• Shelter Care

• Counseling, Case Management, and Referrals

• Health Services at On-Site Clinics

• Family Reunification

• Substance Abuse Intervention

• Pregnancy Prevention/Teen Parent Education

• Education

• Job Readiness

• Life Skills Instruction

• Transportation Assistance

• Pastoral Ministry

• Rights of Passage Transitional Housing

• Aftercare/Walk-In Services

Major sponsors of the First Annual Covenant House Florida 5K Run/Walk included Aetna, Broward Health, City Furniture, TD Bank, Sign-A-Rama, T-Shirts N Things, Smoothie King, Vitamin Water, All Service Refuse and Toby Dalsgaard Video Productions For more information, contact Natalie Cardenas at 954-568-7916 or send an e-mail.

Covenant House Director of Development Paige Cauthron congratulates first-place winner Brittany Carnevali and second-place winner Christa Grant. Also pictured: instructor Frank X. Balzano.

Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale students showed compassion for their homeless peers by creating vintage art to celebrate the 25 years of sheltering homeless teens and young adults by Covenant House Florida. Five Graphic Design Honors students entered Covenant House Florida’s Facebook competition to have their artwork printed on a limited edition Covenant House Florida 25th anniversary t-shirt. The winner was chosen by the number of “likes” each piece of artwork received.

First-place winner was Brittany Carnevali of Boca Raton who created “Shelter in the Storm” art in yellow, orange and red on a green background. Second-place winner Christa Grant of Pompano Beach chose to use the familiar Covenant House dove inscribed with words of hope and inspiration set on a yellow background.

“It was a great pleasure to do this work on behalf of Covenant House Florida,” said Grant. “They are a great organization with a mission that means a lot to me.”

The Covenant House t-shirt contest was a class project for the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale’s Design Honors class.  Students were given latitude with their designs, and told to explore website and annual report for ideas.

The t-shirts, intended to raise funds, will cost $20 and are on sale now here. Additional items will also be available.

Covenant House Florida will celebrate its 25th anniversary in multiple ways including hosting a signature “A Night of Broadway Stars” event on December 3.  The event, a Broadway-themed gala with performances from top Broadway shows will be hosted at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Avenue in Fort Lauderdale.

About the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale

The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale has an outstanding reputation in South Florida as a reliable, skillful and creative source for producing community-related publicity projects for non-profit organizations. The students in Design Honors create exceptional design materials for promotional use such as posters, brochures, newsletters, corporate identity packages, invitations, T-shirt designs, advertising and media campaigns, and more. It’s a “win-win” for students and clients as students learn about community involvement and responsibility, and have a real world piece to include in their portfolios. The clients get fresh, innovative, and original artwork at no fee. Non-profit organizations can contact the Director of Communications Arlene Wites awites@aii.edu for an application for consideration.

“It was an incredibly gracious donation,” said Gress. “They opened their meeting to let us share the important work of Covenant House Florida. And then turned our thank-you gift into a $200 contribution benefiting the young adults we serve. It was very meaningful and hugely appreciated.”

Gress also offered thanks to Rotary Fort Lauderdale President John Gustafson, President-elect Bob Easton and Speaker Program Chair Lloyd Rhodes for their hospitality and assistance in securing the speaking opportunity.

The mission of the Fort Lauderdale Rotary, dedicated to “service above self,” is to provide business, professional, and community leaders an opportunity for service to others in order to benefit the community and to promote high ethical standards, fellowship, and goodwill worldwide.

About Covenant House Florida

Covenant House Florida celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year, having served almost 32,000 youth and young adults since opening. Its December 3 anniversary gala, “A Night of Broadway Stars,” will take place at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Covenant House Florida opened in Fort Lauderdale in 1985 and expanded to Orlando in 1995. The organization reaches teens and young adults via street outreach, crisis shelters, transitional housing projects, and walk-in and aftercare services, making it one of the largest private agencies serving runaway and homeless youth in the state of Florida. It is part of an international mission with programs in 20 cities in the United States, Canada, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. For more information, call 954-568-7924.

Covenant House Florida Executive Director James M. Gress (right) thanks David Guzman, Senior Vice President, Broward Region of Wachovia Wells Fargo for the foundation’s $5000 donation to help homeless youth.

The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation recently awarded $5,000 to Covenant House Florida’s Youth Enrichment Services (Y.E.S.) program, focused on educational improvement, skill building and job readiness for the homeless youth and young adults residing at the shelter. The mission of The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation is to build strong and vibrant communities, improve the quality of life, and make a positive difference.

“Because most of our residents don’t have a high school diploma and aren’t attending school, Y.E.S. provides afternoon and evening classes toward high school equivalency as well as individual tutoring,” said James M. Gress, executive director of Covenant House. “Plus we offer life skills training, from personal hygiene to money management, as well as job readiness education to help our residents learn how to be successful adults. We thank Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation for its generous support of this important program.”

Y.E.S. is one of the multiple programs designed to help the under-21 homeless and runaway teens and young adults served by Covenant House Florida. Covenant House offers safe shelter, counseling and case management, health services on-site, family reunification, substance abuse intervention, teen parent education, among other services.

“Our goal is to help these kids get past their current situations, start the healing process, and reunify them with their families or set them on a productive course for life,” said Gress. “Kids often come to us at a crossroads. We help them choose the right path.”

Covenant House Florida celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year, having served 35,000 youth and young adults since opening. An anniversary gala, “A Night of Broadway Stars,” is slated for December 3 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

“We’re pleased to support Covenant House again,” said Kathryn Dinkin, Regional President, Southeast Florida. “It’s so important in these difficult times to help children succeed in school and in their communities.”

About The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation

The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to eligible 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations to support four primary focus areas:  Education, Community Development, Health and Human Services and Arts and Culture. The mission of The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation is to build strong and vibrant communities, improve the quality of life, and make a positive difference. In 2009, the Foundation funded over $6 million in grants to Florida non-profit organizations.

Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation Awards $5,000 to Covenant House Florida

Downtown Rotary Makes Generous Donation to Covenant House Florida

Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale Students Create 25th Anniversary Art for CHF

First Annual Covenant House Florida Run + Walk Attracts 300 

Tanisha, the 20 year-old mother of a beautiful baby girl, is homeless. Our Mom & Baby program is specially designed for mothers like Tanisha. As she and her daughter fight to make a better life for themselves, Covenant House is there to help.

Being a mother is one of the toughest jobs in the world…and almost impossible when you are young, homeless, and without family. Teenage mothers who come to Covenant House often have no child-raising skills or role models to guide them through the difficult task of motherhood. Yet what they lack in resources is almost always offset by an incredible sense of determination.

That is why our Mom & Baby Program was created – to help these homeless mothers and pregnant teenagers secure a brighter, more stable future for themselves and their babies.