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Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH)
Provider Stakeholder Work Group Meeting
August 26, 2020

Who’s here?
Mathematica
• Kelsey Chesnut, stakeholder
engagement
• Megan Shoji, task lead, stakeholder
engagement
• Morgan Woods, stakeholder
engagement
• Andrew Burwick, deputy project
director
• Rosalind Keith, implementation
study design lead
• Missy Thomas, survey director

Project officers
• Mary Mueggenborg, Office of Planning, Research,
and Evaluation
• Catherine Heath, Children’s Bureau
Colorado Pathways leadership
• Trevor Williams, Colorado Department of Human
Services
• Lanae Davis, Center for Policy Research
• Denise McHugh, Spark Community Foundation
• Derek Blake, Colorado Department of Human
Services
Stakeholders
YARH Provider Stakeholder Work Group members
2

YARH Provider Stakeholder Work Group
Beth Horwitz

• All Chicago Making Homelessness
History

Jack Theuerling

• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

Jennifer Vidrine
• ICF

Kaylene Quinones

• Westchester, Bravelife Initiative

Meredith Hicks

• Independent consultant

Tymothy Belseth

• University of Texas, Austin

Jonah DeChants

• Colorado State University

3

Today’s Goals

Inform program engagement strategies for
YARH-3 summative evaluation
Build the evidence base on promising strategies to prevent
homelessness and support youth and young adults involved
in the child welfare system
Assess implementation and impacts of Colorado’s Pathways
to Success (Pathways) program on key outcomes
Continue evaluation activities with Alameda to continue to
strengthen the Youth Transitions Partnership (YTP) program
5

66%
56%

49%

45%
Pathways Serves High-Risk Youth

Enrolled Youth Report an Average of 4.9 Risk
Factors
6

Icebreaker

In the chat window, share one effective, cool, promising, or
go-to program engagement strategy for this population.

7

Gather your ideas for addressing two
types of engagement challenges
1. Situational challenges to engaging youth in Pathways
2. Challenges with engaging specific youth populations

8

Pathways Program
Overview

Pathways core components
Navigators
- Caseloads of 10 or fewer youth
- Weekly contact with youth
- Provide case management services

Tools and resources
Assessment and planning tools
Flexible funds
Warm referrals
Housing vouchers

Coach-like engagement
- Youth-driven: Encourages youth to set their own goals, plan, and pace and to be
their own advocates
- Primary activities: Listening, asking powerful questions, providing
encouragement, approaching youth with curiosity rather than judgment, setting
achievable challenges, and gently holding youth accountable
10

Current Pathways strategies
Enrollment

Engagement

referrals
for eligible youthfrom
who areColorado
to youth by being
• Request
• Demonstrate
Source:
Reflections
Team commitment
and Navigators
screened for risk of homelessness
persistent and non-judgmental
• Train referral partners in what Pathways is,
• Help youth move forward at their own pace
how it can benefit youth, and how it differs
• Weekly contact with youth
from typical services
• Attend appointments with youth (warm hand-offs)
• Coach-like engagement is developmentally
• Authentically advocate for youth through:
appropriate and attractive model for this
Coach-like engagement
population
Youth-driven goals
• Navigators communicate the benefits of coachProviding flex funds to achieve goals
like engagement
• Help youth address housing needs

11

Addressing Pathways
Engagement Challenges

Situational challenges with engagement
Typical challenges

Current mitigation strategies

Loss of communication

COVID-19 pandemic

Continue to contact youth using existing
information, check-in with providers and
permanent connections, welfare checks at
known addresses or youth gathering places
Provide flex funds to for bus cards or to fix
vehicle and/or Navigators come to the
youth / provide rides
Navigators work with youth to replace vital
documents and strategies to maintain them
Navigators find a provider still in touch with
youth to assist with engagement
Mix of in-person and virtual meetings

Lack equipment for virtual meetings

Community resources; Flex funds

Last minute lack of transportation

Loss of vital documents
“Cold Call” referrals

13

Let’s discuss! Situational challenges
with engagement
Typical challenges

Current mitigation strategies

2
min

Other ideas?

Loss of
communication

Continue to contact youth using existing
information, check-in with providers and permanent
connections, welfare checks at known addresses or
youth gathering places
Last minute lack of
Provide flex funds to for bus cards or to fix vehicle
transportation
and/or Navigators come to the youth / provide rides
Loss of vital
Navigators work with youth to replace vital
documents
documents and strategies to maintain them
“Cold Call” referrals Navigators find a provider still in touch with youth
to assist with engagement
COVID-19 pandemic Mix of in-person and virtual meetings
Lack equipment for
virtual meetings

Community resources; Flex funds
14

Typical challenges

Other ideas?

Loss of communication
Last minute lack of
transportation
Loss of vital documents
“Cold Call” referrals

COVID-19 pandemic
Lack equipment for virtual
meetings

15

Challenges engaging younger youth
Discussing risk of homelessness with younger youth (ages
14-16)

- Navigators emphasize making sure youth always have a safe and stable place
to live no matter where they’re at in their life
- Navigators avoid terms like "homelessness" and "stably housed"

What advice or guidance do you have on how to engage
younger youth?
- Is the above approach effective, or do Navigators need to be more explicit?
- How should Navigators frame this issue with younger youth? What are some
key “hooks” to engage them?
- What are the benefits of talking about homelessness more explicitly? What
are the risks?
Jump to slide 16

16

Challenges with other specific youth
populations
1. Youth who may be
distrustful of systems
a) Legally-involved youth
b) Failed adoptions

2. Rural youth
3. Transient youth

4. Youth experiencing
domestic violence
5. Youth with targeted
needs
a) Youth with mental health and
substance use issues
b) Youth in residential care
c) Youth with intellectual and
developmental disabilities

17

Potential solutions for challenges
1. Youth who may be
distrustful of systems
a) Legally-involved youth
b) Failed adoptions

2. Rural youth
3. Transient youth

3
min

4. Youth experiencing
domestic violence
5. Youth with targeted
needs
a) Youth with mental health and
substance use issues
b) Youth in residential care
c) Youth with intellectual and
developmental disabilities

18

Wrap-Up

Next Steps
• You: Share any additional thoughts in writing by the end of the
week
- Email to Kelsey Chesnut: [email protected]

• Mathematica and Colorado teams: Use feedback to inform
evaluation plans
- Summarize feedback and potential implications for evaluation plans
- Share with federal partners

• Next opportunity to contribute

- Stakeholder work group meetings on initial findings and reporting (summer/fall 2022
and winter 2023)
- Potential invitations for ad hoc opportunities
20

Any questions

21

For additional information or questions
- Kelsey Chesnut, Mathematica (Stakeholder workgroup
questions)
[email protected]

- Cay Bradley, Mathematica (general YARH questions)
[email protected]

- Mary Mueggenborg, Office of Planning, Research &
Evaluation
[email protected]

- Catherine Heath, Children’s Bureau
[email protected]
22