The Beat: Starting and Managing a Youth Program
Q. A young person who was staying in our emergency shelter for homeless youth recently passed away. We’ve offered counseling and support to youth. But our staff is still reeling and having trouble coping. How can we help them deal with their grief?
A. First, please accept our condolences. No matter the circumstances, the death of a young person is shocking and tragic.
You’re right to worry about your staff. When a client of a social services agency dies, it’s normal for staff members to go through waves of hurt, anger, depression, shock, denial and guilt, says Brandon Hunt, a professor who teaches human services at Pennsylvania State University. “Any of the ‘stages of grief’ are all normal reactions,” he says.
Youth workers dealing with a client’s death may also have “reactive behaviors,” he says...
Wouldn't it be nice to have one central source to find what works in education? The U.S. Department of Education thought so and created the What Works Clearinghouse. Staff reviewed thousands of studies on hundreds of education programs, products, practices and policies. They identified as many reliable sources as possible. Then, they organized them in a searchable online database. When you visit the clearinghouse website you can
- Use the Find What Works tool to search for interventions (educational programs, practices, or policies) that address academic achievement, dropout prevention, personal and social development, language development, reading and writing, and math and science.
- Search by topic, such as career readiness and college access, school choice, student behavior and special needs...
Hundreds of organizations around the country work hard every day to give shelter, food, counseling and support to young people who have run away or become homeless.
The Family and Youth Services Bureau funds many of those programs. It also provides a network of support services: a national hotline for runaway youth, a training and technical assistance center, and us—the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth.
Recently, FYSB’s network of support for runaway and homeless youth organizations worked together to help a young man cross borders and get back home. Read on to find out how.
Andy’s Story
“Andy” was a runaway youth, on his own in New York and yearning to reconnect with his family. Trouble was, they were in Mexico City, where Andy had grown up. He was undocumented and nervous that asking for help would lead to trouble with immigration officials.
Andy’s immigration status...
NCFY's new video series features seven youth workers from around the country, each sharing a time when they made a big difference in a young person's life.
Lynze Bolton works for First Chance/Y-CHOW in San Bernardino, CA. In his video, he remembers handing a business card to a young man who needed help. Before long, the young man had completely turned his life around.
The "When Did You Make the Biggest Difference in a Young Person's Life?" video series was shot in Portland, OR, during the 2011 National Runaway and Homeless Youth Family and Youth Services Bureau Grantee Conference in November. A complementary series titled "What's Your Most Meaningful Relationship?" features formerly homeless and foster young people talking about the most...
Tracking the impact of your program is critical, but it shouldn't take all your time. PerformWell, a new website from Urban Institute, Child Trends and Social Solutions, has measurement tools and suggestions to help human services professionals manage their programs' day-to-day performance. The site combines research-based findings and assessments with guidance from experts in the field to ensure that the advice is practical and easy to use. The site will help you:
- Identify specific outcomes and indicators for measuring how well your program works
- Find surveys and assessments that make sense for your program's focus (you can browse alphabetically, by outcome area or by program strategy)
- Improve...
There’s often a special connection between animals and their caretakers. Penny Ellison, who directs the Hand2Paw Foundation in Philadelphia, sees it every day. Hand2Paw empowers young adults from Covenant House Pennsylvania to volunteer in local animal shelters and help care for homeless pets.
Young people help feed the animals, exercise dogs, and stock food and water. Ellison says, “I’ve seen big guys, who say they don’t like cats, melt when they feed the baby kittens.”
Youth from Covenant House feel a certain kinship with the animals, because they too are homeless, she says, and harnessing that special bond can benefit both the young people and the animals they care...
NCFY's new video series features seven youth workers from around the country, each sharing a time when they made a big difference in a young person's life.
Shane Burroughs, from Valley Youth House in Allentown, PA, told the story of a teen mother who achieved newfound stability after staying at his organization's rapid re-housing program, which finds stable homes for homeless youth as quickly as possible.
The "When Did You Make the Biggest Difference in a Young Person's Life?" video series was shot in Portland, OR, during the 2011 National Runaway and Homeless Youth Family and Youth Services Bureau Grantee Conference in November. A complementary series titled "What's Your Most Meaningful Relationship?" features...
Poetry is powerful. Clinical psychologist Rebecca Chalmers sees that power whenever she uses poetry as a therapeutic tool.
“When young people share a poem they’ve written, and everyone says that it’s beautiful, that’s supporting who they are and how they’re able to intellectually and emotionally express themselves, and that feels so good,” says Chalmers, who practices in New York and has a Master of Fine Arts in poetry.
As a mode of expression, poetry is tailor-made for teens. “Poetry is very immediate and about the self and helps sort out ‘who I am’ in a way that speaks to them,” Chalmers says. And working on poetry with a group of other youth can feed teens’ need to relate, she says. “By the time they’ve written something and shared it with other group members and gotten that supportive feedback, they form such a bond.”
April is National Poetry Month, and what better...
The drawings have been shared, the essays have been read, and the Family and Youth Services Bureau has chosen the winners of the 2012 Mural Contest for Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs!
This year's entries came from across the country and were judged by a panel of six FYSB staff members and eight youth from grantee programs. Judges looked for creativity, youth input and uniqueness.
The competition was extremely close, but we are pleased to congratulate:
First Place Winner
Colorado Rural Collaborative Youth Leadership Team, Denver
Mural Contest Winner: Colorado Teens Take a Stand Against Homelessness
Second Place Winner
NCFY's new video series features seven youth workers from around the country, each sharing a time when they made a big difference in a young person's life.
Up first is Linda Mascarenas from Family and Youth Services in Stockton, CA. She talks about a teen mother who eventually became a paid employee of Mascarenas' youth program.
The "When Did You Make the Biggest Difference in a Young Person's Life?" video series was shot in Portland, OR, during the 2011 National Runaway and Homeless Youth Family and Youth Services Bureau Grantee Conference in November. A complementary series titled "What's Your Most Meaningful Relationship?" features formerly homeless young people talking about the most essential people in their lives.
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