Runaway and Homeless Youth

When it comes to helping homeless youth finish high school, research has shown that stable housing plays an important role. But helping students who are on their own find and maintain safe, appropriate housing is easier said than done.
Last June, when the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness unveiled its framework for ending youth homelessness, representatives from several youth-serving organizations presented feedback.
Recently, we spoke to psychologist Melanie Barwick about her research on how to prepare youth workers to use the evidence-based practice motivational interviewing in their work. In a new podcast, we continue the conversation with Barwick and one of the trainers she enlisted in her study.
Want to engage youth in a creative activity that helps them take ownership of their space? Enter your young people in the Family and Youth Services Bureau's Runaway and Homeless Youth Mural Contest. You could win the materials for youth to paint a mural in your program.
If you've ever bought a box of Girl Scout cookies or paid a high school softball team to wash your car, you know that young people bring an almost irresistible something to fundraising. At the same time, young fundraisers pick up important skills, like setting goals, planning ahead, working as a team and making the case for a cause.
NCFY: Welcome to Voices from the Field, a podcast series from the Family and Youth Services Bureau. For the past year, Dr. Melanie Barwick has been studying four different youth serving programs as they implement an evidence-based practice called motivational interviewing, or MI.
Researcher Melanie Barwick and trainer Scott Skinner discuss their year-long collaboration with four youth programs, which centered around finding the best way to implement an evidence-based practice called motivational interviewing. Time: 4:29 | Size: 4.1 MB | Transcript
Each November, National Runaway Prevention Month gives youth workers a platform to educate the public about the issues affecting runaway youth. Here are some links from organizer the National Runaway Switchboard that we think might be particularly useful for youth workers in November and beyond:
One of the objectives of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is to end youth homelessness by 2020. Here at NCFY, we want to help you understand how USICH aims to do that, in collaboration with federal, state and local government, and of course with programs that work directly with homeless young people.
Lashawnda Carter is Outreach Coordinator for the National Runaway Switchboard, an organization dedicated to keeping America’s runaway, homeless and at-risk youth safe and off the street.
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