Prime Together Foundation empowers The Link to transform lives, create hope

In 2022, K’vonte was one of nearly 6,000 unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness each night in Minnesota. He was living in his car. During the winter, K’vonte would turn his vehicle on and off throughout the night to preserve heat, until one day it stopped running. With nowhere else to turn, he was forced to sleep alone in his car in the subzero temperatures.

Eventually he made a decision that would change his life for the better, completing a coordinated entry assessment for a housing referral. This is the process to get into a housing program for people experiencing homelessness.

Within a week, The Link responded and K’vonte is now thriving in his very own apartment supported by the organization, while also receiving other lifechanging services.

K’vonte’s story is one of many from The Link, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to work with youth and families to overcome the impacts of poverty and social injustice. In 2022 alone, The Link helped 257 youth and young families transition out of homelessness and into stable housing.

Last year, the Prime Together Foundation awarded The Link a grant based on how closely their work aligns with its mission to address inequality and injustice in all its manifestations, particularly racism, poverty, health and hunger.

In addition to supporting youth in situations like K’vonte’s, the Prime Together Foundation’s grant also went toward The Link’s Project Live Out Loud program, which provides 30 units of housing for LGBTQIA+ youth exiting homelessness.

According to The Link, the program also offers culturally specific and trauma informed services that include case management, life skills education, assistance with education and employment, connections to mental health and chemical dependency treatment, connections to health care services and leadership development opportunities.

Without donations and grants like the one from the Prime Together Foundation, The Link would rely solely on government funding, which only covers the basics, not the whole-person supports and resources that youth need to thrive.

“We are so grateful for the support from the Prime Together Foundation. Their grant has been instrumental in allowing The Link to continue our vital mission to support youth experiencing homelessness and help them find their path to stable housing and brighter futures,” says Beth Holger, CEO of The Link. “With grants like these, we’ve been able to continue our existing programming, while also expanding our programming.”

Learn more about the Prime Together Foundation and its work to help local organizations combat inequalities and injustice.

See for yourself how The Link supports local youth.