1. Family and Youth Services Bureau Update Safe Place Webinar March 17, 2011
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3. Where FYSB Fits Administration on Children, Youth and Families Research & Demonstration Family and Youth Services Bureau Runaway & Homeless Youth Family Violence Prevention Teen Pregnancy Prevention Mentoring Children of Prisoners Administration for Children and Families U.S. Department of Health & Human Services FOCUS AREAS
Welcome everyone. I’m [your name]. I’m here to introduce you to the Family and Youth Services Bureau (or as we call it, FYSB) and explain a little bit about how it makes a difference in the lives of young people and their families. I’ll be going through this pretty quickly, so please interrupt me at any time if you have questions, or if you’d like me to elaborate.
Our mission is to provide national leadership on youth and family issues. The Bureau promotes positive outcomes for children, youth, and families by supporting a wide range of comprehensive services and collaborations at the local, Tribal, State, and national levels.
Let me give you an idea of where FYSB fits within the Federal government. FYSB is in the Department of Health and Human Services under the Administration on Children, Youth and Families within the Administration for Children and Families. Our Acting Associate Commissioner is Debbie Powell.
FYSB has five major sets of programs and initiatives, which provide funding and support to: Family Violence Prevention and Services Mentoring for Children of Prisoners Runaway and Homeless Youth Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Abstinence Education Finally, Research and Demonstration Initiatives support all of FYSB’s programs.
I oversee the Division of Youth Services, which includes the Mentoring Children of Prisoners and Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs.
I’ll start with the Mentoring Children of Prisoners Program.
Congress established the Mentoring Children of Prisoners Program in 2001. Though we’d like to see all youth have mentors, we think mentoring is important for children of incarcerated parents in particular because they are 7 times more likely than other children to be incarcerated later in life. Grants are for 3 years. We will distribute just shy of $46 million funding this fiscal year [2011], both to organizations with new grants and those with continuing grants.
FYSB’s Mentoring Children of Prisoners support network provides the latest resources and information to grantees and the general public.
The Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs.
Serving runaway and homeless youth is one of the oldest parts of FYSB’s mission. So we’re very honored to be working very closely with the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness on the Federal government’s efforts to prevent and end homelessness. Last year, the Council unveiled the United States’ first-ever comprehensive strategy to deal with homelessness. Among the plan’s four overarching goals is preventing and ending homelessness for families, youth and children in 10 years. To achieve that goal, the federal government will work toward several objectives, including advancing health and housing stability for youth aging out of systems such as foster care and juvenile justice. The strategy also aims to improve coordination and collaboration among federal agencies. You can learn more at http://www.usich.gov/.
There are three Runaway and Homeless Youth programs, all established under the 1974 Runaway Youth Act, or its amendments. The Basic Center Program was first, established under the original Act. The Transitional Living Program came along in 1988. And the Street Outreach Program followed in 1994. In FY 11, we’ll distribute about $104 million in funding to new and continuing grantees. I’ll talk more about each program and break down the funding.
The Basic Center Program offers an array of services that address the immediate needs of runaway and homeless youth under age 18, including shelter, food, clothing, counseling, etc. Basic Centers are tasked with reuniting youth with their families whenever possible. In FY 11 we’ll distribute $48.4 million to new and continuing grantees.
The Transitional Living Program provides longer-term residential services to homeless youth, ages 16-22, who are not able to return to their families for whatever reason. Services focus on giving youth the skills to live as independent, self-supporting adults. In FY 11 we’ll distribute almost $40 million to continuing grantees. There will be no new TLP competition until next year.
Funding for TLP includes the Maternity Group Home Program, which provides TLP services to homeless pregnant and parenting youth, ages 16-22, and their dependent children. Services focus on giving young people the skills to raise their children safely and effectively.
The third RHY program sends youth service providers into the streets to assist youth who have been subjected to, or are at risk of, sexual exploitation and abuse. The service providers focus on getting young people off the streets and into safe places. In FY 11 we’ll distribute a little over $16 million to new and continuing grantees.
FYSB has set up a Runaway and Homeless Youth support network to provide the latest resources and information to grantees and the general public. This includes: Training and technical assistance centers, that offer guidance to grantees in running and improving their programs The National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth serves the general public and grantees by collecting and making available information about PYD and youth issues, as well as developing and disseminating outreach materials The National Runaway Switchboard, at 1-800-RUNAWAY, is a confidential, 24-hour, toll-free hotline serving runaway youth, youth who are thinking about running away and their families, and other concerned adults
FYSB currently has three demonstration projects related to runaway and homeless youth. In the first, six States are exploring ways to increase the support network for young people in rural areas who are aging out of transitional living or independent living programs.
The second effort also involves expanding services for rural homeless youth. In this case, 19 grantees are exploring how to implement a host home model in rural areas that don’t have access to a basic center shelter.
In the third program, we’ve also tasked 11 existing SOP grantees with helping us improve the quality and quantity of the information we collect about street youth and the services they receive.
We are doing business as usual and will know more tomorrow.
In addition to inviting you to apply for funding, I want to let you know that we’ll need qualified people to review the applications for each of our open funding opportunities. Grant reviewers with experience in the field are always in high demand, and it’s a great professional development experience. So, if you’re not applying for a grant this year, and you haven’t applied to be a reviewer already, I encourage you to do so.
The President’s budget for 2012 provides the same funding levels for our Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs as they are receiving in 2011, with a $5 million boost for the BCP program—which I’ll talk about in a minute. (Note that dollars in the table are for grants programs plus administrative costs.) The President’s budget proposes cutting the MCP program, from a total (including administrative costs) of $49 million in 2011 to $25 million in 2012. That’s not because the Administration doesn’t value mentoring as a youth development tool, but rather because this particular program is not seen to have demonstrated its effectiveness, and because other Federal programs to mentor young people in at-risk situations do exist.
Commercial sexual exploitation disproportionately affects runaway and homeless youth. But the problem isn’t well understood among social service agencies, law enforcement agencies, and the justice system. A new HHS initiative will provide funding to BCPs to train not only their own staff, but others in their communities who come into contact with these young people.
FYSB and HUD are working to align some of the data elements so reporting can be transferred between our systems.
Or I’d be happy to answer any questions that you may have…
Thank you for your attention! For more information on FYSB and its programs, you can contact the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth or visit ncfy.acf.hhs.gov.
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