Youth Homeless Services Improvement Grant

Eastern/Western PA CoCs YHSI Project Background

In spring 2024, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’ (HUD) issued notice for a new competitive grant program called the Youth Homelessness Systems Improvement (YHSI) Program. YHSI is designed to support selected communities in either improving an existing response system for youth homelessness or establishing and implementing a new youth homelessness response system.

In response to this opportunity, the Eastern and Western PA CoCs joined forces and submitted a collaborative application for a YHSI grant. The submitted project was created/designed by Advocates for Change (A4C) the CoCs’ joint Youth Action Board (YAB) – working with a designated YHSI Planning Team. The application was successful and the CoCs were awarded $1.4 million in YHSI grant funds to implement the proposed project! 

Eastern/Western PA CoCs YHSI Project Overview

The highlight of the Eastern/Western PA CoCs’ YHSI Project is the Peer-to-Partnership (P2P) Pilot Program designed to make youth homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring through the engagement of youth and young adults (YYA) with lived expertise of homelessness. The goal of the P2P Pilot is to meet communities where they are at and assist them in building effective systems to prevent and end youth homelessness. The P2P Pilot will bolster cross-system collaboration at the county-level and across the Eastern and Western PA CoCs using strategies that center Youth and Young Adults (YYA) voice and expertise. 

For the P2P Pilot, the CoCs will solicit/select 10 communities from across the CoCs’ geographies to participate in county-wide work. Through the P2P Pilot, YYA with lived experience/expertise of homelessness and housing instability will be hired and placed in each participating P2P Pilot Community with oversight provided by a P2P Project Manager. The P2P YYA will work with local service providers and representatives from various youth-serving systems to: 

• Identify the strengths and gaps of the county-level youth homelessness response system.
• Work collaboratively to create a county-wide plan for reducing youth homelessness and amplifying the current youth homelessness response system.
• Begin implementing the agreed upon plan within the P2P Pilot Community/County.

The Eastern/Western PA CoCs’ YHSI project also includes a range of additional activities that will support county-level and CoC-wide efforts to improve the homeless response system’s ability to effectively serve YYA:

• Data Matching: Cross-system data matches &/or data integration between different data systems (homeless response system, education, human services, etc.) will be conducted to better understand the various pathways into homelessness and support improved targeting of resources.
• Cross-systems Needs/Gaps Analysis: Data analysis focused on identifying system gaps/needs to inform the work of the P2P Pilot and CoC-wide planning.
• Equity Analysis and Training: A racial & gender equity analysis will assist the CoCs & P2P Pilot communities in identifying disparities and barriers that impact YYA experiencing homelessness/housing instability and inform cross-systems work. Related training materials will be developed & utilized in the Pilot Communities and across both CoCs.  
• P2P Pilot Program Evaluation: This evaluation will utilize qualitative & quantitative data to facilitate a meaningful evaluation of the P2P Pilot, from start to finish. The evaluation will be ongoing with continuous quality improvement methods used throughout to help improve implementation of the P2P Pilot.
• Coordinated Entry System (CES) Evaluations: Evaluation of each CoC’s CES will be conducted to determine improvements for better serving YYA, focusing on the four key elements of CES: identification, assessment, prioritization, & referral. The evaluation will look at how CES can better coordinate with other systems, including county-level systems, to improve YYA outcomes.

Eastern/Western PA CoCs YHSI Project Timeline & Implementation

The YHSI project will run for a total of 30 months, from 1/1/2025 to 6/30/2027, with the first six months designated for startup activities and the final 24 months for implementation of project activities.

To implement the YHSI project, the CoCs will need to issue solicitations to identify consultants and contractors to help advance specific project activities included in the CoCs’ project proposal, including program evaluation/continuous quality improvement, data matching, a needs/gaps analysis, an equity analysis, and training. All RFQs/RFPs or solicitations and updated information related to the Eastern and Western PA CoCs’ YHSI project will be posted on this webpage and shared via email.

Stay up to date with the YHSI project and other Eastern and Western PA CoC efforts by signing up to receive CoC emails: click here to sign up for Eastern PA CoC emails and click here to sign up for Western PA CoC emails.

Eastern/Western PA CoCs YHSI Project RFQs/RFPs

• RFQ for Peer-to-Partnership Pilot Program: Management Entity and P2P Pilot Communities
  • Description: The Eastern and Western PA CoCs are soliciting communities for participation in a county-level youth-focused systems coordination pilot program, called the Peer-to-Partnership (P2P) Pilot. The P2P Pilot Program will operate in 10 communities/counties across the CoCs’ combined geography. The P2P Pilot will include the placement of a paid youth and young adults (YYA) with lived experience/expertise of homelessness and housing instability in each participating P2P Pilot Community. The P2P YYA will work with service providers and representatives from various youth-serving systems in each selected P2P Pilot Community to:
    • Identify the strengths and gaps of the youth homelessness response system.
    • Work collaboratively to create a plan for reducing youth homelessness and amplifying the current youth homelessness response system.
    • Begin implementing the agreed upon plan within the pilot community.
  • Release date: anticipated by 11/21/2024
  • Due Date: 2/26/2025
  • Link: P2P Pilot Community RFQ
  • P2P One-Pager