About Us -- The Link -- building supportive communities for youth

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About Us

The Link is a nonprofit founded in 1991 by two former Minnesota Vikings players in collaboration with the late Leonard Lindquist [pdf] who shared a vision of bringing opportunity and positive relationships to disempowered youth living in impoverished neighborhoods. This grassroots initiative has since blossomed into an experienced youth service organization serving the community through advocacy, housing, education, and intervention services. Over the last 17 years, The Link has touched the lives of nearly 15,000 youth and their family members through our asset-based service philosophy. Today, The Link continues to build positive relationships with youth that create sustainable positive changes.

Click here to read about The Link's history... [pdf]

Click here to see The Link's Staff List and Contact Information... [pdf]

Click here for The Link's Board of Directors list... [pdf]

Our operational philosophy...

The Link is unique in that we enhance our capacity to deliver the most effective direct service, by training all staff and volunteers in the nationally recognized, evidence-based Health Realization Community Empowerment Model.

Health Realization (HR) is a simple but powerful psychological model that has been successfully used to create positive life changes for youth and adults.

In our work with youth and families, the use of HR has improved the participants’ communication and relationships, reduced anger and negative behaviors, and participants have demonstrated a greater willingness to accept responsibility for their own life and actions.

We teach and model the principles of Health Realization with the hope that our clients will experience the internal change that they need to be motivated to live successful, independent lives. This is a model based on the premise that every person possesses an innate capacity for health, strength and well-being.

Disempowering systems of belief or thinking, however, can create self-perpetuating world views that are negative in nature. Such negativities are primary obstacles in combating community issues like truancy and crime.

Our use of HR and the HR trainings we offer give individuals the tools they need to break the cycle of disempowerment and hopelessness. When a person begins to connect to their underlying reservoir of strength and health, they begin to advocate for themselves, and become our partners in community change.

In a climate where strength based approaches are becoming recognized as more effective, HR has emerged as a best practice for implementing a social service agency’s work.

The Link has used Health Realization for ten years with youth in juvenile correctional facilities and now brings it into the arenas of intervention work and community support. In our work, we witness improved communication and relationships, reduced stress and anger, and a greater willingness to claim ownership of one’s own life and actions.

For more information on our Health Realization training opportunities or to learn more, please call us at (612) 871-0748.

The Link is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Please contact us to obtain copies of our current strategic plan or 990 IRS documents.

My Story

Project Potential
On a warm and humid summer morning, six teenage boys and two staff members headed out of Minneapolis up Highway 35 to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). For some of these teens this was their first time leaving Minneapolis. These boys would spend the next four days canoeing the BWCA learning how they individually could handle difficult situations.

One night as the group was about to set up camp for the evening, the island they intended to make home for the night was full. The boys were frustrated and angry. That anger grew as they continued on to the next camp site, and it was full. The group canoed for three hours stopping at eight sites before they found an empty one. The kids let go of their anger and without complaint, they each found their place in setting up camp for the night. This example of growth was just one highlight as the teens grew personally with a better understanding that they could deal with stresses of life through their own determination.

Hennepin County is a sponsoring agency of Project Potential.