recovery Program), as well as our Windsor Youth Centre programs are at capacity. We are doing our best to meet the demands we're seeing across the organization, but some days we are barely treading water,' said Executive Director, Rukshini-Ponniah Goulin. The mission said it is struggling to access adequate resources to manage and make progress on reducing the number of people living on our streets. On any given day, the mission said it provides an average of 400 meals, welcomes approximately 150 individuals into its day programs, feeds approximately 80 people a day through its Food Bank and shelters about 120 people overnight. The Windsor Youth Centre, which the mission said is a critical drop-in program for youth aged 16 to 24, has seen a significant surge, now serving an average of 1,100 youth each month.
CTV News
27-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Downtown Mission plans move with Windsor's H4 to better serve clients — and neighbours
Leadership at the Downtown Mission says the Ouellette Avenue location was never meant to be permanent. Seen in Windsor, Ont. on May 27, 2025. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor) The Downtown Mission says it plans to move alongside Windsor's Homelessness and Housing Help Hub — a relocation that could significantly reshape how the city delivers support to its most vulnerable. Executive Director Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin told CTV News the Mission hopes to co-relocate with the H4 when the city finds a permanent site for the homelessness hub. 'We have every intention and hope of going there with them,' she said. 'Or relocating close to it, if not right on the property.' While the Mission has operated its shelter and services out of a building on Ouellette Avenue since 2017, Ponniah-Goulin said that site was never meant to be permanent. In a new location, she said she'd like to see features that support both clients and the surrounding neighbourhood. 'An enclosed space in the back for our clients to have some privacy,' she said. 'But also, so our neighbours — whether they be businesses or residential homeowners — don't necessarily have to be faced with the clients every day.' She said staff are already working closely with the city, as the search for a permanent home for the H4 resumes. Council voted this week to remove a previously imposed two-kilometre boundary from the downtown core, allowing potential H4 locations to be considered citywide. Mayor Drew Dilkens acknowledged the shift won't be easy. 'Nobody wants this next door to them,' he said. He added the city's goal is to find a location that works for the people who use the hub — and for those who live nearby. 'A lot of the behaviours that play out are unwanted behaviours by many of the residents,' Dilkens said. 'And so, we're going to try and find a location that makes sense within our city.' Water World was only intended as a temporary home for the H4 when it opened in 2020. A proposed move to Wellington Avenue was shelved late last year due to cost. The mayor said identifying a new location could still take years.
