Posted on November 4, 2019 in Jim's Vision, Youth and Young Adult Engagement
Our Executive Director, Jim Theofelis, has dedicated his life to helping young people, as an advocate, a clinician and a leader in the movement to reform foster care and end youth and young adult homelessness. Previously, Jim shared why the time is right for solutions in Washington and why solutions must lead to systemic and […]
Posted on October 14, 2019 in Anchor Community Initiative, Behind the Scenes
Working with schools is critical to ending youth and young adult homelessness. Megan Johnson joins the Anchor Community Initiative as the Student Stability Manager to create and implement a schools strategy. Megan tells us why this issue is so important to her, and why we need to work with schools to achieve our mission. Throughout […]
Posted on October 14, 2019 in Equity
At A Way Home Washington, our core values include equity, youth partnership, a data-driven culture and trauma-informed practice. Our Coaching and Improvement Manager, Ashley, writes about what youth partnership means at A Way Home Washington. In the youth homelessness world, we know that we need the expertise of young people with lived experience to improve […]
Posted on October 7, 2019 in Equity
As an organization, we value equity and engaging communities in culturally sensitive ways. Our Communications Director, Sully, reflects on the importance of the words we use in our efforts to be an equitable and inclusive organization. As a communications professional and an advocate for racial equity, I know that words have power. I carefully consider […]
Posted on September 19, 2019 in Anchor Community Initiative, Behind the Scenes
When we’re working towards a big goal – like, let’s say, ending youth and young adult homelessness – choosing where to start can be the most challenging step. We ask ourselves, will this first step lead to the change we want to see? Our team learned how to answer this tricky question when Community Solutions […]
Posted on September 16, 2019 in Equity
At A Way Home Washington, our core values include equity, positive youth development, a data-driven culture and trauma-informed practice. Our Deputy Director, Erin, writes about what equity means at A Way Home Washington. There’s a quote attributed to Maya Angelou that I love: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you […]
Posted on September 16, 2019 in Equity, Jim's Vision
Throughout my career, I’ve observed an unfortunate truth – some young people are further from justice than others. Experiencing homelessness is traumatic for any young person. But if we look at the data, we’ll see that young people of color and those who identify as LGBTQ+ are overrepresented in homelessness. From the time I was […]
Posted on September 9, 2019 in Anchor Community Initiative, Legislative Advocacy
During the 2019 legislative session, we were overjoyed that the Office of Homeless Youth (OHY) budget included $4 million for the Anchor Community Initiative. Over the past few months, organizations in the Anchor Communities submitted proposals to OHY requesting funding for services in the community. Here’s how these funds will make an impact in each […]
Posted on August 26, 2019 in Anchor Community Initiative, Behind the Scenes
One of the most important features of a quality By-Name List is making sure it includes ALL unaccompanied youth and young adults experiencing homelessness. Not only does the list tell us how many young people are experiencing homelessness in the community, it also gives us important information about each individual young person, like their location […]
Posted on August 16, 2019 in Equity, Partner Spotlight
When we talk about the thousands of unaccompanied youth and young adults experiencing homelessness in our state, it’s critical to talk about the young people who are overrepresented in homelessness. Across the country, LGBTQ+ young people make up roughly 5-10% of the population, but 40% of young people experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQ+. We cannot […]
