Transitional Youth Project Holds Final Meeting

On Tuesday, July 24th, more than 30 people attended the fourth and final meeting of the Transitional Youth Project (TYP).  TYP is a collaborative effort of Voices for Ohio’s Children, the Alliance for Child Caring Service Providers, and the Mental Health Advocacy Coalition to advance the awareness of needs for transitional youth in Cuyahoga County.

The project identified the pressing issues for this population; inventoried the existing services and programs in the community; and created an action plan for appropriate next steps.  The TYP met three times for facilitated discussions about the needs of youth transitioning to adulthood from foster care as well as conducted a Youth Focus Group session with 25 youth in attendance.

During the final meeting, participants received an overview of the project’s findings from facilitator Marcy Levy Shankman and Gabriella Celeste.  Marcy and Gabriella shared the following conclusions regarding needs for this population: 

• Networking and Communications
• Information and Resources
• Direct Service Programs
• System Change and Policy Issues

Following this summary, Lisa Bottoms, Program Officer with the Cleveland Foundation shared some of the work in which the creation of the Youth Development Initiative (YDI) gathered for this particular issue.  The Youth Development Initiative has also landed on several projects that may intersect with the work defined by the TYP.  These areas include:  creating a community network for out-of-school programs; advocacy and policy change; create a youth employment continuum starting with exposing children to careers and career-mentoring opportunities as early as kindergarten; increasing and building capacity of organizations providing services; and a kindergarten welcome visit for every kindergartener.  The initiative will focus implementation efforts on these and many of other projects.   For more information, please contact Lisa Bottoms at (216) 615-7137 or lbottoms@clevefdn.org. 

Yvonne C. Hunnicutt introduced Kendall Raymore and Jeff Malloy, two youth who participated in the Youth Focus Group to share their perspectives on the Youth Space discussion.  The idea of the Youth Space will generate opportunities in which youth can network, communicate and access information, programs and services.  Kendall and Jeff shared some ideas that would be helpful in services and programs that the Youth Space could provide.  Some of these issues included but not limited to:  adult role models; help transitioning to independence; accessible, safe places to socialize and access recreational activities and healthcare and housing services.  The new Director of the Family and Children First Council, Robin Martin, shared the level involvement FCFC will add in the Youth Space option and increase participation of youth through the Youth Council.

Joan Englund and Amy Swanson outlined the following next steps for the policy and system change discussion. 

• Formalize a strategic alliance between Voices and the Mental Health Advocacy Coalition(MHAC) by identifying a leadership team from Voices and the MHAC to lead t his project;
• Hold facilitated discussions/retreat to develop a Transitional Youth Project workplan. These discussions, facilitated by consultant Marcy Levy Shankman who has facilitated our initial meetings, would include:
• building a multi-system policy agenda
• developing strategies and a timeline to build political and public will on this issue
• identifying values and guiding principles for the Transitional Youth Project as well as shared goals for youth transitioning to adulthood
• agreeing on governance and decision-making structures and practices for the Transitional Youth Project
• developing a plan to disseminate this policy and program agenda in strategic ways that will enable community advocates to educate elected and appointed officials about the policy and program needs of transitional youth;
• Continue building a matrix of services available to transitional youth, including an inventory of existing programs and funding;
• Plan and convene a community symposium on issues facing transitional youth, and preparing a summary report on the symposium to share with community stakeholders;  
• Monitor and track new projects for transitional youth, including a proposed one-stop youth center initiative by the Family and Children First Council;
• Develop a youth resource directory;
• Work with the proposed one-stop center to hold provider trainings on networking with transitional youth and developing peer-to-peer learning;
• Provide education, data, and advocacy networks that can answer the need of public policy makers, business and corporate leaders, the media, and families who need resources on transitional youth issues, policy and services;
• Maintain and increase a strategic presence and leadership in local and statewide partnerships, coalitions and ad hoc alliances working for community-based programs that address transitional youth needs in developmentally appropriate ways.

Marcy concluded the meeting with a call for participants to sign up for one or both of the workgroups – Youth Space or System/Policy Change.  For more information, please email Voices at info@vfc-oh.org.

To view the materials and meeting notes of the Transitional Youth Project, please view the Transitional Youth Project Wiki.