Dr. Ashurst has been the national co-chair for the Youth Experiencing Homelessness National Subcommittee since Fall 2018. This is one of the 12 subcommittees of the  "Access, Equity and Belonging Committee" (AEBC), a national priority through USDA, National 4-H, and Extension Committee on Policy. Dr. Ashurst and Dr. Melissa Scheer at the University of Missouri co-chair the multi-state subcommittee, which included 

Extension personnel from 8 states that are conducting programming for youth who are experiencing or at high risk for experiencing homelessness. The subcommittee holds monthly virtual meetings to plan out multi-state efforts, share ideas, and provide support to one another. 

During the reporting year, the multi-state subcommittee utilized a fact sheet published in 2022 extensively (https://access-equity-belonging.extension.org/about/youth-experiencing-homelessness/). The fact sheet is publicly available and is for Extension staff to better able to reach out to and engage high poverty and unstably housed youth. 

They continued their collaborative work with the the Youth Experiencing Poverty subcommittee 

that began in spring 2021 to co-develop resources and trainings. The joint subcommittee represents 13 states. We had a joint meeting of the two subcommittees in September 2022 in Minneapolis where we wrote a proposal for the 2023 Youth At Risk National Conference, planned out a journal article, and planned out professional development offerings at the national level for 2023. The joint groups 

presented at 2 conferences during the reporting

period about their programming and how to effectively reach out to homeless and unstably housed youth through Extension programming. A joint workshop proposal for the 2023 NAE4HYDP conference was also written and submitted and has been accepted. Dr. Ashurst will co-facilitate this workshop in October 2023.

The joint committees are developing plans for a 2023 roll out of a training and reading list for the Extension System on recruiting and programming for youth living in poverty and homelessness. The YEH subcommittee will also begin to work with the Foster Care, Mental Health, and LGBTQ subcommittees on planning for 2024 and beyond.