Primary Issue of the Needs Assessment
Homelessness among young people under 18 years old is a significant concern of the contemporary society of the United States of America. According to research, approximately “2.8 million youth are estimated to be homeless in the U.S. each year” (Gwadz et al., 2017, p. 398). This issue is vital for social work due to the increasing number of such populations on the territory of the USA in general and across the San Diego community, in particular. The youth experiencing homeless life is proven to be exposed to risks of mental and physical health harms, street violence, “early pregnancy, substance use, and early death” (Morton et al., 2018., p. 15).
Another threat for the homeless youth is sex trafficking the occurrence of which was documented in all the states of the USA (Middleton, Gattis, Frey, & Roe-Sepowitz, 2018). The issue affects young people from misfortunate urban neighborhoods or families experiencing violence, poverty, or parental neglect (Bender, Yang, Ferguson, & Thompson, 2015). Thus, the large number of homeless young individuals imposes a need for special organizations aimed at supporting them.
The programs and initiatives implemented by this time in the USA address mostly the primary needs of youth for shelter considering such needs as “sleeping arrangements” (Morton et al., 2018., p. 15). Regarding the risk factors, the centers for the homeless youth should address educational, health-care, and drug use treatment programs (Pedersen, Tucker, & Kovalchik, 2016). Many existing centers’ approaches vary in their identification of the age of the population group they call youth. Different national estimates concentrate on young people limited to either 13-15 years old or up to 24-25 years old (Morton et al., 2018). However, it is important to concentrate on the youth under 18 years old as the age group at the highest risk of exposure to the adverse impacts of homelessness.
The stakeholders related to the issue of homelessness are the public community centers which support the disadvantaged population to eliminate adverse outcomes of their exposure to the threats of life without shelter. An adequate homeless youth needs assessment will contribute to the program planning of such centers. The corrected program implementation will widen the scope of influence of the centers, eliminate the barriers limiting the youth’s access to such organizations, and ultimately increase the level of quality of life in such communities as San Diego, CA.
Needs Assessment Plan
Interview Plan
The needs assessment procedure will start with data collection which will be conducted utilizing the interviewing method. The interviews with the representatives of the agencies providing services for homeless youth in San Diego are planned to be conducted over the phone. The questions addressed to the representatives will concern the risks, the most severe and widely spread problems, and the needs of homeless young people under age 18.
List of Interview Questions
The interviews will be conducted within the range of the suggested list of questions:
- How would you describe the overall mission of your agency?
- What are the priorities of the employees in the institution you represent?
- What are the challenges experienced by homeless youth under 18?
- What are the strengths of this population group?
- You provide a variety of services, including shelter and food provision, and psychological support. Are there any additional services this population needs?
- Is there any prevalence regarding gender among homeless youth?
- Are there any educational requirements for the employees at your center?
- What are the organizational difficulties that the center faces at the moment? How do they affect the quality of services provided?
- Does the center experience any funding restrictions?
- How do you ensure the accessibility of the services of your center for the population in need?
Interview Sites Description
There are several state and community centers available for the homeless youth in California and San Diego, in particular. These agencies will serve as interview sites for the needs assessment implementation. Firstly, one of the organizations aimed at helping the population of concern is the California Homeless Youth Project. This service in San Diego has one drop-in center, two emergency shelters with 40 beds, one long-term shelter with 30 beds, one transitional living program with ten beds, one counseling program, and one educational program (“About the California homeless youth project,” n.d.).
Secondly, there is an organization the YMCA Youth and Family Services with a broad system of centers, some of which are located on the territory of San Diego. This organization “provides direct service and support to over 15,000 individuals in the San Diego County community each year (“Youth and family services,” 2019, para. 1). Data collected from this service will provide significant insight into the work of such centers.
The San Diego Youth Services Counseling Cove specializes in professional mental health support but does not provide sleeping arrangements. The fourth agency that could be a match for an interview is the Storefront Drop-in which is a center for children with 20 beds. Finally, the Toussaint Academy of Arts and Science long-term shelter provides 30 beds for homeless youth and has a developed educational system. The agencies chosen for interviews represent the community services and will be relevant for the needs assessment procedure implementation.
Potential Contribution of the Needs Assessment
In case of successful data collection, the needs assessment will provide a comprehensive true-to-life set of acute needs homeless youth in San Diego faces now. The comparative analysis of the needs with the available services will show the gaps that need to be filled. The interview questions will retrieve the information about gender statistics of young people, the most significant challenges they face, and the advanced needs they might have regarding the existing problems.
Also, the accessibility concern which is one of the cutest ones will address the possible procedures to provide more opportunities for homeless youth not only to access the programs of drop-in centers but also to stay in (Haskett, 2017). Thus, the procedure will contribute to an action plan aimed at changing the system of centers’ work so it faces the needs and challenges of reality.
Work Plan
Plan of Sharing Findings with Agencies
The ultimate goal of the homeless youth’s needs assessment is to provide implications for further action which is the change of the service provider according to the urgent needs of the target population. These actions are carried out by the community centers and agencies that work on the territory of San Diego. That is why it is crucial to provide the interviewed organizations with reports on findings made based on the information they provided. It is planned to compose special reports addressing the most influential issues affecting the needs of homeless youth, the accessibility of the drop-in centers, and the scope of services they provide. The documents should be sent to the centers’ representatives to demonstrate the validations for performance correction if any is detected.
An Abstract for the Proposal
The issue of youth homelessness is an acute concern affecting all the states of the USA. The community of California experiences an increase in the number of homeless young people under age 18 who are at risk of being exposed to violence, physical and mental health problems, sex trafficking, early pregnancy, substance abuse, and other severe threats which might lead to deaths. Overall, the number of young individuals without shelter equals to 2.8 million people every year (Gwadz et al., 2017).
The literature review and the analysis of the existing programs show that the majority of drop-in centers primarily provide accommodation and food paying secondary attention to psychological support and substance abuse treatment (Morton et al., 2018; Middleton et al., 2018). Despite the number of available supporting organizations, there exists a problem with their accessibility for homeless underage individuals.
The needs assessment might contribute to the overall understanding of the correlation between the real needs of homeless youth and the quality of services they can obtain. Such interview questions as “What are the organizational difficulties that the center faces at the moment? How do you ensure the accessibility of the services of your center for the population in need?” are aimed at the detection of the organizations’ limitations and their vision of the population’s needs. The reports maid upon the assessment results will be shared with the agencies via e-mail for their further action. It is vital to implement the needs assessment procedure to improve the performance of the agencies and contribute to the well-being of the American youth.
References
About the California homeless youth project. (n.d.). Web.
Bender, K., Yang, J., Ferguson, K., & Thompson, S. (2015). Experiences and needs of homeless youth with a history of foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 55, 222-231.
Gwadz, M. V., Cleland, C. M., Leonard, N. R., Bolas, J., Ritchie, A. S., Tabac, L., … Powlovich, J. (2017). Understanding organizations for runaway and homeless youth: A multi-setting quantitative study of their characteristics and effects. Children and Youth Services Review, 73, 398-410.
Haskett, M. E. (2017). Child and family well-being and homelessness: Integrating research into practice and policy. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Middleton, J. S., Gattis, M. N., Frey, L. M., & Roe-Sepowitz, D. (2018). Youth experiences survey (YES): Exploring the scope and complexity of sex trafficking in a sample of youth experiencing homelessness. Journal of Social Service Research, 44(2), 141-157.
Morton, M. H., Dworsky, A., Matjasko, J. L., Curry, S. R., Schlueter, D., Chavez, R., & Farrell, A. F. (2018). Prevalence and correlates of youth homelessness in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(1), 14-21.
Pedersen, E. R., Tucker, J. S., & Kovalchik, S. A. (2016). Facilitators and barriers of drop-in center use among homeless youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59(2), 144-153.
Youth and family services. (2019). Web.