The Link

The Link

Your generous donation will help provide vital housing, support and basic needs for youth & families in our community! This year, The Link needs to raise $100,000 through Give to the Max to sustain our 28 programs. Together, we can continue to empower local young people as they transition out of homelessness, heal from trauma, build stability, and work hard to achieve their goals! 

The Link is a youth and adult led non-profit that provides crisis support, emergency shelter and housing to over 2,000 youth and young families in the Twin Cities each year. We offer a safety net for youth often left behind, providing programs designed to meet the needs of BIPOC youth, LGBTQIA+ youth, young parents, and more. No one should have to trade sex for a safe place to stay. And no young family should have to sleep in a car or outside because they don’t have a home. 

The Link was founded in 1991 by two Black community leaders and former Minnesota Vikings, Jim Marshall and Oscar Reed. They recognized the need that at-risk and homeless youth had on the North side of Minneapolis. The Link has grown to serve youth throughout the entire metro area, but we are still based out of North Minneapolis and continue to work to provide services within the original vision of our founders. 

We offer programming in three areas:

• Housing & Supportive Services Division: housing and supportive services for youth and young families experiencing homelessness
• Youth Advocacy: positive alternative programs for youth who encounter the juvenile justice system
• Safe Harbor Division: emergency shelter, housing and supportive services for youth who have been sexually exploited

Learn more at www.thelinkmn.org