The release of Solid Foundations DC and our latest Youth Homelessness Issue Brief

On Monday of this week, we joined community partners at the Hill Center for the release of Solid Foundations DC, a Comprehensive Plan to End Youth Homelessness in the Distrcit by 2022.

We were thrilled to help provide logistics support for this joint event, presented by the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region and the District Interagency Council on Homelessness. The event was kicked off by remarks from Bruce McNamer, President and CEO of the Community Foundation, and HyeSook Chung, the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.

Kristy Greenwalt, Director of the District ICH, then walked us through highlights from the plan, from the research that informed it to the strategies developed to execute it. She reiterated that this plan was the culmination of an inter sector collaborative effort and data-driven priorities.

Director Greenwalt's presentation was followed by a panel with Maggie Riden, DCAYA's Executive Director, moderating. The panel included both youth served by and providers working at the Department of Human Services, Casa Ruby, HIPS DC, the Latin American Youth Center, and Sasha Bruce Youthworks.

The event was well attended with many individuals across various sectors who are all invested in ending youth homelessness in the District. And we look forward to supporting the work of the plan, by doing what we do best and ensuring that legislation, policy, and funding over the next 5 years keeps our youth a priority, particularly those experiecning homelesness, in adequately and appropriately implementing this plan.

Today at noon, Council held a joint Public Oversight Roundtable on Solid Foundations DC. Today, we've also released our latest Youth Homelessness Issue Brief. We hope you check it out and share it, and continue to join us in making sure youth homelesness is a rare occurence by 2022.

#YOUthCountDC 2016: The 2nd Annual Homeless Youth Census is September 16-24!

This week’s blog is a look ahead to the 2nd Annual Homeless Youth Census, set to take place District-wide from September 16-24, 2016. 

We reached out to our friends at the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP) to help respond to some frequently asked questions about the census: what it is, who is counted, and what is its impact.

What is the Homeless Youth Census?

In May 2014, the DC Council passed the End Youth Homelessness Amendment Act, funding an expansion of accessible youth-friendly services. The Act also mandated an annual census of District youth experiencing homelessness to address the lack of consistent and reliable data. The Homeless Youth Census (HYC) is an annual count and survey of unaccompanied minors and transition-aged youth experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.

The first census was conducted by the Department of Human Services (DHS) in close collaboration with TCP over a nine day period at the end of August 2015. The census revealed there were some 545 unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness in the District of Columbia – almost half of whom identified as LGBTQ. This marked the first time that we have had such a thorough estimate of youth who are homeless (and particularly those identifying as LGBTQ) and the importance of having this knowledge cannot be overstated: it has implications for expanding services, targeting outreach and fine-tuning supportive services.

How Does Doing a Census Help End Youth Homelessness?

During the Council’s performance oversight hearing for DHS last February, DCAYA testified that the agency and community partners were on track in their expansion of services to youth, but that continued progress was going to require added investment in the coming fiscal year. 

Because of the availability of data from the HYC, advocates had a strong case to make at the DHS budget hearing in April for scaling up prevention services, as well as adding to the supply of crisis beds and transitional and independent living spaces for youth. The Council and the Bowser administration committed $2.3 million in the FY2017 budget in new investments for these services. This represented a significant increase over previous years and one which can largely be attributed to the use of census data.

Conducting the census on an annual basis enables the District to track data and trends over time^, which can shed light on the interventions and support needed to stem the tide of youth homelessness. The census process and its results strengthen advocacy efforts to annually secure the public funding necessary to reach the District-wide goal of ensuring homelessness among unaccompanied minors and transition-aged youth is rare, brief and non-recurring by 2020.

Who is Counted?

Through surveys conducted by street outreach professionals, in drop-in centers and meal programs, and though other community partnerships, the HYC collects information about demographics, housing and homelessness status, education and employment status, health and well-being, and system involvement (e.g., child welfare, juvenile justice) across the following youth populations:

• Unaccompanied Minors (under the age of 18) living apart from their parents or guardians, excluding those in the physical custody of the District
• Transition-Aged Youth (age 18-24) who are “economically and emotionally detached from their parents and who are unstably housed”
• “Literally Homeless” Youth who are residing on the street or in emergency shelter and transitional housing situations
• “Housing Insecure” Youth who are residing in non-permanent housing situations, including “couch-surfing” and “doubled up”, which are often identified as risk factors for experiencing literal homelessness
• Subpopulation Information is also captured (e.g.,  pregnant and parenting, gender expression, sexual orientation) to better understand population trends.

Of fundamental importance, the results of the census show us that at any given time there are hundreds of youth moving from couch to couch, and when their options run short, shelter to shelter. 

How Can I Help?

The HYC equips youth, advocates and service providers with vital knowledge about youth in crisis. Each new community partnership helps to expand that knowledge and work toward ending the crisis. 

The 2nd Annual HYC is set to take place District-wide September 16-24, 2016:

1. To sign up as a community partner, please contact Eileen Kroszner, Program Officer, at the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness: EKroszner@community-partnership.org or 202-543-5298
2. For HYC survey sites and more information, including how you can be counted if you are a youth experiencing homelessness, please visit www.youthcountdc.org.

_____________________________

^ track data and trends over time: For example, HYC survey data help to identify patterns in responses and factors which affect how youth experience homelessness, including special subpopulations (i.e., LGBTQ Youth, Mental Health, Justice System involvement); to identify patterns in responses describing services used and gaps in services; and, quantify and qualify the scope of minor and young adult homelessness to guide resource decision-making.

Coordinated Entry: Boot Camp and 100-Day Challenge

This week homeless youth advocates went to boot camp.  There wasn’t a lot of yelling and push-ups, but there was sweat-inducing policy planning and some ice breakers that got a little intense.  

On Monday and Tuesday, along with the Interagency Council on Homelessness and Community Solutions, DCAYA co-hosted a DC policy boot camp on coordinated intake and referrals for homeless youth.  Participants came from Office of State Superintendent of Education, DC Public Schools, Department of Behavioral Health, Department of Human Services, Children and Family Services Agency, Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, The Community Partnership, Latin American Youth Center, Sasha Bruce Youthbuild, Wanda Alston House, and Covenant House.  Together, they mapped out a working plan to build a District-wide, coordinated entry system for unaccompanied homeless youth. 

Coordinated entry is a system where a homeless youth can show up at any “front door” government agency or community-based organization, be assessed by a standardized assessment tool, and then be referred in a standardized way to best-fit programs.  It sounds simple, but it is actually really difficult to get all the pieces in place to make this process work.  

Think about it, dozens of government agencies and community-based organizations, each with their own requirements and missions, have to come together to select and hone a standardized assessment tool.  They have to change their current referral protocols and habits to a semi-standardized referral protocol based off the chosen assessment tool.  They have to create and maintain a living database that shows available housing slots and service slots. Then they have to figure out what happens when a youth is assessed and referred, but there are not enough services for them.  And those are just a few of the challenges.

That’s why the boot camp model doesn’t end after the two-day planning period.  Now starts the 100-day challenge to implement the work plan.  DCAYA and its fellow participants have only 100 days to make coordinated entry happen. This is a very rapid timeline, meant to keep the momentum going to bust through the obstacles that have kept coordinated entry from happening in the past.

This 100-challenge is nationally historic.  While this model has been very successful in implementing coordinated entry for adults, this is the very first time it will be attempted for unaccompanied homeless youth.  The unaccompanied homeless youth system presents more challenges than the adult side: stricter privacy laws, mandatory reporting laws, working with the 18-24 age group that is often mis-resourced, etc.  But we know DC is ready for this challenge.  

DCAYA has been chosen as the lead organization for this challenge.  We are slightly daunted by the massive amount of work that we are facing over the next 100 days, but we know it is worth it.  It will be incredibly rewarding to collaborate with hard-working, creative, compassionate people from government agencies and community-based organizations. Our youth deserve a coordinated entry system when they come to us for help, and we are going to make it happen.

Katie Dunn is the youth homelessness and expanded learning policy analyst for DCAYA.  She is listening to Rocky pump-up music to get through this 100-day challenge.

A Step Forward for Homeless LGBTQ Youth

As you’ve likely heard by now, DC is facing an unprecedented family shelter crisis. On Monday, dozens of shelter residents, advocates and providers shared heartbreaking stories with DC Council at the Committee on Human Services Roundtable. As of February 2^nd, 754 families, including 1,433 children, were placed at either DC General or in emergency hotel rooms. As families continue to seek assistance at the District’s family intake facility Virginia Williams Family Resource Center, the Department of Human Services has admitted that the situation is rapidly spiraling downward as options become increasingly limited. 

What much of this coverage hasn’t reported is that between 30-40% of these families are headed by a young parent or parents 24 years old or younger. Homeless youth are often referred to as an invisible population because they utilize family and friends as a resource to stay warm by couch surfing, finding temporary living situations, or placing themselves in an unsafe environment to avoid the stigma of homelessness. This year however, many youth have run out of such options as family and friends are beginning to experience the same plight.Youth and their families are now being forced out of doubled up situations and into a more traditional shelter system.

DCAYA seeks to cut off the pipeline to family and chronic homelessness by supporting investments in front-end youth services. By catching these young people and flooding them with supports before they’ve used up their options, youth may avoid walking through the doors of an adult or family shelter.

So, while there is still much to be done to resolve the family shelter crisis, the sadness of Monday’s hearing was followed by at least a glimmer of hope on Tuesday when DC Council voted almost unanimously (Marion Barry was absent) to pass the “LGBTQ Homeless Youth Reform Amendment Act of 2014”.

After 18 months of diligent work by providers, advocates and policy makers, the Homeless LGBTQ Legislation is a step forward in creating a system where our most vulnerable youth do not need to hit rock bottom before they can access supports and services.

The legislation accomplishes a number of things:

• It increases the number of beds for homeless LGBTQ youth, an already underserved population, from 8-18.
• It establishes a routine count of homeless youth that includes LGBTQ youth, so we can continue to grow our system in a data informed way.
• It mandates and funds cultural competency training for all shelter providers to ensure that no matter where a youth makes contact with the shelter system, the staff they encounter are sensitive to their unique needs.

Now we are awaiting for Mayor Gray’s signature to pass the legislation into law. He has 10 days to sign and it is our responsibility as a community so let the office of the Mayor know you support this legislation! While, the work towards ending chronic, youth, and family homelessness is far from over, Tuesday’s win is a great example of what government officials, youth providers, community members and, most importantly, youth can accomplish when we come together towards a solution-based goal. 

Contact the Mayor’s office by:

• Emailing the Executive Office of the Mayor 
• Tweeting Out Your Support to Mayor Gray
• Calling the Executive Office of the Mayor to Voice Your Support 

Maggie Riden is the Executive Director of DC Alliance of Youth Advocates and was a involved in the creation of the LGBTQ homeless youth legislation since it's conception. To learn more about the issues our homeless youth face in the District, visit www.dc-aya.org and read our Youth Homelessness issue brief one-pager. 

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