Significant Increase in Numbers of Homeless Youth Reported by Schools

The National Center for Homeless Education recently released federal data on the number of children and youth enrolled in public schools who are experiencing homelessness. Data from the 2017-2018 school year indicate that approximately 1.5 million youth experienced homelessness—representing the highest number ever reported nationally, and an increase of 15% over the past three years. Numbers of homeless students living in cars, parks, streets, and other non-shelter locations more than doubled since 2016-2017.

Access the full report here: https://nche.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Federal-Data-Summary-SY-15.16-to-17.18-Published-1.30.2020.pdf

Homelessness Maps and Infographics

The Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness has a series of interactive graphics available that describe issues affecting RHY—including the graduation gap; dating violence; and comparisons between “doubled up” youth and those living on the streets. Their interactive map, "The United States of Homelessness", allows users to look at state- and school district-level data across the country. 

View online graphics here: https://www.icphusa.org/maps_infographics/

'Data Labs’ and Nonprofits: What You Could Learn from Sharing Your Data (Securely)

Most social service agencies don’t have a team of academic researchers standing by to assess program effectiveness, but what if they did? With new legislation in the works that aims to develop an inventory of U.S. government data, some wonder whether nonprofits could benefit from access to similar infrastructure.

To learn more about how agencies are beginning to safely share data with outside partners to achieve rigorous program evaluation and promote informed policymaking, please click here.

Promising Practices for Counting Youth in Point-In-Time Counts

In November 2016, HUD released the following resource to help communities during their annual Point-in-Time counts. The document linked covers promising practices for counting youth experiencing homelessness during the annual count.

Access this resource here: 
https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/Promising-Practices-for-Counting-Youth-Experiencing-Homelessness-in-the-PIT-Counts.pdf

You can find other resources for the Point-in-Time counts at:
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/

Voices of Youth Count Toolkit

"Voices of Youth Count (VoYC) is a national policy and research initiative designed to link evidence and action by capturing the diverse experiences of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability, or who have runaway, more clearly defining the size of the population, and driving compelling knowledge into the hands of the broad national community dedicated to ending youth homelessness.

Committed to widely disseminating our learning, resources, and recommendations, Conducting a Youth Count: A Toolkit documents one of many VoYC activities. It describes the VoYC Youth Count approach conducted in 22 communities throughout the summer of 2016; capturing our learning and providing guidance and tools to all communities looking to improve the ways they count youth experiencing homelessness."

This toolkit provides a step-by-step roadmap to conduct a youth count using the VoYC methodology. It is organized into five phases, each with guidance describing the phase, steps within the phase and links to helpful templates and tools. Within the guidance, you will find an overview of the phase and details about how the VoYC Youth Counts were implemented, including our lessons learned. The associated tools contain more detailed explanations how to complete each step within the phase. This toolkit is intended for the person(s) leading the organization and execution of the youth count. This reflects the structure of the VoYC Youth Count methodology, in which members of a leadership team were the primary planners of the Youth Count, with the strong support and involvement of the stakeholder team, the broader community of stakeholders who are engaged at critical points in the process.

Access the toolkit here: 
https://yoc.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/Resources/resources%20-%20voices%20of%20youth%20count.pdf