YPAR As an Approach to Developing Community-Level Responses to Youth Homelessness

Background and Purpose

Ending youth homelessness has been set as a national priority (AASWSW, 2017; USICH, 2017), and yet, services and systems for youth are often developed without their input. Youth homelessness disproportionately affects already vulnerable populations; 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ (Durso & Gates, 2012) and 25% of youth age-out of foster care and unstable housing (DSHS, 2015).  The diversity of youth experiencing homelessness and the multiplicity of contexts that compose communities calls for an adaptable approach to solutions to youth homelessness. This study aimed to investigate how youth participatory action research (YPAR) (Cammarota & Fine, 2008) serves as an approach for successfully centering youth voice in identifying contextual, community-level responses to youth homelessness.

Methods

A collaborative case study was conducted on a YPAR initiative in a mid-sized, urban community in the southeastern U.S. A case study research method was appropriate given the contextualized and complex nature of youth homelessness (Stake, 1995).  The initiative, designed to address youth homelessness locally, has operated over the course of two years and three action research cycles.  The YPAR initiative included twenty-two youth (age 16-24) with direct experiences with homelessness. Data were collected using reflective journaling, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with a sub-group of youth and adult researchers (n=7). Data were coded and analyzed using an inductive thematic approach within a co-constructed analytic framework to identify: (1) factors that promote youth engagement in developing community-level solutions to youth homelessness, (2) mechanisms for developing and maintaining the factors necessary to engage and sustain youth in this work, and (2) indicators of meaningful youth-engagement.

Results

Findings suggest that there are three primary and interconnected factors within a YPAR approach that are important to successfully engaging youth in developing a community-level response to youth homelessness: (1) space - both physical and metaphysical, (2) roles - particularly those that promote growth while honoring the expertise of youth, and (3) relationships - both between youth team members and with the adult researchers. Specific mechanisms that develop each factor were identified, including vulnerability and storytelling, which create authentic connections in the YPAR space. Indicators of meaningful youth engagement include youth visibility, feeling heard and valued by external stakeholders, and the ability to overcome internal conflicts.

Conclusions and Implications

There are multiple and inter-related components of a YPAR initiative that must be simultaneously developed including space, roles, and relationships. Identifying mechanisms for attending to these factors, as well as indicators of meaningful youth engagement in each area can serve as touchstones for assessing the effectiveness of the applied framework for addressing youth homelessness at a community level. The findings offer practical guidance for incorporating youth voice in ending youth homelessness, as has been called for by HUD (2016). Future research is needed to assess the transferability of the findings to other community contexts. More broadly, researchers and practitioners would benefit by engaging young people in the assessment of initiatives that are intended to promote youth voice in addressing youth homelessness as well as other issues that impact youth.