Building Capacity to Evaluate Interventions for Youth/Young Adults with Child Welfare Involvement At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH)

2013-2028

Youth At-Risk of Homelessness Logo

Phase I (2013-2017)

Phase I of this project (YARH-1) provided evaluation-related technical assistance to organizations awarded planning grants for the development of interventions for youth with child welfare involvement who are most likely to experience homelessness. Key project tasks included providing technical assistance on use of data required to inform planning activities and on the development of evaluation plans; conducting evaluability assessments; and conducting a process evaluation of grantees’ planning processes and outcomes.

Phase II (2015-2021)

Phase II of this project (YARH-2) provides evaluation-related support for organizations awarded implementation grants for the further development and testing of interventions for youth with child welfare involvement who are most likely to experience homelessness. Key project tasks include conducting evaluability assessments, providing technical assistance on use of data required to inform implementation and continuous quality improvement activities and on the development of formative evaluation plans; and conducting a process evaluation of grantees’ implementation processes and outcomes.

Between February-May 2021, The Child Welfare Information Gateway hosted five national webinars, each focused on one of the YARH-2 grantees. These webinars featured lessons learned and shared additional resources and tools. The webinars can be found on the Children’s Bureau Discretionary Grants Youth At-Risk of Homelessness section of the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Phase III (2019-2028)

Phase III of YARH (YARH-3) will continue to provide important information to the field by supporting organizations from Phase II in evidence-building activities, including providing evaluation-related TA; assessing sites’ readiness for summative evaluation; designing and conducting a federally led evaluation of at least one comprehensive service model, including an implementation study and an impact study; and disseminating knowledge gained through project activities. The evaluation team will work closely with ACF, a broad range of relevant groups and individuals, and selected experts so that the TA activities and evaluation will yield timely findings that inform policy and practice.

Key Project Activities:

  • Assess sites’ suitability and preparedness for participating in a summative evaluation and other evidence-building activities.
  • Provide TA designed to help sites participate in evidence-building activities, including disseminating formative evaluation findings on the initial implementation and outcomes of sites’ interventions. TA includes individualized assistance to YARH sites and peer- or group-based learning on topics relevant to multiple sites.
  • Provide focused TA to support formative evaluation activities.
  • Design and conduct a federally led summative evaluation of at least one intervention implemented by a site.

This work is being conducted through a contract to Mathematica.

Point(s) of contact: Mary Mueggenborg.

The study for YARH-2 is registered on the Open Science Framework under the title Building Capacity to Evaluate Interventions for Youth/ Youth Adults with Child Welfare Involvement At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH)   Visit disclaimer page.

The study for YARH-3 is registered on the Open Science Framework under the title YARH-3: Building Capacity to Evaluate Interventions for Youth/Young Adults with Child Welfare Involvement At-Risk of Homelessness - Summative Evaluation  .

Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0445 and #0970-0574. Related materials are available at the 

The most currently approved documents are accessible by clicking on the ICR Ref. No. with the most recent conclusion date. To access the information collections (E.g. interviews, surveys, protocols), click on View Information Collection (IC) List. Click on View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to access other supplementary documents.
 

Related Resources

This brief describes the process of modifying the dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) mindfulness curriculum within the Youth Transitions Partnership for transition-age youth and young adults in foster care in Alameda County, California during the Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grant program funded by the Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF).

This brief describes the multiphase evidence-building process YARH undertook to select the Colorado Pathways to Success comprehensive service model for the YARH-3 summative evaluation and to support YARH-2 grantees not yet ready for summative evaluation in identifying lessons learned and possible next evidence-building steps.

 

This brief describes potential cultural adaptations in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for transition-age youth and young adults in foster care through the Youth Transitions Program in Alameda County, California during the Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grant program funded by the Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF).

This brief describes how the Youth Transitions Partnership in Alameda County, California revised their program enrollment materials to improve youth enrollment and early engagement during the Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grant program funded by the Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF).

The Children’s Bureau (CB), within the Administration for Children and Families (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), is funding a multiphase grant program to build the evidence base on what works to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults who have been involved in the child welfare system. This brief describes thirteen components of the Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) comprehensive service models and grantees’ experiences with implementation. The brief should be of interest to practitioners and state and local policymakers.

The Children’s Bureau (CB), within the Administration for Children and Families (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), is funding a multiphase grant program to build the evidence base on what works to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults who have been involved in the child welfare system. This program is called Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH). YARH focuses on three populations: (1) adolescents who enter foster care from ages 14 to 17, (2) young adults aging out of foster care, and (3) homeless youth and young adults up to age 21 with foster care histories.

The Children’s Bureau (CB), within the Administration for Children and Families (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), is funding a multiphase grant program to build the evidence base on what works to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults who have been involved in the child welfare system. This program is called Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH). YARH focuses on three populations: (1) adolescents who enter foster care from ages 14 to 17, (2) young adults aging out of foster care, and (3) homeless youth and young adults up to age 21 with foster care histories.

This brief describes grantees’ experiences engaging youth in Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) interventions, including the methods they used to engage youth in services. The brief should be of interest to individuals who work with youth in similar circumstances, including service providers, program administrators, program evaluators, and funders.

This brief shares the insights of the Colorado Department of Human Services and the New Jersey Department of Children and Families on how youth-serving organizations can use housing vouchers to support youth and young adults who have been involved in the child welfare system and are at risk of homelessness.

This infographic describes the multi-phased Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) project. This grant program started in 2013 to build evidence on what works in preventing homelessness among youth and young adults with previous involvement with the child welfare system.

Continuous quality improvement (CQI) is a process for enhancing the operation and performance of a program or practice through regularly collecting and analyzing data and identifying and testing change strategies. In this brief, local evaluators working with two agencies, Alameda County, California, and the Colorado Department of Human Services, describe how their teams used CQI to learn from the initial implementation of model interventions designed to prevent homelessness among youth...

The Children’s Bureau funded a multi-phase grant program referred to as Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) to build the evidence base on what works to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults...

The Children’s Bureau funded a multi-phase grant program referred to as Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) to build the evidence base on what works to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults...

The Children’s Bureau funded a multi-phase grant program referred to as Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) to build the evidence base on what works to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults...

In September 2013, the Children’s Bureau awarded 18 grantees two-year planning grants to develop a comprehensive service model to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults with child welfare involvement...

In September 2013, the Children’s Bureau awarded 18 grantees two-year planning grants to develop a comprehensive service model to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults with child welfare involvement...

In September 2013, the Children’s Bureau awarded 18 grantees two-year planning grants to develop a comprehensive service model to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults with child welfare involvement...

To give context for the summative evaluation and understand the study sample, this descriptive report describes the services offered through Pathways and the comparison hubs, characteristics of the hubs, and baseline characteristics of the youth and young adults who enrolled in the study through the first year of enrollment.

The analytic plan for the descriptive report “Youth At-Risk of Homelessness: An Early Picture of Youth and Services. Examining a Coach-like Case Management Program for Youth and Young Adults with Foster Care Histories”

This analytic plan serves as the foundation for a summative evaluation that Mathematica and ACF are conducting as part of YARH-3 in partnership with the Colorado Department of Human Services and the Center for Policy Research.

Explore ACF’s design of an impact study of Colorado’s Pathways to Success comprehensive service model that will provide evidence of program effectiveness on a large number of policy-relevant outcomes, including stable housing, education, employment, permanent connections to caring adults, and social-emotional well-being.

Explore ACF’s design of an implementation study of Colorado’s Pathways to Success comprehensive service model that will support interpretation of the model’s impacts on outcomes and identify factors that contributed to or inhibited implementation of Pathways services in different counties; these findings will aid in the replication or improvement of future Pathways service delivery.

To build the evidence base of interventions to prevent homelessness among youth in foster care or young adults who were formerly in foster care, the Children’s Bureau (CB) developed the “Building Capacity to Evaluate Interventions for Youth/Young Adults with Child Welfare Involvement At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH)” grant program. YARH is a multiphase competitive grant program that aims to support the development and evaluation of comprehensive service models to meet the needs of youth...

In September 2013, the Children’s Bureau awarded 18 grantees two-year planning grants to develop a comprehensive service model to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults with child welfare involvement. This report from Phase I of Building Capacity to Evaluate Interventions for Youth/Young Adults with Child Welfare Involvement At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH)...