In Q1 2026, Street Youth Ministry (SYMin) successfully executed a strategy of depth over volume, trading high-frequency street contact for life-changing relational depth. Total reach expanded by 7% over the previous year, with 834 unique clients served this quarter.

This growth occurred despite an intentional reduction of one large outreach visit per week to the West Campus area starting in January to optimize costs and to acknowledge a shortage of volunteer resources. While this optimization contributed to a 17% decline in new quarterly intake, mostly in older neighbors (278 new people met) and a 24% drop in new clients for March specifically, the core mission remained robust. Unique target-age youth served remained steady, with 90 youth reached in March, nearly identical to previous benchmarks.

The standout achievement of this "deeper" strategy is a 61% surge in facility-based Group participation, growing from 23 unique youth last year to 37 this quarter. Additionally, the number of deeply engaged clients rose 9% to 58 individuals.

The statistics confirm that this shift drives our primary mission: life change. Preliminary results for Q1 2026 show that engaged clients, those who commit to consistent guidance and community are 11.3 times more likely to achieve "Lots of Change" (six or more major goals) than those who remain unengaged.

By focusing on the quality of our encounters rather than the sheer quantity of street contacts, our missionary team is helping more youth exit homelessness permanently. SYMin remains independent of government funding, relying instead on God’s generosity expressed through trusted individuals and families to power this village of restoration.