REST in the News
Explore media coverage, press releases, and stories highlighting the work of REST Centres and the youth and communities we serve.
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New housing addresses Black youth homelessness in Peel Region
January 29, 2026
Celebration in Mississauga on Thursday with the opening of the brand new REST House, a purpose-built housing project aimed at addressing homelessness among Black youth in Peel Region.
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REST Centres Applauds Toronto's Anti-Renoviction Measures as Model for Protecting Vulnerable Youth
August 18, 2025
As a black-led, BIPOC-serving organization working to end youth homelessness in Peel Region, REST Centre's applauds Toronto's implementation of the Rental Renovation Licence By-Law in 2025.
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Helping at-risk youth find the housing they need
July 25, 2025
In 2015, Dagma Koyi founded REST Centres, a black-led, BIPOC-serving charitable organization in the Peel Region that provides traditional housing and support services to at-risk and homeless youth, including those who are leaving the foster care system.
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‘We give them a way out’: REST Centres working hard for Black youth in Peel Region facing homelessness
November 30, 2024
Tayjha Brown, 22, credits REST Centres, a Peel agency that aims to lift BIPOC youth out of housing insecurity, with helping to turn around her life, which she said had been marked by instability and conflict at home.
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Brampton gets closer to first permanent youth shelter as economy poses unique challenges
February 25, 2024
For years, Peel and its area municipalities have known emergency shelter space dedicated to youth is significantly lacking. The current affordability crisis has exacerbated the already bleak situation a growing number of people find themselves in.
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Peel non-profit sounds alarm over impact of housing crisis on BIPOC youth
October 5, 2023
There’s optimism and resilience in Shayesha Steele’s voice, but it hasn’t always been that way.
At the age of 15, she entered the foster care system. She was referred to REST Centres during her first year of university.
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Surge of racialized youth at risk of homelessness a critical problem, Brampton non-profit says
Aug 17, 2023
Dagma Koyi, the centre's executive director, says she is worried the organization will not be able to keep up with the demand in the region and is calling for more support from all levels of government.
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‘We give them a way out’: REST Centres working hard for Black youth in Peel Region facing homelessness
November 30, 2024
Tayjha Brown, 22, credits REST Centres, a Peel agency that aims to lift BIPOC youth out of housing insecurity, with helping to turn around her life, which she said had been marked by instability and conflict at home.
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News & Views REST Centres offers practical solutions to address unhoused youth crisis among Black youth in Peel
January 8, 2023
The issue of homelessness among youth is one that has serious long-term: social, mental, physical and emotional consequences. Restoration and Empowerment for Social Transformation (REST,) is a non-profit organization that is driven to tackle this societal issue head-on in the Peel Region.
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Peel Region-based non-profit helping BIPOC youth avoid homelessness
Aug 8, 2023
A charity that helps BIPOC youth facing homelessness in Peel Region is seeing numbers climb at an alarming rate. Brandon Rowe with why REST Centres is sounding the alarm as the number of new youths in need is on pace to triple.
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Podcast: Black Youth Still Matter: REST Centres and Youth Homelessness in 2022
January 15, 2023
In this episode of Homelessness in Hiding: Our Youth Between the Cracks podcast, host Mya Moniz sits with REST Program Manager, Nikima Leslie and REST Case Manager, Jacqui Henry to discuss the state of Black youth homelessness in Peel at the end of 2022.
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