Designing Services for Youth and Young Adults At-Risk of Homelessness: Initial and ongoing implementation of YARH grantees’ comprehensive service models

This brief is part of a series that summarizes high-level themes from a process study of grantees’ activities and accomplishments during the implementation grant period (2015-2019) of six grantees’ comprehensive service models. This brief summarizes preparation activities that facilitated implementation of comprehensive service models and challenges YARH grantees faced during implementation. Additional details are available in the full process study report.

• Committed leaders facilitated initial implementation by engaging stakeholders at all levels and identifying solutions for emerging problems.
• Grantees with established partnerships implemented their comprehensive service models quickly because partners were already engaged and committed to the success of the model.
• Service providers faced challenges hiring qualified youth practitioners.
• Ongoing training supported youth practitioners and facilitated implementation.
• Grant activities facilitated communication among grantees and their partners, helping them achieve a shared vision of the comprehensive service model.
• Continuous quality improvement (CQI) processes facilitated quick changes to services, ensuring the comprehensive service models reached their goals and guiding grantees’ efforts to engage partners.

This brief is a synthesis of Chapter III (Grantees’ experiences preparing to implement their comprehensive service models) of the full YARH-2 process study report.

• Engage partners, obtain their buy-in, and develop strong communication processes during the planning phase to focus on enrollment and service delivery during implementation.
• Provide training and other support to youth practitioners, because the work could be stressful or trigger past trauma, especially for staff with lived experience in foster care.

Keith, R.K., N. Islam, R. Sarwar, and M.C. Bradley (2021). Designing Services for Youth and Young Adults At-Risk of Homelessness: Initial and ongoing implementation of YARH grantees’ comprehensive service models. OPRE report 2021-198. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.