Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program

The Alaska Balance of State was awarded the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) grant to the Alaska Coalition on Housing & Homelessness (AKCH2) in the fall of 2019, a key part in implementing this project was to create regional Youth Action Boards throughout the state of Alaska. The Mat-Su Youth Action Board (YAB) was established shortly after in November of 2019 by five youth with lived-experience in homelessness. Each member has unique experience that provides powerful input for community service providers serving homeless or at-risk youth and young adults. The voices of youth with lived-experience are key to developing and improving our homelessness crisis response system in the Mat-Su Region so that it equitably serves those most vulnerable in our population. Only those that have experienced homelessness and interacted with the homeless crisis response system can provide the solutions to ending homelessness in theMat-Su Region.

Since being awarded, the YHDP grant funds seven agenciesfrom across the Balance of State (BoS) to implement eight new innovative programs aimed to help youth who are at-risk or are experiencing homelessness. The YHDP grant includes $1.65 million in HUD funding and the State of Alaska generously provided an annual $250k match for the federal contribution

The YHDP planning team consisted of over 50 representatives, from state government and local officials, to service providers, funders, and other stakeholders across the state of Alaska. During the statewide planning process this team met on a weekly basis over a seven-month period to create the first ever Alaska Balance of State Coordinated Community Plan to prevent and end youth homelessness. In June 2020, HUD approved the CCP, allowing agencies from the Alaska Balance of State to begin its Request for Proposals to move forward with project implementation. As mentioned prior, a key element to implementing successful projects was authentic youth engagement.