Street Outreach Worker

Street Outreach Worker

Outreach Department

Onsite, Downtown, Toronto

Full Time, Permanent

Level 7

Requisition Number: DIO-, DIO-

Covenant House helps youth ignite their potential and reclaim their lives. As Canada’s largest agency serving youth who are homeless, trafficked or at risk, we offer the widest range of services to hundreds of young people every day.

More than a place to stay, we provide life-changing care with unconditional love and respect. We meet youth’s immediate needs and then we work together to achieve their future goals. We offer 24/7 crisis shelter transitional housing options on-site and, in the community, health and well-being support, training and skill development, and ongoing care once youth move into the community.

For over 40 years, Covenant House has been dedicated to its mission of serving youth on the street and to protect and safeguard all youth with absolute respect and unconditional love. Since 1982, Covenant House has supported more than 100,000 young people.

Street Outreach Workers engage directly with youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness by meeting them in community settings such as streets, encampments, and drop-in centers. This role focuses on building trust through trauma-informed and harm reduction approaches, providing immediate support for basic needs and crisis stabilization, and connecting youth to emergency shelter, health care, and other essential services. Outreach Workers act as a bridge to long-term solutions, including housing, education, and social inclusion, while maintaining strong professional boundaries and prioritizing safety.

We are currently recruiting for 2 Full-time, Permanent Street Outreach Workers. These are new roles within the organization.

• Conduct street outreach in encampments, adult shelters and drop-in programs, and other areas where unhoused young people gather.
• Identify and engage youth in need build trusting relationships while using trauma informed practice and harm reduction approach, and maintaining positive and professional boundaries
• Provide basic needs, food, clothing, hygiene and crisis interventions while working in community spaces
• Provide harm reduction tools such as naloxone kits to young people.
• Engage young people who are living in encampments and other areas where young people experiencing homelessness gather or live.
• Assess youth’s needs for food an provide meals, and food packages in accordance with the safe food handling practices
• When necessary, de-escalate physically and verbally hostile situations
• Provide ongoing support to young people in the community with system navigation and crisis support
• Support young people with accessing external services (e.g., housing, emergency shelter, obtaining their legal identification).
• Assessing young people for potential referrals for support from other CHT programs (e.g., housing, employment, mental health counselling, family and natural supports counselling) or other community services that offer timely and appropriate support.
• Engage with local businesses and maintain a good relationship within the catchment area
• With support from program leadership, provide enhanced services during extreme cold and extreme heat alerts
• Follow CHT’s harm reduction protocols when in community and onsite (this includes administering naloxone to people who have overdosed or are suspected to have overdosed.
• Situational awareness for unpredictable/unknown environments.
• Other duties assigned in accordance with Covenant House Toronto

• Collaborate with community partners to ensure young people have time and appropriate referrals to external programs/supports
• Consult with outreach partners to ensure
• Maintain current information on programs and services offered by community partners.
• Engage with local businesses in the catchment area to ensure CHT’s Good Neighbour Policy is followed.

• Implement Covenant House philosophy, mission statement, and policies as they relate to disconnected, homeless, and hard-to-serve youth.
• Maintain daily and monthly documentation on the ETO platform.
• Engage in regular supervision meetings with a supervisor
• Engag…