Ending Youth Homelessness Through Evidence & Action

25
Jun 2015

Voices of the Youth Count

We’re excited to announce the launch of Voices of Youth Count!

Led by Chapin Hall in collaboration with the True Colors Fund and partners across the country, Voices of Youth Count seeks both a reliable national estimate of youth homelessness and a clearer picture of what it means to be young and homeless in America today. All efforts are aimed at finding and widely sharing solutions to preventing and ending youth homelessness.

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has spoken to the need to fill gaps in our knowledge about this highly vulnerable group, stating, “…we know too little about the scale and nature of youth homelessness.”

Chapin Hall and its partners are ready to take on that challenge.

Beginning in mid-2015 through 2017, Voices of Youth Count will collect original data by interviewing and surveying youth and those around them, conducting quantitative analyses, rigorously examining the effectiveness of investments we are making as a country, analyzing existing federal, state, and local policies, and connecting findings to the existing knowledge base.

Evidence and recommendations will be purposefully linked to current local, state, and federal policy efforts with an eye on authorizing legislation, how programs are structured and funded, and the way in which services are delivered.

The True Colors Fund is excited to join Chapin Hall, national and local advocates, community providers of youth services, philanthropists, policymakers, and youth in this effort. As the project evolves, learning will be shared on voicesofyouthcount.org.