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"Turn up the Focus" on Homeless Youth

The Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) is pleased to announce the release of two items that will "turn up the focus" on homeless youth and strengthen their network of available supports:

  • Television public service announcements (PSAs): We've partnered with the National Runaway Safeline to create a series of videos featuring formerly homeless young people who got the help they needed through FYSB grantees. We'll be distributing these 30- and 60-second PSAs to television networks and stations across the country in an effort to build awareness of 1-800-RUNAWAY, the 24/7 hotline available to young people and adults.
  • A report sharing the experiences and needs of homeless street youth: We've also published the results of our Street Outreach Program Data Collection Study featuring information from 656 homeless young people in 11 cities. That study, completed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, found that more than half of participants became homeless for the first time because they were asked to leave home by a parent or caregiver. More than half said they tried to stay at a shelter but it was full. The report also includes a section on implications for policy, practice, and research to connect researchers' findings to tangible improvements needed in available services.

The FYSB Runaway and Homeless Youth Program would like to thank the 11 Street Outreach Program grantees who contributed to the study, as well as the grantees who connected us to the vibrant youth featured in the PSAs.

We hope you'll share these resources in your community to bring attention to the important work that you do.

"Turn up the Focus" on homeless youth: http://www.hhs.gov/blog/2016/04/12/open-door-and-helping-hand-homeless-young-people.html

30-second PSA:  http://ncfy.acf.hhs.gov/media-center/videos/1-800-runaway-new-public-service-announcements-fysb-and-nrs-30

60-second PSA:  http://ncfy.acf.hhs.gov/media-center/videos/1-800-runaway-new-public-service-announcements-fysb-and-nrs-60

Street Outreach Program Data Collection Study:  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/resource/street-outreach-program-data-collection-study
 

National Human Trafficking Hotline Database

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Training and Technical Assistance Center (RHYTTAC) would like to invite your organization to submit an application to join the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH) referral database for youth victims of human trafficking. Please click here to access the letter of invitation: http://tinyurl.com/ht-hotline-referral-database.

As you know, runaway and homeless youth are at increased risk and are especially vulnerable to human trafficking situations due both to their age and circumstances. The services you provide make your organization a logical fit to meet the needs of these trafficked youth.

If your organization is interested in being included in the database, we ask that you please complete the National Referral Directory Application, which will be reviewed by NHTH staff. Please click here to access the application: https://forms.humantraffickinghotline.org/4. For more information about the referral database, inclusion criteria, and the questions asked in the application, please read the Guidelines and Expectations document: http://humantraffickinghotline.org/sites/default/files/NHTRC.
 

The “Learning to Upload RHYMIS Data—April 2016” Webinar Now Available

The “Learning to Upload RHYMIS Data—April 2016” webinar recording is now available on RHYTTAC eLearning.

This webinar recording demonstrates how FYSB RHY grantees will use the new data platform, RHYPoint, to upload their RHYMIS data. The first data transfer will begin April 11 and be open through COB on April 29, 2016. The webinar includes:

  • Changes and lessons learned from 2015 submission period
  • Introduction to requirements for data transfer and why it’s important 
  • Review of required tasks for grantees and HMIS vendors
  • Demonstration of how to upload data and check for data quality
  • Information on available TA resources

To access this webinar, please visit eLearning and search for “RHYMIS Data Upload Preparation". 

Review our eLearning webpage to learn how to create an account and search for these webinars on our eLearning platform.

Access This Webinar Now
 

Home Free Program Expansion

The National Runaway Safeline, with the support of Greyhound Lines, Inc., has expanded the Home Free program eligibility to include victims of sex & labor trafficking and service through age 21. The expansion supports universal recognition that runaway, homeless, at-risk and child welfare adjudicated youth are the highest risk group for exploitation. Expanding eligibility through age 21 further aligns the Home Free program with the service eligibility age ranges of many of the state and federally funded homeless youth housing programs. NRS maintains an extensive nationwide database of trafficking related resources and social service providers.  Below is a letter from National Runaway Safeline's executive director, Maureen Blaha.

Dear Service Provider,

The National Runaway Safeline’s (NRS) mission is to keep America’s runaway, homeless, and at-risk youth safe and off the streets. One way NRS has been working to fulfill our mission is through our family reunification program, HOME FREE. Established in 1995 as a partnership with Greyhound Lines, Inc., NRS has helped over 15,000 youth in crisis reunite with their legal guardians or travel to an “Alternative Living Arrangement” (ALA). ALA options allow youth to identify safe and stable reunification options outside of their nuclear family when appropriate.

In keeping with our mission, through our collaboration with Greyhound Lines Inc., we have expanded the service eligibility for the HOME FREE program to include victims of sex and labor trafficking and to extend the age of eligibility through the age of 21. The HOME FREE program is available 24/7 and is accessed by calling our toll-free hotline 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929).

The National Runaway Safeline (NRS) is the sole organization through which a HOME FREE ticket may be issued.

Please see the flyer regarding the HOME FREE guidelines for eligibility. If you have any questions, please call our crisis line at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) and ask to speak to a crisis services supervisor.
 

Sincerely,

Maureen Blaha
Executive Director

You may view the HOME FREE flyer here:  https://nspn.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/RHYTTAC/hf%20fact%20sheet%20flier%20trafficking%20expansion%20flyer.pdf
 

National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month

On December 31, 2014, President Barack Obama called upon businesses, national and community organizations, families, and all Americans to recognize the vital roles we can play in ending all forms of slavery as he proclaimed the month of January to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. 

About Human Trafficking:

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) defines “severe forms of human trafficking” as:

         The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for:

  • Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is inducted by force, fraud, and coercion, or in which the person inducted to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or
  • Labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, and coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery

​Trafficking in persons, or human trafficking, is a widespread form of modern-day slavery. It is a crime that involves the exploitation of a person for the purpose of compelled labor or a commercial sex act through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. If a person younger than 18 is inducted to perform a commercial sex act, it is considered a crime regardless of whether there is any force, fraud, or coercion. Human traffickers target all populations around the world and in our own neighborhoods: women, men, youth, children, citizens, non-citizens, English speakers, non-English speakers. Some groups, such as runaway and homeless youth, native individuals, domestic violence victims, and LGBTQ population are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. Victims are recruited and lured by traffickers with the false promise of a better life, love, and job opportunities. Later, traffickers use violence, threats, and manipulation to controls their victims. Homeless youth who are forced to trade sexual acts with an adult in exchange of something of value (i.e. shelter, food) are considered victims of domestic sex trafficking.

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise of this century, growing from a nine billion to a 32 billion dollar global industry in a little over a decade.  There is no typical trafficker, and it has been shown that traffickers can be parents or other close family members, family friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, employers, smugglers or strangers.  Traffickers can be part of an organized enterprise or can work alone. Street gangs, for example, are known to traffic minors into the drug and sex markets. Don’t ignore the facts. Slavery exists and we can work together to end it.

Resources:
 
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