A Nebraska Team is in Charge of a $1.3 Million Project to Improve Services for Homeless Kids
LINCOLN, Nebraska – A project to make a statewide network to help homeless kids is being led by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
The project is made possible by a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It will connect partner groups across the state, set up better ways to find youth in need and make it easier for them to get the help they need.
Co-principal scientists Jeff Chambers and Brittany Brakenhoff will be in charge of the project. They are leaders in the Center on Children, Families, and the Law, which is part of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“Being homeless has terrible effects that change people’s lives,” Chambers said. “Our ultimate goal is to have a system in place that makes sure Nebraskan youth who are homeless don’t have to deal with it again.”
Nebraska systems that worked with HUD’s Continuum of Care program helped over 1,600 kids who were homeless and in immediate danger last year. Over 400 of those teens, or 1 in 4, did not have a place to live and were living on the streets. Of those teens, 13% were 18 years old or younger.
Brakenhoff said, “They’re already a vulnerable group and go through a lot of trauma.” “So being homeless is an extra traumatic experience.”
Teens and young adults who are homeless often have problems in other areas of their lives, including their physical and mental health, school, social development, and general well-being. Another hard thing about the problem is that almost half of people will have it more than once.
“Being homeless before is the best way to tell if someone will be homeless again,” Chambers said. “No one should have to go through this kind of trauma.” We should do everything we can to stop and avoid that for everyone, but especially for young people, who are the future of our state and neighborhoods.
Seven Youth Action Boards will be made by the project team. These boards will include kids who have been homeless. The boards will help shape changes to Nebraska’s services that help people who are homeless. The Center on Children, Families, and the Law will help them with their job.
The work will also include making Nebraska’s organized entry system for the homeless better, looking into and keeping an eye on changes to the whole system, and studying the problems that young people and underserved groups face.
All of Nebraska’s programs that are in line with HUD’s Continuum of Care have worked together on a single grant application for the first time on this project. It’s also the first grant that lets the Winnebago and Ponca tribes work directly with the government.
“There are more homeless minority youth, including Native American youth, than there are of that race in the state’s population,” Chambers said. “These differences are part of the system problems that our Nebraska Youth Homeless System Improvement Partnership will try to fix.”
Along with the City of Lincoln, Threshold Continuums of Care, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Dakota County, the Nebraska Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, the Nebraska Department of Education, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, the State of Nebraska Juvenile Probation Services Division, Civic Nebraska, and Housing Innovations are all partners in the project.
The Nebraska Youth Homelessness System Improvement project will begin to be built this fall.
The grant adds to the study and help the Center on Children, Families, and the Law is giving across Nebraska to people who are homeless. More than $12 million in HUD Continuum of Care funds are being sent to the center for housing programs and support services. It is the main application for these funds.
The center helps the Nebraska Balance of State and City of Lincoln Continuum of Care with planning and study to make systems for helping the homeless better and get rid of the problem. For both groups, the center is the point of contact for homeless people and the method for managing information about them.