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The Anchor Community Initiative Resource Hub is a collection of resources, tools and case studies to help you use data to end youth and young adult homelessness in your community.

Walla Walla is the 3rd community in the nation to complete the YYA Scorecard: Learn How They Said Yes to Each Question

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Question 1: Does your by-name list include all young people currently experiencing homelessness including:

A: Young people living on the streets or other places not meant for human habitation

We have a YET that does outreach to this population; have been building relationships with folks; points of first contact are connected to YET

B: Young people living in shelter, transitional housing or other time-limited settings

Programs are required to enroll these young people into HMIS; working on a customized looker report from Commerce to improve this

C: Young people living in unsafe or unstable situations (see “Key Terms”)

If they access services; YET team is getting referrals from schools, Triple Point, other sources; unstably housed young people can be included on the BNL

Question 2: Does your homelessness system have specific protocols for coordinating with other key systems to quickly and accurately identify young people within those systems who are experiencing homelessness (as defined in “Key Terms”), including: (In other words, are young people experiencing homelessness who are presenting to these systems quickly identified as such?)

A: Your child welfare system?

Engaged key DCYF staff and will continue to maintain relationships; established a referral process to the YET team; with youth's permission, Navigators will be invited to 17.5 meetings so young people know them; Have developed a process for coordinating with the Missing from Care Coordinator; DCYF will do ROIs as needed; coordinating with YET team to support young parents 24 and under who are DCYF involved but need housing

B: Local school districts?

WWPS is going to incorporate YET team info in annually MVL training; developed a referral process to connect young people to YET team (College Place, WWPS, WWSD); Have confirmed that they collect information on young people who are unaccompanied

C: Your juvenile justice system?

County level JJC screens for homelessness; using referral form to connect young people with the YET team; at state level, JR representative knows the referral process for connecting with the YET team

D: Inpatient behavioral health?

Is a no - need to meet with Waypoint

Question 3: Does your homelessness system have specific protocols in place for coordinating with other key systems to ensure that young people in those systems experiencing homelessness (as defined in “Key Terms”) are accounted for on your by-name list, including:

A: Your child welfare system?

Engaged key DCYF staff and will continue to maintain relationships; established a referral process to the YET team; with youth's permission, Navigators will be invited to 17.5 meetings so young people know them; Have developed a process for coordinating with the Missing from Care Coordinator; DCYF will do ROIs as needed; coordinating with YET team to support young parents 24 and under who are DCYF involved but need housing

B: Local school districts?

WWPS is going to incorporate YET team info in annually MVL training; developed a referral process to connect young people to YET team (College Place, WWPS, WWSD); Have confirmed that they collect information on young people who are unaccompanied

C: Your juvenile justice system?

County level JJC screens for homelessness; using referral form to connect young people with the YET team; at state level, JR Representative knows the referral process for connecting with the YET team

Question 4: Is your community able to track young people exiting the foster care system without stable housing and to ensure that those individuals are added to your by-name list if they are experiencing homelessness (as defined in “Key Terms”)?

YET team is connecting with young people at 17.5 meetings to start building relationships with young people as they transition; building relationship with person who oversees folks aging out of foster care and connecting with ILS provider **** youth feedback to DCYF needed

Question 5A: Is 100% of your community’s geography covered by a documented and coordinated outreach system?

Have a YET team; YET team met to strategize about how to reach everything; created an outreach plan by community and presentations used to reach out to systems and partners; have a monthly outreach meeting

Question 5B: Are young people with lived experience of homelessness involved in conducting your outreach and/or informing your outreach strategies and locations?

Held two focus groups of young people to identify outreach strategies, locations and ideas; two particular YYA help consult with YET team; have talked with Lincoln students about doing another focus group; plan for 2020 focus groups

Question 6A: Are there youth-specific access points where young people can seek housing and services and be added to your by-name list without having to present at an adult shelter or facility?

YET team; Youth specific CE staff at BMAC; Loft

Question 6B: Do you regularly collect feedback from young people experiencing homelessness to identify barriers to accessing your system and address them?

Focus groups!! Have a plan for more focus groups in 2020; did a youth feedback survey, got 21 responses; plan to review results in the Core Team

Question 6C: Does the feedback you receive from young people indicate that they are able to access your system in an environment or through a mechanism where they feel safe, respected and comfortable?

Focus groups indicated that young people were able to access the system in a comfortable and respectful way; YYA on core team haven't had great experiences **** going to add these questions to the survey so we can get some more clear information about it

Question 7: Does your community use a youth-specific assessment tool to determine homeless status, triage housing and service needs, and support prioritization based on youth-specific needs and vulnerabilities?

Young people are a prioritized population across the system

Question 8A: What percentage of federally or publicly funded providers (including CoC Program funded providers and RHY providers) serving unaccompanied youth report data into your by-name list?

Over 90% - they have to participate in HMIS!

Question 8B: What percentage of non-federally or publicly funded providers serving unaccompanied youth report data into your by-name list?

Christian Aid Center is the big one; YET team goes to CAC during meals about 1x per week to do enrollments

Question 8C: If you have at least 90% of providers reporting data into your by-name list regardless of funding source, which choice below best describes the approximate percentage of young people currently experiencing homelessness who are served by these providers?

Over 90% - they have to participate in HMIS! Christian Aid Center is the big one; YET team goes to CAC during meals about 1x per week to do enrollments

Question 9A: Has your community established a written inactivity policy that: Specifies the number of days of inactivity (i.e. period of time during which the young person cannot be located) after which a person’s status will be changed to “inactive” and do you continue to attempt to to locate the individual before they are moved to inactive status?

Yes: see Policies and Procedures document Sam wrote! 90 days; still working on the part of following up with individuals

Question 9B: Takes into account young people residing in institutions, who have been there 90 days or longer?

Yes: see Policies and Procedures document Sam wrote!

Question 10: Does your by-name list have a way to account for young people experiencing homelessness who have not consented to services and/or assessment?

Entered into HMIS as non-consenting; See Policies and Procedures

Question 11: Does your community have policies and protocols in place for keeping the youth section of your by-name list up to date and accurate, including timelines for data submission from providers and ongoing quality assurance protocol?

Yes: see Policies and Procedures document Sam wrote! Will improve with Case Conferencing

Question 12: Does your community have the necessary data sharing protocols in place to coordinate with systems and providers who may identify minor youth experiencing homelessness to allow data to be collected and shared for the purposes of resolving their homelessness?

Yes anyone 13+ can consent to HMIS in WA state!

Question 13A: Does your community collect race/ethnicity data from young people experiencing homelessness in a culturally appropriate and responsive way?

Trainings scheduled; Participating agencies ask these questions; practiced during PiT

Question 13B: Does your community collect data on LGBTQ+ status from young people experiencing homelessness in a culturally appropriate and responsive way?

SO is on the base screen of HMIS now; CE people are asking about sexual orientation and have a training with CCYJ scheduled for March 12

Sample improvement projects to reduce length of time, improve BNL integration, diversion and increase outflow

Pierce County Completed the YYA Scorecard in Feb 2020: Learn How They Said Yes to Each Question