The purpose of this grant is to provide life skills programs for homeless and unstably housed youth in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The primary goal is for target youth to increase the number of critical life skills they possess to become more self-sufficient. 

This project aims to provide life skills education (e.g., workforce prep, communication & conflict resolution) to homeless or unstably housed youth ages 12 to 22 years. Participants completed an adapted common measures pre-survey (workforce preparation) which resulted in them indicating a need to acquire more skills to be career ready. During this reporting period, 581 group and 76 one-on-one life skills lessons were provided. Staff worked with 566 youth and young adult participants at the 2 grants sites with 3979 contacts during the year. Youth were given an option to create a monthly personal development plan that outlined their self-sufficiency goals and steps to reach their goals. A total of 247 youth created development plans between both sites. Classes were taught by CYFAR staff, Shelter House staff, interns, volunteers, community partners, and youth. Topics included workplace readiness, goal setting, emotional regulation, gardening, healthy choices, safety, communication, money management, conflict resolution, teamwork, decision making, problem solving, stress and anger management, etc. Approximately 89% of the youth who participated in the Shelter House site have successfully returned home. At the Youth Development Center (YDC) site, 33 youth were assisted in completing job applications and 22 gained employment directly through the program. Eleven homeless young adults gained access to stable housing with the assistance of site staff. Two youth accepted referrals to a GED program and one obtained their GED. Eleven participants from the YDC site attended higher education classes. By the end of the reporting period, 35 of the 40 young adults still active at the YDC site were working or attending school.

Community collaborations were a focus during the grant year in an attempt to strengthen the sustainability plans for the program as well as integrate the youth into the community. The grant was written as a collaborative project between the Extension office and the YMCA Safe Place Services, two very prominent entities within the community. Additional collaborations have been formed and/or maintained with individual volunteers, Coalition for the Homeless, Kentuckiana Works, Wayside Christian Mission, the Salvation Army, Scholar House, True UP (life skills program for children in foster care system), ArtsReach, University of Louisville, YouthBuild, JobCorps, KMCC, UPS, White Castle, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Home of the Innocents, Kentucky Youth Career Center, Volunteers of America, LegalAid, Coalition for Supporting Young Adults, and more. These community collaborations have helped with life skills development for youth at both grant sites such as White Castle teaching youth how to apply and interview for employment, ArtsReach providing a grant for a series of writing workshops, and Kentucky Youth Career Center assisting youth with their education goals. A supportive job program element helped youth get connected with White Castle or Crowne Plaza. The young adults had opportunities to participate in local committees and volunteer at events. The continuation and expansion of community integration into this program will be a key goal for program success and sustainability in the future.

The program staff and participants continue to utilize 7 computers, 5 iPads, and a printer which are used for resume writing, job searches, applications, and life skill sessions. During the reporting period, specific educational apps and games were researched and incorporated into programming to teach life skills, especially money management. An LCD projector and screen are used frequently to integrate videos into life skills. The YDC grant site has a Facebook page with program and activity schedules as well as videos on everyday life skills.

The CYFAR grant programming is almost completely integrated into the ongoing operations and programming of the YMCA Safe Place Services at this point. The site coordinator is now a YMCA employee, made possible by subcontracts with YMCA Safe Place that were approved and implemented during the third year of the grant. This move was critical for integrating the CYFAR life skills programs into to basic program structure at the YMCA. When the grant ends, the YMCA plans to sustain CYFAR programming in collaboration with Jefferson County Extension and Coalition for the Homeless. Coalition for the Homeless is regularly being informed about the program and its impacts on the target audience and larger community. They have integrated the CYFAR program into their plan to end youth homelessness in Jefferson County. Furthermore, partnering coalitions and entities have been trained to understand the Youth Engagement and Support initiative in an effort to better reach out to homeless and unstably housed youth in their community. These partners intend to provide the support needed to guarantee the continued success of this program after funding ends in 2019. Efforts through the CYFAR project partnership were used to leverage/secure a $2 million grant for the city of Louisville that will support initiatives for homeless youth. Two additional grant proposals were written in 2018 to leverage CYFAR funds but neither grant was awarded. We hope to be able to resubmit these grant proposals in 2019.