At this time of year, we see youth getting ready to graduate from the program and reflecting on their own progress.  One youth shared the other day that in the 18 months they have spent in our housing, they’ve learned to go from “no way!” to “why not?!”.  We’ve seen them apply this attitude to learning new skills at work, becoming a youth leader within our programs – and now to pursue their own goal of going to post secondary school.  This is just one example of the lasting change we often see youth experience, thanks to the stability provided by housing and the support and encouragement of our staff.

We asked one youth, who graduated in 2024, to tell us about the impact of the program. Here’s a couple of highlights:

“When you have these basic things, [that] everyone should have, your life feels so different. You feel confident, you put your guards down, enjoy life and heal the struggles you’ve had before.”

“[The best thing] I get from Zero Ceiling will always be to just experience how life can be. Before I came to Zero Ceiling, I spoke a lot with people around Vancouver about community, like how we should make community, what kind of community we need. So now, I have experience of how community can build. It gives me power. In the future, I’ll use this experience to…make the world better.”

“It’s very powerful to have people around you who focus on one purpose: to make everything better.”