Overview
Relevant ACI Output: Quality BNL in All Communities
Relevant ACI Strategy: Equity & Youth and Young Adult (YYA) Engagement
Problem You are Trying to Solve: Collecting feedback from youth and young adults in a culturally responsive way
Case Study: In organizations across Yakima, young people have been at the table for key decision-making. Community experts share what best practices were put in place to gather this feedback and how implementing this feedback has positively impacted the way that young people receive services.
Community Name: Yakima
Community experts: Lee Murdock (she/her), Director of the Homeless Network of Yakima County and Josh Jackson (he/him), Executive Director of Rod’s House and Core Team Lead
The Importance of YYA Feedback
Young people are the true experts when it comes to identifying what they need to end their experiences of homelessness. To gain this valuable input, communities need to bring young people to the table as they plan initiatives and programs. Washington state as a whole is at an exciting point in time when funding through the Office of Homeless Youth is flexible to serve young people in a variety of ways. To ensure this funding is used effectively, young people’s voices are crucial to implementing programs and initiatives that will have the greatest positive impact in their lives.
In Yakima, organizations like Rod’s House, Casey Family Programs, the Homeless Network of Yakima County (Network) and Catholic Charities are leading the way when it comes to collecting and implementing YYA feedback. These organizations strive to form partnerships with young people so that no initiative serving young people is implemented without taking young people’s input into account. The community has seen that these partnerships with young people are necessary to offer services that young people will use and benefit from.
Yakima’s Experience Collecting YYA Feedback
In 2017, the Network opened a new extreme weather shelter for young adults. To make sure the shelter served young people’s needs, they were involved in focus groups as leaders and decision-makers from the early planning stages.
Partnering with young people is an ongoing process, so during the first season the shelter was open, Network staff visited Rod’s House periodically to continue engaging young people and ensuring that trusting relationships were maintained over time. As the shelter continued into its second season, young people’s input continued to be crucial in adapting to the community’s needs. Shelter manager contact information was made available to all shelter guests to make sure guests had a way to communicate ongoing needs.
Throughout the process, the shelter received the following feedback and implemented the following changes to better serve young people:
Access to personal possessions: In the past, adult extreme winter weather shelters separated residents from their possessions when entering the shelter. Through focus groups, young people communicated that not having access to personal belongings during their stay would made them feel powerless. This “preventive” policy had the potential to erode trust between volunteers and young people and had only limited success in preventing undesired behaviors. The new young adult shelter relied on wanding young people off-site for weapons prior to entry and did not confiscate their possessions. Staff worked with young adults to develop policies and guidelines for inappropriate behavior along with the volunteers who staffed the shelter. This co-creation of policy gave young people the “dignity of failure,” trusting that they can be accountable for their actions with full knowledge of the consequences.
Power dynamics: At the previous shelter, volunteers were called “monitors” and young people were called “clients.” This structure reinforced power dynamics that took dignity away from young people. To create a more welcoming space, shelter volunteers are now called “hosts” and young people are called “guests.” Volunteer training prioritizes treating young people with the same respect and hospitality that hosts have towards guests, and a comprehensive policy manager ensures that service across hosts is consistent. To further balance the power structure, only the shelter manager now has the ability to enforce consequences, and a documented and consistent appeal process was put in place should the guests not agree with the decision.
Check-in time: Young people found that the previous shelter’s check-in time of 4 PM was too early. The check-in time was changed to 9 PM to give them time to go to work and live their lives.
Yakima’s Top Tips for Collecting Meaningful YYA Feedback
Transparency and honesty. When organizations request feedback, organizations must be prepared to actually make changes. At the same time, organizations should be direct with youth and young adults about what is possible, disclose any limitations and explain why they exist. For example, young people would have liked a later check-out time of 9 AM. Shelter staff explained this was not possible due to building access restrictions.
Listening. We all have our personal definition of success. When we ask young people for their input, our focus must be on their definition of success. If a young person says that what they need to succeed is a pair of work boots to get to work and earn the money to repair their car, then that needs to be the definition of success we’re helping them achieve. We should refrain from projecting our own version of success onto them.
Long-term partnership. Partnership involves building and maintaining real and genuine relationships. Consistency is key. Check in with young people regularly and keep them engaged so they can see their input being implemented and the impact of their work come to life. Real partnership means implementing changes together, and seeing that implementation helps young people to truly grasp the power of their voices.
Yakima’s Advice for Teams Getting Started with YYA Feedback
Understand the parameters. Start by having a clear understanding of what areas of your work have flexibility for change and which areas have limited or no flexibility. Then, start with areas where there is flexibility and focus on changes that young people know will make the greatest impact.
Meet people where they are. It is hard for anyone to ask for help, and young people who show up and ask for help every day are showing tremendous courage. The way young people show up in the room is informed by all the circumstances of their lives. We need to welcome them as they are and commend them for their courage.
Be aware of your personal biases. When a young person shares details about their struggles, we need to treat that young person with respect so they feel comfortable asking for help. Responding with pity or making them feel “other” for having different experiences than us strips them of their dignity. It is humiliating to be treated this way. Front line staff and volunteer training must teach strategies to appropriately respond to young people’s hardships and self care for staff and volunteers. This way, we can keep our personal biases from driving how we serve young people. This personal change must be paired with structural change to make an impact on systems that also hold bias.
The Key to Positive YYA Engagement Is...
Remembering that we are all human! Strategic planning from a 50,000 foot level is important, and we should continue to examine ways that we can transform systems. Personal experiences on the ground floor also matter, and that is why we need to seek feedback from young people who are showing up for support and the staff and volunteers who interact with them. We also need to invest in the frontline staff and volunteers, since the relationships they develop with young people are critical. When we approach these conversations, we should keep in mind that everyone involved is human. All humans have a need to feel safe and affirmed and to preserve their dignity, and these values should guide all of our interactions when we’re collecting YYA feedback.