Chapin Hall launches 'Voices of Youth Count'
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago is launching Voices of Youth Count, a multi-year original research and policy effort designed to understand how many unaccompanied runaway youth and young people experiencing homelessness there are in the United States.
The effort also aims to create a clear and full picture of what it means to be young and without a permanent home in the Unite States, and find and widely share solutions to ending the problem.
Bryan Samuels, Chapin Hall's executive director, announced the national initiative at events linking Chapin Hall with partners across the country. "I have heard community leaders from San Francisco to Boston speaking with great concern of a rise in youth homelessness," he said in a statement. "But, these stories mask a troubling fact. There is no accurate estimate of the number of unaccompanied homeless and runaway youth. This work will remedy that."
Beginning in mid-2015 through 2017, Voices of Youth Count will engage approximately 25 nationally representative sitesincluding urban, rural and suburban communitiesin conducting youth counts, among other research activities. Efforts will be designed, coordinated and overseen by Chapin Hall in partnership with localities and service providers. Voices of Youth Count will also analyze existing data sets from schools, foster-care systems and human-service agencies.
Visit VoicesOfYouthCount.org .