Ending Youth Homelessness Plan Staffing

A group of concerned community members and youth that have experienced homelessness came together in 2017 and following a year of collaboration and work, the Polk County Continuum of Care and the Youth Advisory Board released a plan to end youth homelessness. The plan included research and background on youth homelessness, community partners, key findings, and strategies. These strategies focus on strong, safe and stable families/social supports, early intervention, pathways out of homelessness, community-level solutions to systematic challenges, and next steps. The full plan can be found at http://www.polkcares.org/committee/youth-homeless-planning/. Effective implementation of the community plan will require ongoing leadership and commitment from stake holders. Continued involvement of an active youth advisory board will also be instrumental to successful implementation. The top five most important strategies have been identified to implement over the next 12 months, which will serve as a starting point. Progress will be measured by tracking the following indicators collected by the Polk County Continuum of Care: newly homeless, returns to homelessness, length of time homeless, discharges from placement without achieving permanency (emancipation), supportive relationships, count of unsheltered, and exits from homelessness to sage and stable housing.