Runaway & HOmeless Youth
Programs

Best Practices

 

Nonprofit Development Institute

2500 W. 4th Street

Wilmington, DE 19805

(302) 656-1100

http://www.rapidproposals.com

 

Background Information on the Problem

 

The idea that even a single child is left without a warm bed in a safe home at night’s fall is tragic.  The sad reality is that on any given night approximately 1.35 million U.S. children are homeless (Urban Institute, 2000).  This population is defined as:

 

“(i) children or youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and includes children or youth who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement; (ii) children and youth who have a primary nighttime residence that is a private or public place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. . .(iii) children and youth who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings, and (iv) migratory children. . .who qualify for homeless for the purpose of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii)”   (United States 103rd Congress, 1994).

 

A runaway youth is a person under the age of 18 who is absent from his or her legal residence without the consent of his or her legal guardian.

 

A homeless youth is someone under the age of 21 who is in need of services and is without a place of shelter where supervision and care are available.

 

This group of children is in tremendous danger of harm, specifically for those risks associated with substance abuse, mental illness, and poor health.  These problems are rife among both homeless children and adults.  A homeless child is likely to become a homeless adult (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003). Twenty-one percent of homeless adults were homeless as children.  In other words, without intervention twenty-one percent of runaway and homeless children are destined to bear the effects of a lifetime of poor physical and mental health and/or substance abuse. 

           

Assessing the scope of the homeless problem is a difficult task and results can only be approximations.  Researchers believe that many instances of homelessness are undocumented, making most approximations fairly conservative.  Families bouncing between temporary dwellings that do not seek assistance are an example of cases that are often not included in estimates.   Based on current best approximations, the demographics of the homeless population illustrate that although the problem affects all groups it is largely comprised of minorities in urban settings.  71 percent of the homeless population is found in urban areas (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003).  40 percent are African Americans, while that race comprises only 11 percent of the general population (ibid.).  Runaway and homeless youth make up a significant portion of this population.  In 2001 25.3 percent of the homeless urban population of 27 representative cities were under the age of 18 (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2001); however nationally the rate was much higher, at approximately 39 percent (Urban Institute, 2000). 

 

Homeless children and youth can be either part of a homeless family or unaccompanied by adults.  In 2000 families accounted for almost 39 percent of the nation’s homeless (Urban Institute, 2000).  All current studies project that the number of homeless families will continue to grow at a rapid rate.  However, the number of children who are homeless due to running away cannot be ignored; many unaccompanied homeless children and youth are runaways.   In 2000 it was estimated that 500,000 to 1.5 million youths runaway or are forced from their homes each year (Administration for Children and Families, 2000). 

 

The Experiences of Runaway, Throwaway, and Homeless Youth

When a young person runs away from home (or is “thrown away”—asked/forced to leave), the quality of their lives usually sinks dramatically.  The following conditions can become goals of your proposed program to transform.

 

Health Issues

The lifestyle of homelessness breeds health problems.  “With the exception of obesity, stokes, and cancer, people experiencing homelessness are far more likely to suffer from every category of health problem” (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2001c).  These health problems are amplified by one of the most significant barriers to good health amongst runaway and homeless youth--a lack of access to health care.  It is clear that a lack of access to health care is a significant problem affecting a large portion of the American public in general and all homeless Americans.  The 108th congress reported a finding that nearly 50,000,000 Americans do not have access to a primary health provider (108th Congress, 2003).  Furthermore congress found that “lack of access to basic health services is our Nation’s single most pressing health care problem (ibid.).  Access to health care is vital for all people and a high-priority for the homeless, one of the most at-risk categories for health problems.  Not only is a lack of access to healthcare a byproduct of homelessness, it is often the very cause.  Any of the 42.6 million Americans who do not have access to appropriate treatment are vulnerable to homelessness (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2001).  A catastrophic or long-term illness can lead to homelessness when all resources are spent on medications, test, and examinations. 

 

Homelessness itself is detrimental to the health of children and youth.  Often the trauma and associated with the homeless lifestyle adversely affects their emotional and physical health (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2001).  74 percent of homeless children worry they will have no place to live, 58 percent worry that they will have no place to sleep, and 87 percent worry that something bad will happen to their family (The National Center on Family Homelessness, 2004).  These children are in fair or poor health twice as often as housed children and have very high rates of acute illness (ibid.). Homeless children often suffer from multiple health problems (Berti, 2001).  The typical homeless child will suffer from “Homeless Child Syndrome” which includes poverty-related health problems; immunization delays; untreated or under-treated acute and chronic problems; mental health, behavior and academic problems; and abuse and/or neglect (Karr, 2003).  Specific health risks and problems associated with runaway and homeless youth include:

 

  • Diet and hunger—Homeless children are hungry more than twice as often as other children (Macomb Intermediate School District, 2004).  Homeless children lack access to sufficient quantities of nutritious food and are therefore malnourished or become obese as cheap, high simple-carbohydrate and fatty foods are used to stave hunger and are more readily accessible.  Obesity is nationally the second leading cause of death; malnutrition leads to a host of problems.  Malnourished children are more susceptible to illness and suffer from developmental delays (Karr, 2003).

 

  • Infectious Disease—In addition to malnutrition, the crowded living conditions of homeless families in shelters and exposure through life on the streets lend an increased risk of common childhood illnesses such as upper respiratory infections, ear infections, and diarrhea (Karr, 2003). 

 

  • Asthma—Fifty percent of homeless children have asthma (The Institute for Children and Poverty, 2004); they are four times more likely to be asthmatic than their housed counterparts (The National Center on Family Homelessness, 2004).  Asthma triggers such as dust mites, cockroaches, rodents, and indoor molds are often found in shelters.  The frequent upper respiratory infections homeless children are prone to can lead to asthma, and it is believed that stress may be an important asthma trigger (Karr, 2003).

 

  • Sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s)—Homeless children are at an elevated risk for sexual victimization and rape, which both lead to STD’s (National Coalition for the Homeless 2001a).

 

Homeless children are therefore very likely to suffer from acute or chronic health problems.  Often these health problems can be linked not only to lifestyle but also to a lack of preventative health care.  Frequently children in this population have immunization delays (Karr, 2003), which lead to the occurrence of preventable illness, such as chicken pox, measles, and rubella.  In addition to lacking preventative care, homeless children with ongoing illnesses such as asthma and diabetes do not have access to treatment.    These conditions will worsen without treatment and can lead to more serious illness and death. 

 

Other Issues: Young People Face Harsh Realities on the Street

 

In addition to physical health problems, homeless youth stand at a great risk for substance abuse and mental health problems, yet less than one-third receives treatment (National Center on Family Homelessness, 2004).  In many cases substance abuse and mental illness are co-occurring disorders.  It is well established that both substance abuse and mental illness commonly occur in the general homeless population:

 

  • Thirty-eight percent report alcohol use problems.
  • Twenty-six percent report other drug use problems.
  • Thirty-nine percent report some form of mental health problem, and 20 to 25 percent meet criteria for serious mental illnesses.
  • Sixty-six percent report substance use and/or mental health problems.
  • Amongst runaway youths, 50 percent had used alcohol and 40 percent had used illicit drugs in 2002 (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2004). 

(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003)

 

Because homeless children are far more likely to come from backgrounds of mental illness and substance abuse, they are predisposed to suffer from mental health and substance abuse problems themselves (Karr, 2003) and in fact experience more mental health problems than domiciled children (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2001c).  The stresses of homeless life and increased likelihood of victimization also makes mental health and substance abuse problems more likely among homeless youth than their housed peers. 

 

One major federal study found that once on the street, runaway, throwaway, and homeless youth had trouble meeting basic needs and faced a violent environment and other threats to their well-being. Their bleak circumstances appear to lead many of them to use substances as a way of escaping the pain of their situation:

 

  • Difficulty meeting basic needs: One-third of the youth surveyed through the shelter sample and two-thirds of those surveyed through the street sample reported having problems meeting basic needs while away from home, such as for food, clothing, shelter, or medical care. Adolescence can be a challenging time even for young people growing up in stable, supportive environments. Many young people on the street, however, come from homes in which they have not been given support and encouragement, let alone assistance in developing the life skills necessary to gradually move to independence. On the contrary, many have been physically, sexually, or emotionally abused and neglected.

    Once on the street, young people lack support and guidance in dealing with the negative, such as feelings resulting from their family experiences and difficulty in obtaining and retaining a job. With no source of income, many cannot obtain basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter.

  • Substance abuse: The household survey found that the likelihood of substance abuse was higher among youth with runaway experience than among youth without this experience. Youth with runaway experience, for example, were 6 times as likely as youth without such experience to have used marijuana and 35 times as likely to have used cocaine.

    Youth in the shelter and street surveys also reported high rates of substance abuse both before and after leaving home. The results showed, however, that rates of substance abuse rose after youth left home. In the shelter component, for example, use of marijuana rose from about 24 percent in the 30 days before the young person left home to about 39 percent after leaving. Use of hallucinogens rose from 5 percent before leaving to 11 percent after leaving.

    The researchers also found an association between youth substance abuse and suicidal behavior. Youth in the shelter sample who used sedatives, for example, were six times as likely as those who did not to have ever attempted suicide.

    Further, substance abuse among these young people also appears to be a way of withstanding the severe hardships they face both at home and on the street. Researchers asked youth in the shelter and street samples who either had used substances since leaving home or had done so within the 30 days before leaving home about their reasons for doing so. The leading reasons they gave were to forget or to cope with their problems, especially family problems, and to stop feeling sad or depressed. These data led the research team to believe that these young people are using drugs at least in part as an analgesic.

  • Victimization: The results of the shelter and street surveys also showed a generally strong relationship between youth substance use and the likelihood that the young person had been physically or sexually victimized while on the street. The research team noted that young people on the street are easily taken advantage of by adults andtheir substance abuse may make them even more vulnerable or may be a result of having been victimized.

    On the street, youth also are vulnerable to other kinds of exploitation. The study showed that one-third of youth in the street sample had been robbed or assaulted or both, with about one-sixth of youth in the shelter sample reporting robbery or assault or both. The findings paint a picture of a climate of violence on the street that puts these young people at risk of becoming the victims or the perpetrators of violence, or both.

  • Delinquency: In that context, the study's findings regarding youth involvement in delinquency are easier to understand. The study found, for example, that about one-half of the shelter sample and two-thirds of the street sample reported carrying a weapon. Two-thirds of the shelter sample and four-fifths of the street sample reported having attempted or committed a theft-related activity. About one-tenth of the shelter sample and one-fourth of the street sample reported committing a violent act involving a weapon.

    Such a finding would be expected among this population of young people, many of whom have been exposed to violence in a variety of settings and are struggling to survive in a demanding environment. Many of these youth grow up in home environments in which parents have used violence against them or another family member. Some are driven to acts of violence to obtain money for food and shelter. They also may look for security and companionship by joining a gang, which puts them at high risk for violence and delinquency. Their vulnerability to exploitation by adults may make them more prone to resort to violence to protect themselves.

    The researchers cautioned that further validation of these results is needed since some of these young people may have felt they needed to posture for interviewers on issues of violence to create the image of invulnerability so necessary to street survival. Further research is needed on the extent to which this is true and the contexts in which these young people commit acts of violence.

  • Unprotected sexual activity: Two-fifths of females in the shelter sample and one-half of females in the street sample reported having been pregnant at least once in their lives, and one-tenth in both samples were pregnant at the time of the interview. In the household sample, 13 percent of males with any runaway experience reported having gotten a female pregnant, compared with 2 percent of males without a runaway experience. These findings confirmed the higher incidence of pregnancy and the larger number of young mothers that FYSB-funded shelters have reported seeing for the last several years among the runaway, throwaway, and homeless youth population.

  • Underutilization of Critical Services

The conditions on the street make it unlikely that runaway, throwaway, and homeless young people will successfully make the transition to adulthood without support and services. The study found, however, that many of these young people do not have access to, or are not utilizing, such assistance, with the exception of health care services:

o        Substance abuse treatment: Relatively few of the young people surveyed through the shelter component (18 percent) and the street component (24 percent) had ever received treatment for substance abuse. The results of the shelter survey showed that youth from families who did not receive public aid were more likely to have received treatment. The research team noted that these youth may have had greater access to treatment because their families had private health insurance.

o        Shelter services: The research team also asked about young people's use of emergency youth shelters. The survey of shelter directors found that on any given night, 55 percent of shelter beds were occupied. According to the researchers, this occupancy rate is to be expected since use of shelters fluctuates by season and day of the week. In addition, the short-term nature of shelter services makes it essential that there be empty beds to ensure that space is always available. Young people may stay in shelters for one night or for up to 2 weeks, depending upon when they can be reunited with their families or placed in appropriate alternative living situations. Shelters must have enough beds to allow them to accommodate all young people during peak times.

The study also found that 56 percent of youth in the street sample had never used a youth shelter. In addition, 75 percent of the household sample who had runaway experience and had stayed in one of the researchers' specified locations in the last 12 months had not used a youth or adult shelter[1].

 

The likely reason for these findings is that young people's previous experiences in institutional settings, as well as the strong bonds that they forge on the street in order to survive, can affect their willingness to enter shelters. Long-time street youth who have never utilized shelters may be anxious about entering them for the first time.

 

Indeed, the study found that youth who had spent time in shelters (those in the shelter sample) generally had positive opinions about them. Nearly 87 percent said that shelters could "help kids like me figure out what to do with their lives." Only 11 percent of this group perceived shelters as dangerous, and only 7 percent saw them as too religious. About 37 percent, however, viewed shelters as too restrictive of their independence. This last statistic may be attributable in large measure to the lack of healthy structure experienced by youth who come from situations of abuse and neglect, who have lived on the street for some time, or both. As a result, these young people may view as restrictive the interventions employed by shelter staff to assist them in resolving crucial issues.

 

Opinions were more mixed among youth in the street sample. A total of 61 percent said that shelters could "help kids like me figure out what to do with their lives." About 34 percent perceived shelters as dangerous, about 35 percent saw them as too restrictive of their independence, and about 20 percent saw them as too religious. Such views would be expected since the study found that more than half of the youth in the street sample had never spent time in a shelter.

 

A study by the Center for Law and Social Policy and the National Network for Youth (2001) found that homeless young parents who are receiving services through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) found that while the program does provide help to homeless young parents, there are some problems:

 

  • Most homeless parenting youth would likely meet the basic eligibility requirements to receive TANF benefits. In fact, 84 percent of homeless parenting youth surveyed who applied were eligible.
  • However, many homeless youth did not even know they might be eli­gible to receive welfare assistance. Fully one-half of homeless youth sur­veyed who had never applied for TANF did not even know about the program. And, less than 40 percent of survey respondents reported receiving TANF assistance at the time of the survey.

  • Even when homeless youth know about TANF, they have trouble accessing or keeping benefits. Fourteen of the 20 service providers sur­veyed said that the homeless parenting youth they served had problems access­ing TANF. Further, 36 percent of homeless parenting youth who had received TANF reported having been sanctioned or terminated from the program, although most thought they were complying with program rules.

  • The living arrangement rule may, in fact, be operating as a barrier to TANF services rather than as an opportunity to help provide homeless young parents with the resources to find safe housing. Thirty-one per­cent of TANF-receiving respondents who had been subject to the living arrangement rule reported that it actually put them in an unsafe situation.

 

 

Strategies of Runaway/Homeless Youth

While on the street, runaway and homeless youth adopt a number of strategies to survive, as shown in the following table:

 

Adolescent Reports of Ways of Getting Money While on His/Her Own

Total

Male

Female

Means for Getting Money

( N = 602)

( N = 241)

( N = 361)

Allowance

28.2

25.3

30.2

Asking parents, relatives, or caretakers

46.7

47.7

46.0

Borrowing

49.0

50.6

47.9

Regular employment

29.2

30.7

28.3

Chores/odd jobs

46.0

53.5

41.0

Welfare or public assistance

9.5

7.5

10.8

State vouchers

5.5

7.1

4.4

Social Security

5.5

6.2

5.0

Panhandling or spainging *

16.4

23.2

11.9

Took money or something else from someone *

22.6

32.8

15.8

Broke in and took things from a store, house, etc.*

14.0

25.3

6.4

Prostitution

2.3

2.5

2.2

Ever sold drugs to get money *

30.4

48.1

18.6

Proportions significantly different for males versus females (p < .05 for Chi-Square

Contingency Table Test).

Source: Whitbeck, 1999

Typical Program Goals

This goals section has been removed.  In the full document it describes the kind of language you should put in your proposal for your program goals/objectives.  Some goals are mandated by the federal government; other goals are typical for programs that get funded in this area and that work.

Typical Program Strategies

 

The program strategies section has been removed.  In the full document it describes the kinds of runaway and homeless youth intervention strategies that research says will work and that federal agencies funding abstinence like to see.  You can use these strategies to help you design your own program.

 
Sample Logic Model for a Runaway & Homeless Youth Program

 

Note: A logic model will help you demonstrate exactly how all the elements of your program fit together.  Some RFPs require it, others don’t, but it is almost always a good idea to include one.  Many of our program design guides include one or two sample logic models to prime your thinking.   You will see other logic models in the funded proposals we give you.

 

 

GOALS

RESOURCES

ACTIVITIES

1st Year OUTCOMES

Access to primary health care for runaway and homeless youth

 

Access to 24-hour emergency care for runaway and homeless youth

 

Access to mental health treatment for runaway and homeless youth

 

Access to substance abuse treatment for runaway and homeless youth

Public agencies

 

Non-profit agencies

 

Tribal agencies

 

Faith based organizations

 

Community based organizations

 

Mental Health                        

Facilities

 

Substance Abuse     Centers   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Establish and maintain health care center 

 

Provide basic health and substance abuse services

 

Modernize or expand existing health care facility

 

Replace existing health care facility

 

Implementation of a resource and referral program within community services

 

Acquire adequate equipment

 

Provide transportation services

 

Provide informational and referral services

 

Campaign to Educate community on available resources

 

Train staff/volunteers in cultural competency

 

Establishing eligibility for assistance in obtaining services under entitlement programs.

Access to health care services

 

Access to substance abuse services

 

Access to mental health services

 

Improved health care services are available

 

Health care services are available to more children

 

Quality of services is improved; health care is utilized

 

Improve quality of health care services

 

Health care is utilized

 

Increase knowledge and understanding; health care is utilized

 

Provide services in a culturally & ethnically sensitive manner

Sample Logic Model for a Runaway and Homeless Youth Program

Note: A full logic model might have a 5th column for longer-term outcomes (the impact that the shorter-term outcomes is making on their lives), and/or a column for evaluation measures.  Your logic model will be much more specific and tailored to your specific chosen goals and outcomes, but this should at least give you some starting ideas.

 

Typical Program Evaluation Methods

 

The program evaluation section has been removed.  In the full document it describes the kinds of program evaluations you can do.   In addition, in the Rapid Proposal Center, we give you a complete primer on designing a good program evaluation and we point you to additional resources for each program area to help you decide on your evaluation design for that funding program.

 References

 

Section removed.

 

 

What to Do Next: Three Options

 

Are you thinking about developing and getting funding for a runaway and homeless youth program?  As you can see, this program design guide is pretty comprehensive, and will give you all the essentials of designing a program.  If you don’t cover these essentials in your proposal, it will not be funded, guaranteed (you’ll notice that runaway and homeless youth RFPs ask you to discuss these elements, and they are looking for very specific things to reassure them that you know what you are doing—and with our Guide, you will!). 

 

After you cover these essentials, you can then utilize your own creativity and the goals of your nonprofit or faith-based organization to go beyond the essentials to include additional elements.

 

You now have three options. 

 

Option One: Subscribe to the Rapid Proposal Center

Subscribe to the Rapid Proposal Center and get access to this guide and every other guide and resource we have.  This is by far the most cost-effective option you have.  We cover many different program areas and your subscription gives you access to all of them and the additional areas we are adding every month.

 

To subscribe to the Rapid Proposal Center on a quarterly basis and gain access to dozens of proposal resources, click here.  Remember, it’s risk free with our 100% money back guarantee.

 

Option Two: Rapid Proposal Toolkit for Runaway & Homeless Youth Programs

You can purchase a Toolkit for this area.  Each Toolkit includes:

 

1)      The full version of this Program Design Guide;

2)      One-year subscription to the Funding Opportunity Bulletin for this program area’

3)      One or more proposals that were funded by the federal government for this area;

4)      Outlines of all major programs offered by the government for this program area; and

5)      Links to additional resources

 

These tools—the tools we offer in the Rapid Proposal Toolkits for each grant area—will greatly speed your ability to write your proposal the next time the government or a foundation announces the availability of funds.

 

To purchase the Runaway and Homeless Youth Proposal Toolkit, click here.  Just $85.00

 

Option Three: Get This Guide Only For Free

You can request this guide for free.  Each nonprofit or faith-based organization can request one of our program design guides for free.   It’s our way of letting you explore what we are offering you and how valuable it will be for your fundraising efforts.

 

To “spend” your free trial option on the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program Design Guide, simply register with us and, in addition to the Guide, you'll also receive our free email newsletter called “Fundraising Strategies”.  We'll email you the Guide within 2 business days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

© 2004 Nonprofit Development Institute, Inc..  All rights reserved.  Permission is granted to utilize the information and text in this document solely for the fundraising and program development of the individual or organization which purchased access to this website.  Licensed consultants are granted permission to utilize this material with their clients.  See our Legal Notices and Licensing Information page for details.

 


[1] Described in the literature as: A youth or adult shelter, a public place (a bus station, for example), an abandoned building, outside, with someone they did not know because they had no place to stay, or in a subway or other underground public place.