Legislative Advocacy
Federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act Appropriations – Advocacy efforts to get full amount authorized in the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act of 2008 to fund Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) programs which includes outreach, shelter, and transitional housing
California SB 123: Runaway, Homeless, and Exploited Youth Act – Support for a cordinated statewide plan to address youth homelessness by defining the population, determining the service needs, identifying means to assess public investment in services for this population, and proposing a consistent revenue stream to meet the demand for housing and support services
California SB 119: Emergency Youth Shelter Facilities – Support for creating regulations specifically designed for emergency youth shelters in order to ensure consistent standards of care
California AB 1177: Interagency Council on Homelessness – Support for creation of a statewide council that would allow the state to use existing resources more effectively and efficiently, create stronger public-private and state-local government partnerships, attract more philanthropic and federal resources, and lead to greater transparency.
For additional information regarding advocacy for runaway and homeless youth please see our Resource Library.
Policy and Advocacy Initiatives
Advocacy is the way in which Larkin Street helps to ensure that at-risk and homeless youth have access to resources and the greatest opportunity to improve their lives. Advocacy works to secure and expand funding for needed services, as well as inform and influence development of sound policy. Given the broad range of direct services and the variety of programs at Larkin Street, the agency is in a unique position to impact systemic change by sharing with policy makers their knowledge about programs and services that work. We believe it is our responsibility to take a leadership role in addressing structural inequalities and ensuring that the most effective social and public policies are instituted. This is accomplished through regular participation in advocacy at a variety of levels:
- Community education to raise awareness of issues impacting runaway and homeless youth
- Participation in local, statewide and national policy-setting workgroups or boards to inform policy creation and funding allocations
- Legislative advocacy to inform elected officials about the potential impact of legislation on runaway and homeless youth
Larkin Street’s advocacy activities take a variety of forms:
Coalition Involvement – Participation on boards, committees, and taskforces
- Homeless Youth Capacity Building Project: A partnership between the John Burton Foundation and the California Coalition for Youth, the Project seeks to reduce homelessness among youth ages 16 to 24 in California by organizing homeless youth providers for advocacy and expanding organizational capacity of providers serving homeless youth. www.cahomelessyouth.org
- U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH): Provided input on the needs and effective strategies to prevent and end homelessness among youth to assist in the development of the Federal Strategic Plan. www.ich.gov
- National Council on Youth Policy: Policy arm of the National Network for Youth the primary national membership organization for runaway and homeless youth providers. www.nn4youth.org
- San Francisco TAY (Transitional Age Youth) Provider Network: A member organization of community-based agencies who work to ensure there is a comprehensive and coordinated service system for disconnected 16-24 year olds in San Francisco. www.taysf.org