The Rediscovery at JRI Story
YouthHarbors Program
Foster Care
Public education
Transitional Assistance (welfare)
School based health centers
Free health insurance programs
School meals programs
Youth violence prevention
Teen pregnancy prevention
Free legal services
Youth and community centers
Special education
Teen parent programs
Youth violence prevention
The YouthHarbors
Program Model
Danielle Ferrier, MBA, LICSW
Section 8 housing
Adult Shelters
Welfare
Medicaid
Trainer’s Bio
Danielle Ferrier, MBA, LICSW
• Danielle has over 20 years of experience in the human services
industry in addition to holding dual masters degrees in business
from Simmons School of Management and social work from
Boston University.
• She holds the highest level of independent licensure in social
work (LICSW) and has been a practicing clinical therapist for 15
years.
• Her training and primary practice is with “high risk” children, youth and
families with a clinical specialty in trauma and attachment. Danielle’s
programs at Rediscovery specialize primarily with “aging out youth,” and
unaccompanied homeless youth.
• She is involved in public policy at the state and federal level and sits on
various special commissions and task forces across the state.
Helping homeless youth find housing, finish
high school, get jobs and live productive lives
YouthHarbors’ Mission Statement:
YouthHarbors offers a continuum of services to
Massachusetts high school students who are unaccompanied
and homeless, to ensure they graduate high school and
successfully transition into adulthood.
Founded:
Staff:
Annual Budget:
2009
4 Full-time; 1 Part Time Equivalents
$280,000
YouthHarbors’ Goals
•To prevent homelessness
•To increase graduation rates
•To increase access to post secondary education/vocation
•To increase employment
•To increase successful transition to adulthood
•To prevent incarceration
•To prevent increased risk factors such as:
• Sexual exploitation
• Substance abuse
• Premature death
Who YouthHarbors Serves
•YouthHarbors serves homeless, unaccompanied high
school students.
•Currently, YouthHarbors sites are located in Malden,
Everett, and Somerville High Schools, and in the Boston
Day & Evening Academy.
•YouthHarbors is currently developing partnerships with
additional high schools for continued expansion.
Age Range of Unaccompanied
Homeless Youth
•There is no specified age definition for unaccompanied
homeless “youth”
•The federal McKinney-Vento program applies to all
school-aged children as defined by state law
•The age ranges for non-profits serving unaccompanied
youth vary program to program depending on funding
source
• Some are up to 16 years
• Some are 16 to 21 years
• Some are 18-24 years
Why Are Youth Homeless
and on Their Own?
•Fled abuse in their home
• Studies have shown that 20-40% of unaccompanied youth were
sexually abused in their homes
• 40-60% report being physically abused
•Parental substance abuse
• two-thirds of callers to Runaway Hotline report that at least one of
their parents abuses drugs or alcohol
•Thrown out of their homes due to pregnancy or sexual
orientation
• 20-40% of unaccompanied youth identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or
transgender (compared to 3-5% of adults)
Why Are Youth Homeless
and On Their Own?
•Living in unstable situations due to parent’s incarceration,
illness, or death
•Parents believe they are old enough to take care of
themselves
• 50% of youth living in shelters report that their parents either told
them to leave, or knew they were leaving and did not care.
•Fled foster care
• 25-40% of youth who become emancipated from foster care will
end up homeless.
•Some youth are homeless with their families, but end up on
their own due to . . .
• lack of space in temporary accommodations
• shelter policies that prohibit adolescent boys
The Youth Chasm
Foster Care
Section 8 housing
Public education
Adult Shelters
Transitional Assistance (welfare)
Welfare
School based health centers
Medicaid
Free health insurance programs
School meals programs
Youth violence prevention
Teen pregnancy prevention
Free legal services
Youth and community centers
Special education
Teen parent programs
Youth violence prevention
The most
underserved
segment of the
population
Homelessness, Unemployment,
Drop out, Crime, Drugs, Prostitution
Consequences of Youth
Homelessness
Members of a gang
Had alcohol in the past 30 days
Used marijuana in the past month
Felt sad or hopeless for 2 or more weeks
Made a suicide attempt that resulted in injury
Had sexual contact against their will
Ever been or gotten someone pregnant
Homeless
Youth
28%
53%
49%
35%
8%
19%
19%
Housed
Youth
6%
35%
24%
21%
2%
8%
2%
Source: Homelessness in Massachusetts Public Schools, MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2014
Homeless youth are 87% more likely to drop out
of high school than their housed peers
Source: America’s Promise Alliance Center for Promise. (2014). Don’t Call Them Dropouts: Understanding the experiences of young
people who leave high school before graduation. A Report from America’s Promise Alliance and its Center for Promise at Tufts University.
How Best to Help Homeless
Youth?
•Outreach
•Intense and Integrated
Support
Housing
Working
“Evidence for improvement in
academic and behavioral outcomes
is strongest for programs that
provide more intense resources to
youth.”
– Current-Generation Youth
Programs, RAND Corporation
Living
Learning
YouthHarbors’ “Wraparound” Services Help
Homeless Youth Successfully Transition to Adulthood
•Services are “wrapped” around each client to assure
individual fit
•Services include housing, learning, living and working
•Services apply to accompanied & unaccompanied youth
•As a result:
• Rediscovery alumni are less likely to
require state aid
Working
• High school graduates are more likely
to acquire and retain employment
than non-graduates
Housing
Living
• Fewer students drop out of high
school
• Youth have a better chance at gainful
employment
Learning
Triage & Assessment
• YouthHarbors begins with the identification of a high school student
who lacks a family support system and is homeless or at risk of becoming
homeless. When necessary, YouthHarbors provides emergency housing
placements and other basic necessities.
• YouthHarbors' staff then begins work to find stable, long-term housing.
Housing options usually range from living with extended family or friends
to finding an apartment with suitable roommates, but can occasionally
involve being placed with a host family.
• YouthHarbors staff and youth then work together to develop goals, and
a specific plan to reach them, to provide youth with the skills,
knowledge, and experience to become productive members of adult
society. These goals may be:
–
–
–
–
–
Housing-related
Career-oriented
Life skills
Academic
Financial
• Lessons and workshops are tailored individually for each student and can
vary widely.
Executive Functioning
Compromised
• Youth homelessness holds a unique trauma given the critical
developmental stage, and given that the executive functioning
portion of the brain is not fully developed.
• “Executive function is a set of mental processes that helps connect
past experience with present action. People use it to perform
activities such as planning, organizing, strategizing, paying
attention to and remembering details, and managing time and
space.
• If you have trouble with executive
function, these things are more
difficult to do. You may also show a
weakness with working memory, which
is like “seeing in your mind’s eye.” This
is an important tool in guiding your
actions.
(National Center for Learning
Disabilities website)
Image courtesy of: www.ultimateautismguide.com
Fight, Flight, or Freeze
• When someone is homeless, the normal human response is to
move to a survival mode, otherwise known as a fight, flight or
freeze response, which is based in our brain’s amygdala.
• This response causes the
executive functioning part of the
brain (however much is
developed) to shut down so that
the body can focus on survival.
Image courtesy of: www.packgraphics.com
• Research suggests that
prolonged stress contributes to
high blood pressure, promotes
the formation of artery-clogging
deposits, and causes brain
changes that may contribute to
anxiety, depression, and
addiction.
The Science
• *After the amygdala sends a distress signal, the hypothalamus activates the
sympathetic nervous system by sending signals through the autonomic nerves
to the adrenal glands. These glands respond by pumping the hormone
epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) into the bloodstream.
As epinephrine circulates through the body, it brings on a number of
physiological changes.
• *All of these [neurological responses to threats]
happen so quickly that people aren't aware of
them. In fact, the wiring is so efficient that the
amygdala and hypothalamus start this cascade
even before the brain's visual centers have had a
chance to fully process what is happening.
• For homeless youth, “these threats continue
causing a constant level of heightened stress
response in the brain and body.”
– Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical
School, March, 2011
Image courtesy of: www.tonks.disted.camosun.bc.ca
“Executive Function Skills Build Throughout
Childhood and Adolescence”
Data Source: Weintraub et al. (In Press). Chart Source: Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child (2011). Building the
Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function (Working Paper 11). Pg 5.
Application to Service
Approaches
• The concern for our homeless youth is great.
• Putting all of the neurological and trauma pieces together for our young
adults illustrates the potentially dire consequences of youth
homelessness. If our homeless youth live in a state of constant
hyperarousal physiologically and emotionally and fluctuate through states
of fight, flight or freeze, they will be unable to “plan, organize, strategize,
paying attention to and remember details, and manage time and space
(National Center for Learning Disabilities website).
Dr. Jack Shonkoff of the Center on the
• When we apply this
Developing Child states that the
understanding to education,
“opportunities to build executive
employment, housing and
function skills present an extended
social relationship, we can
developmental window.”
start to understand why it
becomes so hard for folks who
His research in collaboration with
are homeless, to escape
Weintraub, et al’s, 2011 research
homelessness.
illustrates that the ages of 14 – 24 are
one of the two most flexible times
in brain growth.
Barriers to Education
•Factors that affect homeless youths’ ability to complete
their education:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lack of a parent or guardian
Lack of school records and other paperwork
Lack of stable housing
Emotional crisis / mental health issues
Employment - need to balance school and work
Lack of transportation
Lack of school supplies, clothing
Fatigue, poor health, hunger
Credit accrual policies, attendance policies
Concerns about being apprehended by authorities
Cost of a High School Dropout
Net Fiscal Impact of High School Graduation
Massachusetts 2002-2004
•6 times more likely to
be incarcerated
•3 times more likely to
be unemployed
High School
Graduates
High School Dropouts
•Lifetime cost to
Massachusetts is
$467,023
•Lifetime cost to the
U.S. is $306,096
Source: Andrew Sum, et al. From Center for Labor Market Studies Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
The Consequences of Dropping Out of High School, October 2009
This Population is Hard to Serve
•Invisible
•Distrust of adults
•Fear of relocation
•Fear of adult services
and shelters
•Unique developmental stage
What to Do
• Education
• Services
• Resources (internal/external)
• Advocacy
• Policy
Identification Strategies
•Provide awareness activities for school staff
• registrars, secretaries, counselors, social workers, nurses, teachers,
bus drivers, administrators, etc.
•Train school personnel on the definition, rights, and needs
of unaccompanied youth
• local liaisons, school enrollment staff, secretaries, guidance
counselors, principals, and teachers
•Use enrollment and withdrawal forms to inquire about
living situations
Identification Strategies
•Have students draw or write about where they live
•Enlist youth to help spread the word
•Avoid using the word "homeless" in initial contacts with
school personnel and youth
•Ensure discretion and confidentiality when working with
youth
• Inform youth up-front of the circumstances under which you may be
required to report the youth to DCF or law enforcement
Engagement Strategies
•Make sure the student feels
• Welcome
• Cared for
• Respected and Valued
•Develop new forms to replace typical proof of guardianship
• Caretaker forms
• Self-enrollment
• Craft these carefully to avoid further barriers or delays
•Help unaccompanied youth make up lost credits and accrue
credits.
Engagement Strategies
•Permit exceptions to school policies to accommodate the
needs of unaccompanied youth
• class schedules
• tardiness and absences
• class credits
•Provide unaccompanied youth the opportunity to enroll in
diversified learning opportunities
• vocational education
• credit-for-work programs
• flexible school hours
MA State Policy Initiatives
• Special Commission for Homeless, Unaccompanied Youth
• Includes DESE representation
• MA House Bill 135 – An Act Providing Housing & Support
Services to Homeless, Unaccompanied Youth
• Omnibus – House Bill 4382
• Housing First Initiative
Federal Policy Initiatives
•(H.R. 5186/S. 2653) Homeless Children & Youth Act of 2014,
Senators Diane Feinstein (D- California) & Rob Porterman
(R- Ohio)
•Senator Elizabeth Warren (D- MA) & Representative Rosa
DeLauro (D- CT) are actively pushing HUD to address the
growing issue of unaccompanied, homeless youth (4/14)
Range of Services Schools
Need for Homeless Youth
•Access to housing stabilization/housing services
•Access to food (this includes out of school meals as well)
•Adequate clothing
•Clinical support services (not just guidance and adjustment
services)
YouthHarbors:
Why This is So Important
• Homelessness is a major factor for dropping out of high school
• Homeless youth have an 87% higher chance of
dropping out of school than housed youth
• Primary focus of YouthHarbors is on ‘invisible’
homeless, unaccompanied high school students
• Over the past four years, an average of 5,000 youth have been
homeless each year in Massachusetts alone.
• How it Works
– Housing is found within the same community as the high school
– Housing services are available to female and male students
– Funding for housing is available when needed
– Housing is coordinated by a team of resources, including
• The YouthHarbors outreach worker at the high school
• Landlords, roommates and potential host families in the
community
• School and DESE administrators
• Clothing and food resources
YouthHarbors Report Card
• At the end of 5 years, YouthHarbors outcomes:
94% of youth are housed
97% graduated or are on-track to graduate
Every program graduate
not requiring aid saves the state
an estimated $467,023 over
his/her lifetime.
Questions?
Foster Care
Section 8 housing
Public education
Adult Shelters
Transitional Assistance (welfare)
Welfare
School based health centers
Medicaid
Free health insurance programs
School meals programs
Youth violence prevention
Teen pregnancy prevention
Free legal services
Youth and community centers
Special education
Teen parent programs
Youth violence prevention
The most
underserved
segment of the
population
Homelessness, Unemployment,
Drop out, Crime, Drugs, Prostitution