25th Annual Conference
November 2013
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Our Golden Rule:
Youth Driven
 “Youth Voices”
 Videos available on-line at
www.youtube.com/user/naehcy
 Youth leaders/advisors, youth
coordinators, and young people involved
at every level.
2
NAEHCY’s
Unaccompanied Youth Projects

Working with youth, service providers and
community members to develop creative
strategies to support unaccompanied youth.

3-year project, 9 communities

Studies show that coordination among youth
services can greatly improve outcomes.
 339 at-risk youth programs spread across 12 different
federal agencies
 No one agency or organization can meet all the needs.
 Yet no one has the time to organize a community-wide
effort for youth or work on the strategies generated.
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Unaccompanied Youth Project:
Where, and Why?
 Rural, suburban, urban
 NRS and school district data
 Community infrastructure
 Political significance
 East TN, Guilford County NC, San Antonio
TX, San Diego and Sacramento CA,
Southeast WY, Detroit and Oakland County
MI, Southern CT
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Unaccompanied Youth Project:
What’s the Overall Goal?
 Identify what youth need to reach their goals
 Identify creative strategies to meet those needs
through interagency cooperation
 Identify new partners to energize efforts and
contribute new resources.
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Unaccompanied Youth Projects:
Initial Results

Michigan and CT just starting
 CT state level meeting next week
 Michigan youth and adult surveys pouring in

SE Wyoming
 Held a Halloween event to raise awareness and get input
from young people.
 Housing authority vouchers for youth
 Deposit/first month rent; gas and Target vouchers
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Unaccompanied Youth Projects:
Initial Results

San Antonio
 State legislative initiative: Unaccompanied youth 16 and
over now can enter transitional living programs without
parental consent
 Truancy and attendance officer training: Creating a set of
recommendations for city-wide commission
 Goodwill Careers Academy scholarships
 Food bank collaboration
 Wallet-size resource card
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Task Force Membership

NAEHCY is working with youth, schools, service
providers, city and county government, faith
community, legal services, and community
members to develop creative strategies to
support unaccompanied youth.

Leadership and active participation of youth and
young people are critical!
 This requires deliberate focus: Where and when
do you meet? How do you initially engage youth?
What projects will they choose to invest in?
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Step One: Gather Information
to Identify Local Priorities
 We surveyed adults.
 Service providers and community members
 We surveyed youth
 Unaccompanied homeless youth ages 14-25
 Through service providers and schools
 Gave us guidance and legitimacy
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What do Youth Need?
 Food
 Safe, stable housing
 Transportation
 Medical and dental care
 Clothes and hygiene supplies
 Job
10
What are the Greatest Barriers to
Youth Seeking/Receiving Services?
 Fear of referral to police, parents,
foster care
 Transportation
 Parental consent / Paperwork reqs.
 Lack of services
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Step Two: Choose 1-2 Tangible
Priorities to Start Work

Tangible: You’ll know when you’ve achieved it.

Short-term: You can achieve it within a few months.

Reasonable: It should be doable with little to no
funding and with a small core team.

Meaningful: It should make a difference to young
people and other task force members.

Leadership: Know that at first, you will need to have
a major role, but enlist partners from day one.
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The Experiences of
Three Task Forces
 East Tennessee
 Sacramento
 San Diego
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East Tennessee:
What are some of your most exciting
achievements?

New youth housing program: 5 units supportive housing
with case management provided in-kind by ETSU and
school districts; just won a “TN’s Best Rising Star” award

New CPS referral/service process called NEUCY

Lockers and showers for young people

TeenTalk

Transportation project underway: car loans and repairs

Targeting a legal clinic and nursing clinic
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East Tennessee:
What or who are some keys to those
successes?

Active Task Force

Social Work Student Interns

Very involved McKinney Vento Liaisons

Willingness of the Community to Learn and Help
15
East Tennessee:
What key people/agencies keep the task
force moving and productive?

NAEHCY

Collaboration between East Tennessee State University
and Department of Children’s Services

NEUCY

Johnson City Housing Authority

McKinney Vento Liaisons from Johnson City Schools and
Kingsport City Schools

Contact Ministries

ARCH
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East Tennessee:
Who are some key people/agencies missing
from the group?
 Attorneys
 Medical
 Emergency Housing for Youth Under Age 18
 Local Legislative Officials
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East Tennessee:
When you first were getting started, what
were some of the biggest challenges? How
did you address them?

Finding the kids
 Advertise
 Flyers, Billboard on ETSU Campus
 Word of Mouth

Nay-sayers
 Prove it

Law/Policy regarding kids under age 18
 Lots of research
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East Tennessee:
At this stage in the task force, what are the
biggest challenges?
 Getting More Youth Involved
 Motivation
 New Projects
 Growth
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Sacramento:
What are some of your most exciting
achievements?
Active Youth Council
 A2B Bike Giveaway: gave 50 bikes to youth
 Work with Regional Transit
 Year round “sanctuary” for young people

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Sacramento:
What or who are some keys to those
successes?
 Youth Inclusion
 We provide snacks!
 Regular meeting schedule
 Efficient discussions that lead to actionable
results
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Sacramento:
What key people/agencies keep the task
force moving and productive?
 Local Continuum of Care
 McKinney-Vento liaisons
 Patricia!
 Statewide youth advocacy organization (CCY)
 Youth partners at Wind
22
Sacramento:
Who are some key people/agencies missing
from the group?
 Law Enforcement
 Local Businesses
 Faith Community
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Sacramento:
When you first were getting started, what
were some of the biggest challenges? How
did you address them?
 Youth input
 Youth Council: Your Voices Matter!
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Sacramento:
At this stage in the task force, what are the
biggest challenges?
In terms of structure:
Enlisting youth as partners in action
Keeping the momentum
In terms of the issues:
Increasing housing capacity along a continuum
Reversing the trend of criminalizing homelessness
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San Diego:
What are some of your most exciting
achievements?
Food project: SNAP guidance, resource list,
engaging community food partners
 Youth Panel on cultural competency
 Dental Day
 Disseminating information on youths’ rights

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San Diego:
What or who are some keys to those
successes?

San Diego County Dept. of Health and Human
Services-CalFresh officials

Unaccompanied Youth! Their voice is integral.

Toussaint Academy

Local pro bono attorneys, Homeless Coordinator SD
DHHS, Social Workers, and more Youth!
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San Diego:
What key people/agencies keep the task
force moving and productive?









San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless
Regional Continuum of Care Council
San Diego Schools-County and City
Dept. Health and Human Services
Social Workers, Pregnant and Parenting Teen Teachers
Home Start
Service Providers-Youth Shelters, Drop-in Facilities,
Family Resource Centers, etc.
Hunger Advocacy Network and Feeding America SD
Youth: one particular young woman kicked us into gear
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San Diego:
Who are some key people/agencies missing
from the group?

MediCal division of Dept. of Health and Human
Resources

Legislative Staffers

Teachers

CA Dept. of Social Services administrator
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San Diego:
When you first were getting started, what
were some of the biggest challenges? How
did you address them?

Many providers, not many who knew each other
 Resource list
 Email lists

Finding a home for the Youth Consultants Panel
 Thomas Jefferson School of Law
 Providing food!
 Youth’s Cultural Competency Presentation
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San Diego:
At this stage in the task force, what are the
biggest challenges?

MediCal enrollment

Housing: gearing up for the new regulations

Teen Pregnancy issues

Spreading the (legal rights) word

Dental Day

Consistency on the Youth Consultants’ Panel
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Unaccompanied Youth Projects:
Initial Results

6 successful legislative initiatives in CA
 Streamlined access to SNAP (AB 309)
 Access to school records for unaccompanied youth
(AB 1068)
 Immediate athletic participation, state interagency
working group (SB 177)
 Juvenile record expungement (AB 1006)
 Clarification that CPS reporting is not required (AB
652)
 New licensing rules for youth shelters (AB 346)
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Task Force Sustainability
 Broad, engaged membership
 Tangible progress ASAP
 Partner with CoC, local universities
 Faith community
 Develop and implement mid- and long-term
initiatives once you have some immediate
achievements, no matter how small
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Contact Information
 Patricia Julianelle
 pjulianelle@naehcy.org
 (202) 436-9087
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