A Way Home for Homeless Youth in America

We are excited to share with you today's announcement that Cleveland/Cuyahoga County has been selected as one of three communities across the country to launch a 100-Day Challenge to end youth homelessness. The announcement was made by A Way Home America, a national initiative to build momentum toward preventing and ending homelessness among young people.

100-Day Challenges in Cuyahoga County, Austin and Los Angeles will foster ambitious and innovative approaches to support youth facing homelessness. Each community will be supported in the journey by the Rapid Results Institute, a non-profit organization that works with government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and communities to rapidly innovate and test new approaches.

The Cuyahoga County 100-Day Challenge will be led and facilitated by A Place 4 Me - an initiative that works to ensure every young person in our community has a safe and stable place to call home. The challenge will build on our community's coordinated strategic plan to prevent and end youth homelessness and will focus on developing and implementing partnerships to support the housing stability of youth transitioning from the foster care system.

As a key community stakeholder, here's what we want you to know:

  • A 10 to 12 member community team will be assembled to set an ambitious 100 Day goal to be pursued through intensive collaboration and innovation, with technical assistance by the Rapid Results Institute.
  • The 100-Day Challenge will kick off at a Launch Workshop in Austin on September 7th and 8th.
  • The first day of the 100-Day Challenge will be September 9th.
  • You can expect regular - at least monthly - updates on the progress of the 100-Day Challenge and opportunities for your participation.
  • Learning from each community to inform national dialogue and policy to end youth homelessness is a critical component of the 100-Day Challenge. If you are interested, you can sign up to follow the three communities' 100-Day journeys at  www.awayhomeamerica.org.
  • There will be a mid-point review at around Day 50 of the journey.
  • The 100-Day Challenge will wrap up in mid-December with a sustainability review.
  • Our community will celebrate our successes and lessons learned at a stakeholder convening on youth homelessness in January 2017.

We look forward to learning alongside our colleagues in Austin and Los Angeles and with each of you to demonstrate promising approaches to preventing and ending youth homelessness. Most especially, we are grateful for your partnership as we work toward our shared vision of a community where all young people have a safe and stable place to call home.

Please be in touch with your thoughts and feedback:

Kate Lodge, project director, A Place for Me at the YWCA

Angela D'Orazio, program officer, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland

About A Place 4 Me (Cleveland/Cuyahoga County)

A Place 4 Me is a cross-sector initiative that harnesses the strengths and resources of its partners to prevent and end homelessness among young adults age 15 to 24 in Cleveland/Cuyahoga County. A Place 4 Me is a collaboration of the YWCA Greater Cleveland; Cuyahoga County Department of Health and Human Services, including the Division of Children and Family Services and the Office of Homeless Services; FrontLine Service; the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation; and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland.

From Press Announcement issued by the Sisters of Charity Foundation

Chris Knestrick