1. Building a Successful Collaboration Between Private and Public Partners. Attorney Stacey Violante Cote, Center for Children’s Advocacy NAEHCY Conference, November 2011

2. Advocacy for RHY in CT: One Example State that has a lot of wealth & a lot of poverty Large achievement gap Small state Both urban and rural homeless youth Oh, and not a state where we have homeless youth (or so “they” thought) Federal RHYA grantees in some parts of CT 2

3. CONNECTICUT TEAM: RUNAWAY AND HOMELESS YOUTH Who Are We? The Connecticut Team for Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) is a coalition of state and private agencies and service providers who work with homeless and runaway youth, a population otherwise known as “the invisible population.” 3

4. CONNECTICUT TEAM: RUNAWAY AND HOMELESS YOUTH Members include: Connecticut Department of Children and Families Connecticut State Department of Education Court Support Services Division of the CT Judicial Branch The Center for Children’s Advocacy True Colors Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness The Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport, Inc., Kids in Crisis, RYASAP, and Youth Continuum What Do We Do? We advocate for systemic changes to address the needs of runaway and homeless youth in CT. 4

5. CONNECTICUT TEAM: RUNAWAY AND HOMELESS YOUTH Advocacy Success Legislative -Passage of a bill to require child welfare system to count its runaway & homeless youth ( P.A. 09-96) -Passage of Homeless Youth Act with $1m to child welfare to implement (see the P.S.) (P.A. 10-179, Secs. 28-30) -Included waiver of liability for the provision of services where cannot contact parent 5

6. CONNECTICUT TEAM: RUNAWAY AND HOMELESS YOUTH Advocacy Success Legislative Passage of a bill to require police to report minors arrested for prostitution to child welfare (P.A. 11-180) Administrative Advocacy Data gathering (see handout) 6

7. CONNECTICUT TEAM: RUNAWAY AND HOMELESS YOUTH Advocacy Success Administrative Advocacy SDE to count unaccompanied homeless youth Child welfare created a unit to address domestic minor sex trafficking Cross-agency collaboration Judicial to include the question of homelessness in its system rewrite 7

8. CONNECTICUT TEAM: RUNAWAY AND HOMELESS YOUTH Advocacy Success Other Advocacy Data Gathering Awareness raising Creation of a webpage Trainings- legal & other 8

9. CONNECTICUT TEAM: RUNAWAY AND HOMELESS YOUTH Advocacy List Restoration of the suspended $1m to child welfare Judicial: Counting Homeless Youth Already in Care DCF area office protocol for youth who runaway DCF implementation of recs fr internal task force Adult Shelters: Addressing Issues of Youth Development, Engagement & Safety National Safe Place Designation Accommodations at Colleges 211 accuracy of available services Use of social networking sites/blogs 9

10. What will this look like in your state? Some key questions to grapple with: -Who are you advocating for? -What does this population look like in your state? -Who is the appropriate body to attract an advocacy group? 10

11. What will this look like in your state? #1) Identify possible collaborators in your state. -Who are key decision makers in your state? -Legislators, heads of administrative agencies, judges, organizers, data analysis experts -How will you get to them? -Who are the providers in your state? -Think about providers to LGBTQ youth. -Will you include homeless youth? 11

12. What will this look like in your state? #2) How will you initiate relationships with possible collaborators? – Who is necessary? Who will you settle for? – What will be the first ask? – Who should contact the targets? 12

13. What will this look like in your state? #3) Identify 2-3 possible policy initiatives. – Think about “low hanging fruit” to start. – What will make a difference to your population? – What systems are involved in the problem? – What will help providers? – What data can you gather? 13

14. What will this look like in your state? Take 15 minutes to brainstorm with your neighbors & then report back. #1) Identify possible collaborators in your state. #2) How will you initiate relationships with collaborators? #3) Identify 2-3 possible policy initiatives. 14

15. Resources Stacey Violante Cote, Esq., MSW Director, Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic Principal Attorney, Immigrants & Refugees: New Arrivals Advocacy Project Center for Children's Advocacy, UCONN School of Law, 65 Elizabeth Street, Hartford, CT 06105 ph: (860)570-5327 x 227 sviolant@kidscounsel.org www.kidscounsel.org CT Team: Runaway & Homeless Youth Website: http://www.cceh.org/issues/detail/youth-homelessness/14 15