Street Youth Ministries (SYM) is excited to announce some big news! In partnership with Doorway Project, Ryther, TeenFeed, and ROOTS, SYM is leading a new venture to establish an engagement hub at the University District Youth Center, which will house 7 different organizations in close proximity so that programs and services can even more effectively and efficiently serve youth and young adults at-risk of and experiencing homelessness.
SYM has partnered with these University District (UD) agencies to fill gaps created when YouthCare left the University District in the fall of 2024. This expansion of services was a team effort and was mostly funded by the Doorway Project grant in place at the time. The spring of 2025 brought a competitive proposal process to identify the new lead of the UW Doorway Project housed at the University District Youth Center (UDYC) for the 2025-2027 biennium and the accompanying grant.
SYM was awarded the UD Doorway Project grant on June 17, 2025, to manage the UDYC building in the next biennium and to coordinate, with neighborhood partners, expansive services to homeless youth and young adults in the University District and beyond! SYM will lead this effort with The Doorway Project, stewarding services and agency relationships to keep the UDYC building open and thriving. Harborview Medical Center Youth Clinic and Seattle Public Schools Inter-agency School will also be offering services on-site. The Doorway Project facilitates advisory groups that include the clients we serve, so that we are always in listening mode and implementing programming and services that are relevant and needed.
SYM Drop-in Center remains in its current location on 47th Street as part of the University Presbyterian Church (UPC) campus that has been home to Drop-in through the generosity of UPC congregation and leadership for over 30 years.
Since October of 2024, when SYM stepped into this role at UDYC to host the Breakfast Program and expanded hours to offer the only Drop-in Center in the University District, client participation has exploded. Between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2025, Drop-in participation increased nearly 99%! Including clients participating in the Breakfast Program, total client participation numbers grew from 2,966 to 7,880 in just one year.
As always, SYM’s goal is to use our resources to best serve the youth and young adults in the UD who are at-risk or experiencing homelessness by connecting, partnering, and affirming those who seek SYM’s support.
Thank you for your support and prayers as we embark on this new adventure! If you would like to contribute to SYM’s mission to provide unhoused youth and young adults in Seattle’s University District with life skills, resources, and relationships that bring hope and healing to their lives and the community, you can give financially here or email Alyssa to become a volunteer. Interested in joining SYM’s Board of Directors? Please email Rita.
