This page provides resources and guidance around By Name List Scorecard questions 6A-B
Is 100% of your community’s geography covered by a documented and coordinated outreach system?
There are special considerations to make for rural communities as young people experiencing homelessness may be spread out over a wider geographic area with less access to resources that larger cities offer. Consider these strategies when conducting outreach in your community.
Resources:
Visibility
It is critical that your services are seen and known to the community so that people know to call you, because you can’t go to everyone. In rural communities, the most effective outreach is housing young people. When someone is housed, they tell their friends, and those young people know who to contact.
Actions to Consider:
Give youth and young adults the info broadly and directly:
Post materials near entrances to state and national parks, public restrooms, transportation hubs, gas stations, churches, libraries, etc.
Swag and merchandise with a central number to call to access services. This central number should have a clear and simple process for non-traditional providers and young people to know about and easily access.
Peer outreach that includes social media: TikToks on how to access services, the steps in the process, tenant rights, rights as a homeless student, etc.
Include one-pagers and materials in your local food bank box distributions.
Walla Walla OWWL App Example: A smartphone app with a comprehensive list of resources available in the community with maps and contact information.
Utilize community event outreach opportunities
Make yourself visible by participating in community events such as food distributions, syringe exchanges, job fairs, events at local parks, backpack drives, etc.
Build Connections with Mainstream & Ancillary Services
Actions to consider:
Put energy into supporting mainstream services to be more accessible to young people as they are likely the first point of contact.
Ensure that mainstream service providers are asking about housing status on applications and during conversations.
Establish clear and simple referral processes for partnering agencies.
Foster relationships with faith-based organizations and local places of worship.
Build connections with local mutual aid funds, tribes, LGBTQ student groups, and by-for organizations.
Simplify Access
Actions to consider:
Consider your translation services and needs. Provide materials in multiple languages and check to make sure that if a young person reaches out, they have a translator or staff member who speaks the same language on the other end to speak to.
Provide a variety of pathways for a young person to contact someone for services such as texting, Facebook messenger, virtual meetings, etc.
Conduct virtual or telephone-based Coordinated Entry Assessments.
Centralized and Multi-site Coordinated Entry Access points:
Walla Walla Example: Blue Mountain Action Council staff visit local shelters 1x a week to complete Coordinated Entry intakes and assessments.
Get creative about using non-HUD funding for diversion and prevention (OHY, Americorps, local faith-based funding, etc.)
Use OHY funds as an opportunity to bring important players into Coordinated Entry.
Coordinate Outreach Teams
Actions to Consider:
Coordinate outreach coverage across different organizations and populations. Outreach teams should start seeing each other as a team doing outreach for the system rather than for their agency alone. This will stretch limited human coverage resources further.
Deploy outreach staff by geography rather than by funding source, e.g., one staff does outreach and case management for a specific area to reduce transportation time/costs.
Outreach Mapping
Actions to consider:
Involve key stakeholders who are embedded in the community in your outreach mapping efforts:
Law enforcement, Local and National Park Service and rangers, Postal Service staff, and emergency medical responders are all uniquely positioned in the community to identify hotpots and encampments regularly.
Ask young people where hotspots exist, especially in the rural outlying areas such as train stations and stops, down by rivers, etc.
Yakima Example: Yakima used McKinney Vento Data to help identify that there was a remote school with 11% rate of McKinney Vento eligibility.
Ask your coach to facilitate a brainstorming session!