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Avivo's Community Support Program celebrates 30 years

“Love heals. I saw love at all of the CSPs.” Avivo’s Community Support Program is celebrating 30 years of serving individuals with severe and persistent mental illness.

Avivo joins new collaborative to recruit and train workers for printing industry

Avivo is entering a new partnership in 2019, creating curriculum and training resources for potential employees of the printing industry.

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Helping Somali-speaking Avivo participants learn English

“Our goal is to get people into short-term training … Get people the English to be able to advance their career and start moving toward self-sufficiency.”

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We believe everyone deserves the chance to live well and work well.

Avivo serves nearly 15,000 individuals each year, helping them achieve recovery, employment, and economic advancement. Serving Minnesota since 1960, we specialize in helping men, women, and families who face complex barriers – poverty, homelessness, unemployment, chemical addiction or mental health concerns – achieve recovery and economic stability. Avivo’s holistic approach to providing chemical and mental health services, career education, and employment services embraces each person’s unique journey. Ultimately, our paired services lay a foundation of health, and social and economic wellness, that transforms lives.

Chemical & Mental Health

Assessments, addiction treatment programs, mental health services, and more for individuals and families.

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Employment services

Unique to low-income adults, youth, single parents, immigrants, individuals with disabilities, and more.

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Avivo Institute of Career & Technical Education

Our licensed school of career and technical education offers credentialed training with employment services.

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Antoinette

“I love being a mom. It’s the best thing ever.”

Learn about Antoinette. Antoinette’s drive to find housing stability and to support herself and her daughter led her to Avivo’s youth employment programs.

Keo

“If you dream, you can have anything. You can be anything. You can do anything.”

Learn about Keo. With Avivo’s help, he signed his first-ever lease on an apartment after experiencing homelessness for 30 years. Avivo is helping him achieve housing stability; something unlike anything he’s ever had in his life.

Vincent

“It’s been one big circle, everybody helping each other … I’m glad to be part of that.”

Learn about Vincent. He completed treatment and now volunteers to provide peer support to participants currently enrolled in Avivo’s recovery programs.

Theresa

“Avivo is helping me grow, and we are growing together … I love the fact I can be with my daughter.”

Learn about Theresa. She’s entering a new stage of her life; completing treatment and moving on to Avivo’s short-term career training courses.

Kyle

“It became real. Life became real.”

Learn about Kyle. At 21 years old, Kyle’s already playing the role of family hero for his two kids and their mother.

Paul

“I’ve always liked working. I really enjoy it.”

Learn about Paul. He lives with a disability, but doesn’t let that major detail get in the way of a productive work and family life. After a layoff he’s back in the workforce after graduating from Avivo’s IT Support Training program.

Carmen

“I grew up confused … about life and the right direction to take.”

Learn about Carmen. With Avivo’s help, she’s found housing and is working toward achieving her life goals.

John

“Avivo gave me the confidence to study and learn, and get into a regiment.”

Learn about John. From a young age he was in and out of jail and treatment centers. He eventually reached a breaking point and decided to turn his life around, which led him to Avivo. Now, he’s graduated from Avivo Institute of Career & Technical Education and has a new career in facilities maintenance.

Valerie

“I don’t have chaos in my life anymore. I feel like I have support.”

Learn about Valerie. After 15 years of self-medicating to avoid dealing with her mental health concerns, she knew it was time to change. Since then she’s worked with Avivo’s mental health counselors and housing support to find stable housing and learn the skills to start a new career.

Rania

“I wanted a career. I have a dream to be working in accounting. That’s why Avivo was so important.”

Learn about Rania. She moved to Minnesota from Egypt, where she held a bachelor’s degree in accounting. When her husband was laid off from his job, she took Avivo’s accounting support training to help her re-enter the workforce.

Michael

“Being hired at my age … it’s like a second chance. I’m glad Avivo was around.”

Learn about Michael. He’s a military veteran, and struggled to find steady employment after serving in the Vietnam War.

Regis

“I started trying to change,” says Regis. “I quit hanging around with my friends and changed my life.”

After struggling with alcohol and unemployment, Regis completed Avivo’s Warehouse Pro training program and is on track for employment.

Diamond

“I’ve been in a lot of treatment programs, but I just continued to use,” shares Diamond. “Avivo’s program is different. I started a whole new ‘family’ and friends here.”

Learn how starting to live a life of recovery is helping Diamond become a stronger woman, and a stronger mom.

Cece

“I have found community here.”

Learn about Cece, a regular participant in Avivo’s community support programs, which help individuals living with mental illness achieve wellness and recovery.

Kevin

Kevin has autism, which makes the nuances of the workplace that might come easily for others, difficult for him.

Learn about Kevin, and how he’s succeeding in a new career.

Sameya

Sameya is a Somali-American mother of three. In 1991, civil war broke out in Somalia, which forever changed her life. She watched as soldiers shot her teacher in front of her class. Then, while escaping Somalia by boat, the boat sank. Her family survived and eventually came to America, where Sameya had to overcome adversity before coming to Avivo. “Next to coming to America, Avivo was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she says.

Gao

Gao is unique because she overcame significant barriers that would’ve stopped other teenagers from going to college. “We relied on whoever could work in the house to be able to pay the bills” she said as she shared that she lived with her parents, seven siblings, and nieces and nephews. Finding help from Avivo’s youth employment services, Gao received the support to stick with her education and complete applications for five colleges and universities. She was surprised she had a choice of colleges! “Gustavus was one of the schools I was most shocked about,” she said. “And I got two scholarships!” With plans to be a pharmacist, Gao started this fall at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn.

Raygne

“Last year was really good for me,” Raygne says. “I got my driving permit, finished construction training and got my carpentry license, and finished my first construction job.”

Learn about Raygne, who’s working hard to create her own bright future.

4,358

men and women found work or entered careers

14,881

individuals served last year

2,897

people moved from public assistance to employment

96%

of people served live in poverty

4,214

Individuals increased wellness through chemical & mental health services

65%