The Youth Engagement Team (YET) is a program focused on supporting young people between the ages of 12-17 in King County who are experiencing or at imminent risk of homelessness. The YET is structured around four principles: housing first, youth led, strength based/trauma informed, and multi-disciplinary partnership to help young people obtain safe and secure housing. The organizations that make up the Youth Engagement Team are LCYC, YMCA of Greater Seattle (YMCA), and Friends of Youth. LCYC provides legal support to YET participants, covering issues such as protection orders, emancipations, obtaining legal documents, guardianships, and education access. The YMCA and Friends of Youth provide individual and family counseling or mediation and housing navigation services that include case management and rental subsidies.
In May of this year, an in-depth evaluation of the YET was released, which showed program outcomes over a period of 29 months and looked at the potential for replication in communities across the United States. The report was released by the YMCA and co-authored by ManChui Leung, PhD, MPH –Director of Learning and Impact, Daniel Guo, MPA –Independent Living Program Case Manager and Center for Young Adults Lead; and Michelle Stephens, MA –Lead Housing/Homelessness Case Manager.
The results of this report highlight the continued and increasing need for youth-driven support services, particularly for underserved populations such as Black, Native, and LGBTQIA+ youth. Often, disproportionately impacted groups are not given the opportunity to make informed decisions for themselves that align with their needs and goals, and the YET seeks to change this. The evaluation of the YET program showed that the combination of legal services, housing navigation, and counseling strengthened permanent housing outcomes.
The YET served 171 young people during the observation period for this report. As Black, Native, and LGBTQIA+ persons are disproportionately affected by homelessness in King County, it was expected that the YET would serve these populations heavily. 36% of YET participants identified as Black and 24% of YET participants identified as LGBTQIA+, but only 1% identified as Native, indicating that while the program is on track for serving Black and LGBTQIA+ youth, outreach to the Native community must be improved. Additionally, services for LGBTQIA+ youth must be more targeted – while there was no disparity in the final outcomes across race, ethnicity, gender, and trauma history, disparities were found for youth who identified as LGBTQIA+.
The final outcomes indicate that overall, the program is effective in assisting young people in securing housing. 81% of YET participants exited to safe and stable housing, with 50% reuniting with their families. Only 6% of YET participants returned to homelessness. This 6% consisted of 7 participants - 5 identified as Black, 1 as Latinx, and 1 as White, which highlights another area of racial disproportionality that the YET program is determined to improve.
LCYC is committed to our partnership through the YET and to serving communities that are most heavily impacted by barriers to housing stability. 67% of the youth served by the YET program enrolled in legal services support with LCYC, identifying the clear need for legal counsel to support stabilization.
The evaluation establishes that YET is providing a vital and impactful service and should be expanded. It is necessary to provide adequate funding to address the needs of LGBQTIA+, Black, and Native youth while supporting their self-sufficiency. The YET program has been effective in helping young people achieve permanent housing and improving their self-efficacy. With the support from donors, we can scale this model to support additional young people, ensuring that youth furthest away from opportunities are given access to stable housing. If you would like more information on supporting YET, please contact Emily Meltzer, emily@lcycwa.org.