Youth Homelessness & Housing

Our Training and Capacity Building Managers provide TA and coaching that strengthen programs serving youth and young adults experiencing homelessness. Through cluster calls, webinars, individualized technical assistance, and CEU-accredited learning, we connect youth service providers with the tools and knowledge they need to improve outcomes for youth.

Our growing library of free tipsheets, toolkits, and learning opportunities give youth service providers easy access to the tools they need. Over the past five years, more than 8,000 users have completed nearly 42,000 courses in our learning management systems.

Our team plans and hosts dozens of virtual and in-person trainings each year that bring together youth service providers, subject matter experts, and federal partners. We deliver high-quality training experiences, like new grantee orientations, virtual learning collaboratives, topical webinars, and the annual RHY National Grantee Training. Annually, we engage more than 1,200 participants in person and 3,500 participants in our virtual events.

Since 2020, Youth Collaboratory has operated the Runaway and Homeless Youth Training, Technical Assistance, and Capacity Building Center (RHYTTAC). Funded by the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), we support the 600 federally funded RHY programs across the country through training, resource development, and events management. Since we began operating RHYTTAC in 2020, we have delivered more than 6,580 direct TA interactions, conducted annual national needs assessments, and hosted over 45 webinars on in-demand topics.

As the operator of RHYTTAC, we lead a coordinated strategy across federal departments and national grantees, ensuring that research, resource databases, and outreach efforts support the broader goal of improving services for youth who are experiencing homelessness. Our partners in this work include Chapin Hall, National Runaway Safeline, Abt Global, and Grey Matters Technology Services.

Since HUD launched the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP), Youth Collaboratory has partnered with other Training and Technical Assistance providers and YHDP communities to design and test new approaches to preventing and ending youth homelessness, identifying what works and sharing lessons learned, so that every community can benefit. Today, Youth Collaboratory strengthens YHDP efforts by helping local leaders and partners design, implement, and improve their community responses to youth homelessness in 16 communities, with a particular focus on creating and maintaining partnerships with young people with lived experiences of homelessness and housing instability.

Even with the desire to prevent and end youth homelessness, many communities need more capacity to even start solving this problem in their community. From a lack of accurate youth-specific data to a disconnection between youth-serving systems serving the same young people, the barriers to addressing youth homelessness can seem insurmountable. As part of HUD’s Youth Homelessness System Improvement grant, Youth Collab supports local communities in identifying their highest-priority capacity gaps and provides targeted training and technical assistance to help fill those gaps. Through this critical infrastructure support, communities are better prepared and resourced to design a response system that will meet the needs of young people in their community.

Between 1/4 and 1/3 of youth and young adults experiencing homelessness have a history of foster care involvement (Source). Youth Collaboratory is improving the care, services, and systems that prepare youth for life beyond foster care. Our Supporting Vulnerable Youth Transitioning from Foster Care project connects us with community organizations funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Together, we are creating a national learning community to share insights, test new approaches, and promote strategies that help young people build safe, stable, and successful futures.

Youth Collaboratory partnered with the Technical Assistance Collaborative to develop training and resources that support Youth Action Boards (YABs). Together, we created a six-week webinar series for 44 Continuums of Care across California, focused on building strong YAB structures, sustaining youth engagement, and supporting youth leadership beyond the boards.

Youth Collaboratory partnered with the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland to guide the design of Cuyahoga County’s first youth drop-in center. The project united public agencies, nonprofits, and youth leaders to create a welcoming hub that connects young people to housing, care, and opportunity.