Youth Forward is GiftLift's program serving children, adolescents, and young adults — housing-stability support for youth in shelter, host-home, or transitional placements, and supply support for youth experiencing homelessness. Cards are routed through case managers and youth-services staff who already have a relationship with the youth — never handed out at the door, never posted publicly, never tied to a means test. The card shows up where a trusted worker can pass it along in private.
When a youth case manager is moving a young person into shelter, a host-home placement, or a transitional housing arrangement, GiftLift provides the first-night kit — grocery cards for the move-in, transit to the placement, a pharmacy card for a prescription due that week. The card leaves with the case manager, not the program, following the same hands-off principle that runs through the rest of GiftLift's work.
For youth case managers and youth-services staff working with young people who are unhoused or marginally housed, partners keep a small ongoing card balance on hand — clothing retail, school supplies, food cards, transit to school. The exact mix of categories stocked follows what partner staff are already hearing from the youth they serve that week, not a fixed formula.
Youth Forward is not a public sign-up program. Youth are referred in by a youth-services case manager, school counselor, social worker, foster-transition program, or family-services partner who already has a relationship with the young person and their family. There is no means test, no application form, and no online sign-up — the card reaches the youth through a worker who has earned the family's trust.
A donated gift card becomes a tool a youth-services case manager hands to one young person at a time. Donate a card, or partner with us if your organization already works with youth in the community.
Donate a gift card → Partner with us →