Six Months After the Launch of Solid Foundations DC

Six months after the release of Solid Foundations DC: Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Youth Homelessness, we’re taking a brief dive into how the plan is progressing for National Homeless Youth Awareness Month.

In 2016, Youth Count DC, DC’s annual census of youth experiencing homelessness in DC, revealed 537 Transition Age Youth experiencing homelessness or housing instability. To address the issue of so many young people lacking access to safe and stable housing, DC’s Interagency Council on Homelessness drafted and adopted Solid Foundations DC: Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Youth Homelessness.

Big Wins for Youth and Families in the FY18 Budget

The second FY18 budget vote will occur on June 13th at 11am (watch here: http://dccouncil.us/videos), and the final legislative vote will follow shortly after. But in the meantime, we wanted to share the progress we’ve made in elevating the needs of the District’s youth and families through the Council’s first vote.

To highlight the fruits of your labor throughout this budget season, read on for more about the Council’s budget decisions impacting our four issue areas: Expanded Learning, Disconnected Youth, Youth Homelessness, and Youth Workforce Development. 

Expanded Learning: $4.9 Million to OST*

Office of Youth Outcomes (Deputy Mayor for Education): While significant progress has been made to build the new Office of Youth Outcomes on a solid foundation, the Committee on Education maintained flat funding at $4.9 million for community-based afterschool opportunities for District youth. In this budget season, the Committee on Education prioritized identifying funds to reach the recommended increase of 3.5% in per-pupil funding, yet *Chairman David Grosso did commit to allocate an additional $2 million to the OST system in the likely chance of a budget surplus this summer. As the system continues to strengthen, DCAYA is committed to restoring OST funds to the historic $10 million mark to ensure demand for these critical youth development programs are met.

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.