YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SCHOOL INTERVENTION
Youth homelessness doesn’t need to happen, and shouldn’t happen in a caring and prosperous society like ours.
A Way Home
WHAT CAN YOU DO IN 4 MINUTES?
Put pressure on the leaders in charge of your school boards!
WHY?
Schools are key to addressing youth homelessness because every young person who experiences homelessness was once in school, and likely in contact with an adult who knew something was wrong. – National Youth Homelessness Survey
HOW can you pressure your elected official?
Send this email
And / Or
Post this message on your social media and TAG your representative
MORE EVIDENCE
Stephen Gaetz, Bill O’Grady, Sean Kidd & Kaitlin Schwan. (2016). Without a Home: National Youth Homelessness Survey. Toronto: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press.
AwayHome – A Way Home Canada is a national coalition reimagining solutions to youth homelessness through transformations in policy, planning and practice.
The Homeless Hub – Why Do People Become Homeless?
WHAT?
Rather than focusing on preventing the problem or reducing the negative outcomes of youth homelessness, we are more likely to wait for a major rupture or crisis.
Ending homelessness means doing things differently, and not simply managing the problem through emergency services and supports such as shelters and soup kitchens – The Homeless Hub
GOAL
Prevent youth homelessness rather than address it after it has already become a crisis.
WHO?
6,000 young people experience homelessness EVERY NIGHT in Canada – A Way Home
SOLUTION
Mandate school boards to develop and implement strategies to work with community organizations on youth homelessness prevention and early intervention. – National Youth Homelessness Survey
Schools are the obvious place to focus on youth homelessness prevention.
Schools are key to addressing youth homelessness because every young person who experiences homelessness was once in school, and likely in contact with an adult who knew something was wrong.
– National Youth Homelessness Survey
ACT NOW PART #1
STEPS:
1. CHOOSE A CONTACT
Your province or state elected official determines how your school boards are run, so contact them and tell them you care about youth homelessness.
Google:
“My elected official [state/province] + the name of your city and neighbourhood”
2. COPY our written script below
3. PASTE the script into your email and send
COPY THIS SCRIPT
Dear [Name of your representative],
I care about youth homelessness in my country and my city.
I agree with the national coalition A Way Home when they state that:
“Youth homelessness doesn’t need to happen, and shouldn’t happen in a caring and prosperous society like ours.”
The National Youth Homelessness Survey identified the fact that schools are key to addressing youth homelessness because every young person who experiences homelessness was once in school, and likely in contact with an adult who knew something was wrong. Schools are the obvious place to focus on youth homelessness prevention.
The survey suggests that this can be accomplished by mandating school boards to develop and implement strategies to work with community organizations on youth homelessness prevention and early intervention.
As an elected official in my jurisdiction, with the power to vote on how our school boards are run, what are you doing to help schools address youth homelessness before it?
Thank you for helping to end youth homelessness,
[Your Name]
[Your City]
ACT NOW PART #2
SOCIAL MEDIA POST
1. COPY the below post
2. POST it on your social media
3. TAG your provincial or state leader
POST
To find them, Google:
“My elected official [state/province] + the name of your city and neighborhood”
Search their name on facebook/twitter/instagram and copy their handle
…
Use this Post:
Schools are the obvious place to focus on youth homelessness prevention because every young person who experiences homelessness was once in school, and likely in contact with an adult who knew something was wrong. – National Youth Homelessness Survey
@(Your Representative at the State/Province Level) what are you doing to help schools address youth homelessness before it becomes a crisis?
#BeTheGENTTA