Bridging the Gaps
Connecting Young Adults to Housing & Services
In July 2010, the Federal Youth Partners, in collaboration with HomeBase and the Corporations for Supportive Housing, presented Bridging the Gaps: Connecting Young Adults to Housing and Services. The conference was the innovative product of a broad collaboration of federal agencies, providers of housing and services for transition-aged youth, and young adults.
Youth involvement was central to every aspect of the planning and production of Bridging the Gaps. A committee of approximately ten young adults, facilitated by HomeBase and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, advised the Federal Youth Partners regarding the topics for discussion at the conference, potential panelists, and opportunities for youth involvement, and selected the conference name and logo. Youth representatives from the committee spoke on many of the panels, and one panel (Speaking the Same Language) was designed, facilitated, and staffed entirely by young adults. Additionally, the advisory committee helped to select a powerful youth performance for the lunch hour.
The goals of the conference were improved information sharing about programs and funding and better coordination of outreach activities and resources. The collaboration of the Federal Youth Partners, which includes the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Labor, Department of Education, and Social Security Administration, was key to successful information sharing.
The conference's nine panels encompassed topics ranging from housing to cultural competency and panelists ranging from federal representatives to case managers and youth. Attendees included federal, state, and local government representatives, housing developers, nonprofit staff, and youth.
To download materials from the conference, please click the appropriate links below.
A Culturally Competent System of Care
Our First Line of Response: Outreach and Emergency Shelter
Additional Materials - Outreach
Coco Auerswald: Homeless Youth in San Francisco
Speaking the Same Language: Cultural Competency, Mentoring, and Life Skills Development
Additional Materials - Cultural Competency
Factsheet - Unhealthy Boundaries
Get 'Em Housed, Keep 'Em Housed: Housing Models to Meet All Needs
Additional Materials - Housing
Factsheet - Defining the Spectrum of Youth Housing
Factsheet - NAEH Youth Housing Policy Campaign
Factsheet - Supportive Housing for Youth
Factsheet - TAY SF Housing Advice
Report - HEY Guide to Housing
Report - Housing and High School
Report - Housing for Homeless Youth
Advocacy, Policy, and Financing
Show Me the Money: Financing TAY Housing and Services
Additional Materials - Funding
Factsheet - Funding for Youth Housing Programs
Report - Financing Housing Support for TAY
Letter of the Law: HEARTH and Other Legislation
Additional Materials - Legislation
Debbie Raucher - State Legislative Update AB12 and THP+
Factsheet - HEARTH 101
Factsheet - NAEH HEARTH Act Summary
Factsheet - Strategic Plan and Youth
Legislation - HEARTH
Legislation - NAEH Model State Act for RHY
Pat Pianko - Fostering Connections
Stacey Murphy - HEARTH and TAY
Bringing Everyone to the Table: A Crash Course in Advocacy and Systems Change
Additional Materials - Advocacy
Factsheet - Building an Infrastructure to Serve Youth
Factsheet - New America Media Policy Recommendations
Report - Disconnected Youth in San Francisco
Report - HEY Guide to Youth Empowerment
Report - Immigration Related Barriers
Report - Interagency Operating Systems for TAY
Report - Transitions for Youth in Juvenile Justice
Mainstreaming
Hitting the Books: Strategies and Resources for TAY Education
Additional Materials - Education
Brochure - Mission SF PLAY
Factsheet - Reducing Your Expenses
Factsheet - Track Weekly Expenses
Report - Supporting the Education of Unaccompanied Homeless Youth
Report - TAY and GED
Xochitl Sanchez-Zarma - Higher Education Resources
Healthy Outcomes: Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Healthcare Access and Treatment
Additional Materials - Health
Factsheet - Health, Homelessness and Services
Report - Helping Youth With Mental Health Needs
Report - TAY Service Delivery Adaptations
Work, Work, Work: Employment Programs and Resources
Additional Materials - Employment
Brochure - Community Services Employment Training
Brochure - Sequoia Community Corps 1
Brochure - Sequoia Community Corps 2
Deon Price - Job Corps
Report - Conservation Corps
Report - Foster Youth Demonstration Project 1
Report - Foster Youth Demonstration Project 2
Report - Foster Youth Demonstration Project 3
Report - Workforce and Youth Mental Health
Rosemary Cowen - Connecting Our Nation's Disconnected Youth
Wei Hsieh - California Conservation Corps
Previous Youth Work
HomeBase has worked in collaboration with the Corporation for Supportive Housing and ICF Consulting to facilitate two U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) foster youth housing events. The first event "All the Way Home: Creating Partnerships to House Emancipated Foster and Homeless Youth" was held October 28, 2003, in Oakland, CA. The second conference, "A Home of Their Own, Creating Partnerships to House Emancipated, Foster and Homeless Youth" was held in Los Angeles on December 1, 2004.
Both of these conferences focused on creating partnerships between service providers, developers, funders and landlords in an effort to create more housing for emancipating and homeless youth. Panelists at both conferences included speakers who already have a program to house emancipating youth, developers and funders who wish to help create more housing for the youth, and foster and emancipated youth themselves. The participation and attendance at these conferences was quite broad, but the overall goal was the same throughout. That aim is to find ways to ensure that all youth leaving the foster care system have a home in which to live.
To download conferences materials from either the Oakland conference or the LA Conference, please click on the appropriate link below.
"All the Way Home" October 28, 2003 Oakland, CA Conference:
Creating
Partnerships to House Emancipated Foster and Homeless Youth
"A Home of Their Own" December 1, 2004 Los Angeles, CA Conference:
Creating
Partnerships to House Emancipated Foster and Homeless Youth
