Eva's Initiatives

Eva's Initiatives for Homeless Youth is an organization with a legacy steeped in advocacy and social justice.

Founded by Eva Smith, a Jamaican immigrant, Black community leader and passionate education advocate, Eva's works to build brighter futures for young people aged 16-24. In addition to providing 123 youth with safe shelter each night, we also work to enable young people to build stable, successful and inter-dependent lives, through our innovative programs, like our Employment and Training program, which includes hands on experience in our Print Shop, a full-service social enterprise.

Join us in working to build brighter futures for youth in need.

Our employee value propositions include, but are not limited to:
- Employer matched RRSP
- Perkopolis
- Group benefits
- Employee Assisted Program (EAP)
- Career development

And more!

Eva’s is strongly committed to a workforce that reflects the diversity of the populations we serve. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals including applicants from all cultures, racialized communities, abilities, diverse sexual and gender identities and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. We are committed to a selection process and work environment that is inclusive and barrier free.

At Eva’s, our mission is to work collaboratively with homeless and at-risk youth to help them reach their potential to lead productive, self-sufficient, and healthy lives. Providing safe shelter and a range of programs and services, we aim to create long-term solutions for homeless youth by developing and implementing proactive and progressive services.

Our principles guide us:
• Eva’s is a Reflective, Learning Organization: Eva’s is committed to growing our own knowledge and
finding out how we can do better.

• Eva’s Puts Young People at the Centre: Young people are at the centre of all we do at Eva’s as human
beings with inalienable human rights.

• Eva’s is Relationship-Focused: Eva’s will do all we can to help youth grow healthy relationships with us
and their families, neighbours, peers, colleagues, and communities.

• Eva’s Approach is One of Justice Doing: Eva’s will support our team to pursue equitable outcomes
through anti-oppressive, intersectional service approaches and we will be an organization that is
reflective of the diverse communities we serve.

This video profiles the social activism that created Eva's Initiatives for Homeless Youth. It was founded out of the community advocacy of Eva Smith, a Black community advocate who challenged the education system to create better outcomes for Black students. Through her work she realized that hidden homelessness was also an issue in the community. In 1989 she formed the North York Emergency Home for Youth. Her passion and advocacy resulted in the construction of our first shelter—Eva’s Place—in 1994, one year after her death.

Eva’s Place is a 40-bed emergency shelter for homeless youth aged 16-24. It provides supports youth need to return home or to transition to housing in the community. It was the first youth shelter in North York, Toronto.

Eva’s Place is home to the Family Reconnect program which offers proactive, long-term solutions to prevent and reduce homelessness by helping youth re-establish and maintain contact with their families. Its Early Intervention component supports families staying together rather than having at-risk youth enter the shelter system.

For youth struggling with substance use and mental health, the journey from chaos and crisis to stability often starts at Eva’s Satellite. We provide comprehensive supports that focus on health, wellness, and stabilization.

Eva’s Phoenix is a 50-bed transitional housing facility for youth aged 16-24. Eva’s prioritizes stabilizing housing for youth who are precariously housed and/or experiencing homeless. Young people develop critical skills to live inter-dependently through caring, individual support, workshops, and hands-on programs.

If you have a passion for community work and youth empowerment and love the work we do, we’d love to hear from you—apply today!

Eva’s is an innovative and award-winning organization devoted to the provision of services for youth experiencing homelessness. We operate three facilities, Eva’s Place, Eva’s Satellite, Eva’s Phoenix, and an administrative office to support strong service delivery.