Predicting Repeated and Persistent Family Homelessness: Do Families’ Characteristics and Experiences Matter

Record Description
This Homeless Families Research Brief by Abt Associates highlights the Family Options Study, which surveyed homeless families living in shelters with their children. The study found that family characteristics and experiences that predict another episode of homelessness after a shelter stay seldom predict doubling up with another household. Another finding was that while physical, emotional, and mental health conditions are prevalent in chronic homelessness for single adults, they seem less related to repeated homelessness for families with children.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-08-31T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/resource/predicting-repeated-and-persistent-family…
Publication Date
2018-09-01
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)

Lessons from the Implementation of Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP)

Record Description
An MDRC infographic provides initial findings of the Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP) initiative, which targets youth ages 15-25 who have been involved in the child welfare and justice systems, or who are homeless. The infographic identifies components of two established national programs – Jobs for America’s Graduates and the Jobs for the Future Back on Track – and the LEAP enhancements for case management and training that are offered locally to support youth in employment and postsecondary educational opportunities.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-08-31T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.mdrc.org/publication/lessons-implementation-learn-and-earn-achieve-…
Publication Date
2018-09-01
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)

ACF Family Room Blog: Defining and Counting Youth Homelessness

Record Description
This blog post from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discusses the challenges of determining the scope of youth homelessness due to the lack of consistent methodology for defining and counting homeless youth. The post illustrates ways that estimates have been attempted and how this research is shared. It also provides links to resources available from the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) to address this issue, including a national hotline.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-11-19T19:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/blog/2018/11/defining-and-counting-youth-homelessness
Publication Date
2018-11-20
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)

Responding to the Employment and Training Needs of SNAP Participants Experiencing Homelessness and Housing Instability

Record Description
This U.S. Department of Agriculture policy brief outlines the employment and training barriers faced by SNAP participants experiencing homelessness or housing instability. The brief also illustrates models of effective employment and training services supported by SNAP programming. Other discussion centers on how SNAP E&T programs can work in partnership with public housing and homeless assistance programs, citing collaboration between Massachusetts’ SNAP Path to Work and the Secure Jobs Program as an example.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-07-31T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://snaptoskills.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2018-08/Brief9_July2018_F…
Publication Date
2018-08-01
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)

Meeting the Needs of Families with Young Children Experiencing Homelessness Fact Sheets

Record Description
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness will begin to issue a set of six fact sheets through its blog “Home, Together” to bridge a connection between early care and education providers and housing and homelessness services providers. The fact sheets intend to support a whole-family approach that addresses the needs and strengths of parents and children experiencing homelessness. The sheets also strive to improve the integration of early childhood homelessness data into a broader community-wide planning strategy that seeks to make homelessness a brief and one-time occurrence.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-11-27T19:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.usich.gov/tools-for-action/meeting-the-needs-of-families-with-young…
Publication Date
2018-11-28
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)
Innovative Programs

Connections to Success

Mission/Goal of Program

Originally founded in 1998 as Dress for Success Midwest, Connections to Success is a nonprofit organization serving Kansas, Missouri and Illinois that empowers individuals in their transformation to economic stability. As an OFA Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education grantee, CTS provides workforce training, life coaching, relationship education, and intergenerational support to low-resourced individuals and families.

Their mission is to break the cycle of generational poverty by helping people living in challenging situations re-establish hope, get connected with needed resources and implement a plan to reach economic independence.

Programs/Services Offered

Connections to Success (CTS) uses a holistic, evidence-based model to help individuals and families gain social capital and achieve economic independence. The organization’s approach is intergenerational, focused on improving outcomes for both parents and their children through programming and collaborations with other service providers. CTS’s model integrates training opportunities, life transformation coaching, support services and job development to equip participants for long-term success. CTS offers ongoing support to foster continued growth and career advancement. Through its holistic Pathways to Success model, CTS targets families impacted by generational poverty, incarceration, and unemployment. The model includes a Personal and Professional Development workforce training and focuses on healthy relationships, parenting, employment services, life coaching, education and skills training, volunteer engagement, and mentoring.

Interagency collaboration has been key to the program’s success. By having multiple partners involved, the team has been able to help remove barriers many individuals coming out of prison face. For example, the team helped enroll the men in SNAP, secure housing, and meet with Child Support and Probation and Parole. Additionally, employers participated in mock interviews and representatives from an apprenticeship program shared opportunities. CTS also provided new suits to each of the men, and many received job offers.

CTS focuses on intergenerational impact to ensure outcomes extend beyond the immediate future and empower the next generation. Of CTS program graduates, 74% become employed and 70% retain employment at nine months following initial employment. Additionally, 82% of those employed received earnings increase within six months of employment. CTS participants involved in the organization’s reentry programs have experienced a 14% recidivism in 12 months after release from incarceration, and for those who also participated in their mentoring program, the recidivism rate is only 8% (compared to the national average of 44%). 

Start Date
Thursday, January 1, 1998
Type of Agency/Organization
Community-Based Organization
City
St. Charles
State
Illinois
Kansas
Missouri
Geographic Reach
Multistate
Clientele/Population Served
Low-income individuals and families transitioning from generational poverty, incarceration, domestic violence and other challenging and disadvantaged situations
Topics/Subtopics
Employment
Assessment
Job Readiness
Mentoring
Supportive Services
Post-employment Supports
Special Populations
Homeless Families
Incarcerated and Individuals with a Criminal Record
URL
https://connectionstosuccess.org/

Systems Work Better Together: Strengthening Public Workforce & Homeless Service Systems Collaboration

Record Description
This paper from the Heartland Alliance focuses on collaborations between the workforce system and homeless services system to best meet the needs of individuals who are homeless or unstably housed who access the workforce system. It specifies common barriers to collaboration between the two systems and offers suggestions for improving collaboration.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-03-29T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
http://nationalinitiatives.issuelab.org/resource/systems-work-better-together-s…
Publication Date
2018-03-30
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)

2018 Prevention Resource Guide

Record Description
This guide is a product of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau, its Child Welfare Information Gateway, and the FRIENDS (Family Resource Information, Education, and Network Development Service) National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention. It provides information, strategies, and resources to help communities support and strengthen families and ensure the well-being of children. The guide offers support to service providers who work with parents, caregivers, and children to prevent child maltreatment. It shares strategies on building protective factors within families and for children through service delivery and community partnerships. Protective factors discussed range from knowledge of child development to building social capital and parental resilience.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-03-31T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing/preventionmonth/
Publication Date
2018-04-01
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)

Transformational Relationships for Youth Success

Record Description
This brief by the Center for the Study of Social Policy and supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation is based on more than 80 interviews with organizations, their workers, and the youth that they support. The intent of the brief is to generate and share knowledge that is useful in dealing with youth that face serious challenges. Findings include that when youth face serious adversity, the relationship they establish with a worker is often incremental. The report looks at these “transitional relationships,” what workers actually do to forge successful relationships with the youth, and what their organizations do to create a culture for the workers to succeed. Interviewees for this report are between 16-25 years old and have faced serious challenges including child welfare involvement, substance abuse, and homelessness. Workers interviewed are leaders of organizations noted for their exemplary work and who have repeatedly formed bonds and relationships with such youth.
Record Type
Combined Date
2017-12-31T19:00:00
Source
OFA Initiatives
SFS Category
Region
City/County
URL
http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/cssp-transformationalrelationshipsforyouth-20…
Publication Date
2018-01-01
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)

Communities in Crisis, Local Responses to Behavioral Health Challenges

Record Description
In this report supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Manatt Health explores the opioid and mental health crises and how cities and counties are implementing local initiatives to address the human and economic impact of untreated serious mental illness and substance abuse disorders. The report profiles 13 local programs that address homelessness, criminal justice, and the frequent use of first responder and hospital emergency departments. It examines both the community impact and local response initiatives, paying particular attention to areas with gaps in treatment, such as the homeless community, and outlines success factors of these local programs.
Record Type
Combined Date
2017-10-01T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.manatt.com/getattachment/d6d946b3-536f-46f0-9c00-8cd88aea76aa/attac…
Publication Date
2017-10-02
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)