Working Together To Protect Our Youth - Eugene, Oregon

For some, the seeds of chronic, long-term homelessness are planted as early as during school. Every year the Eugene community is challenged with over 150 runaway youth and 300 unaccompanied homeless students who are struggling to stay connected to their school. These 450 youth reflect only a portion of the total school age youth suspected to be at-risk for facing homelessness before reaching the age of eighteen.

There is evidence that youth who become newly homeless face a critical fifteen day window to reach safety before their prospects for becoming chronically homeless skyrocket. The keys to disrupting this tragic cycle, within such a relatively short period of time, is the rapid identification and effective intervention of these youth. Exploration with key community members, providers and at risk youth validated concerns that the array of essential support services were fragmented and lacked the integration needed to reach their effectiveness potential.

A ‘15th Night’ concept emerged from a creative grass root effort and deeply concerned community that felt a focus on these highly vulnerable youth could deliver life changing results. It became apparent over time, despite the widespread interest and enthusiasm, that there were some significant and complex barriers to implementing changes that would require a unique approach to solve.

In May 2015, TCA was hired to help the Eugene community address these issues by providing an objective and strategic assessment of the needs of at-risk and homeless youth, their access to services and best opportunities for positive change. The challenge presented to TCA: create an approach that engages the entire community, leverages existing resources, utilizes an existing 501c3 and demonstrates measurable successful outcomes that are sustainable.

TCA implemented a collective impact approach that included a comprehensive assessment incorporating over fifty key stakeholder and opinion leader interviews, in addition to facilitating over a dozen group sessions. TCA concluded that there was an exceptional opportunity available to develop an innovative approach to service coordination, resource alignment and processes that required modest investment yet had the potential to significantly reduce homelessness for the community’s youth. The 15th Night Movement now engages the community through a collective impact approach with a broad cross-sector team of stakeholders, including a new youth advisory council, to implement strategies in support of unaccompanied homeless youth staying in school, safely housed and off the streets.

In late 2015, TCA delivered a 90-Day quick start implementation plan that provided detailed steps to recruiting teams and tactical work plans. Our engagement with the 15th Night continued throughout 2016 as we led them through the quick start phase, development and implementation of their first full year plan, development of a comprehensive 3-year strategic plan and 2017 operational plan. Megan has provided program management for the 15th Night Movement while overseeing the implementation of the operating plan and facilitating strategic leadership discussions.