Andrea Mondano

Youth Without Shelter

Nominator Comments:

Andrea works tirelessly with the Housing program to support to find and maintain permanent housing for YWS’s in house clients and former residents that she visits in the community, even at the height of the pandemic. Andrea has on many occasions has gone above and beyond her call of duty to save a clients housing and ensure that they have optimal support. Andrea has on many occasions taken her youth, care packages of food and hygiene when she goes to meet them in the community, as they have difficult circumstances that prevents them from coming to us. It is also important to note, that Andrea does not drive, and she will carry packages to her clients while taking the bus. Nominators highlighted a story of a youth who required very high level of mental health due to suicidal attempts, family breakdown, literacy issues, and rental arrears which all led to a mental health breakdown and near eviction during the peak of the pandemic. Andrea vigorously advocated on behalf of the client with Ontario Works and Toronto Community Housing to get her rental arrears of thousands of dollars corrected and resolved. Later Andrea was at the forefront when this client attempted her life and was hospitalized she facilitated aftercare planning with the hospital, a visitation of the client’s mother to come from the US, assisting to find care for the clients dog during the duration hospitalization. The client is now well connected to mental health supports and remains stable in her housing and mental. At a time that supports were more scarce as a result of the pandemic and Andrea never declined or lessened her service to her clients but in fact worked even harder to provide the best care possible. She is a true team player that will go the extra mile to support our youth. Her wealth of knowledge and willingness to keep learning, and her dedication to help grow our program has all been a contribution to the success of the Housing Program at YWS.