On February 28, 2024, the National Network for Youth hosted a congressional briefing in collaboration with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) focused on the bipartisan bicameral Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act (RHYTPA) of 2023 (S.3125/H.R.6041).
Three members of our National Youth Advisory Council spoke at the briefing along with special remarks from U.S. Senators Durbin and Collis, and Runaway and Homeless Youth Act grantees from Maine and Illinois.
RHYTPA is critical legislation because it would enact vital updates to the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) program to ensure every young person in the United States has a safe place to call home and access the resources they need to thrive. For over 50 years, RHYA has provided the foundation for American communities’ responses to youth and young adult homelessness. However, RHYA has not been comprehensively updated in over a decade. The new bill, RHYPTA, would maintain key components of the program and make critical updates including:
- Add a new Prevention Services program focused on providing services specifically tailored toward young people at risk of experiencing any form of homelessness.
- Extend the allowable length of stays in Basic Center Programs from 21 to 30 days (or longer as state law allows).
- Require staff training on human trafficking, trauma, sexual abuse, and assault.
- Extend Transitional Living Program services to survivors of sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking.
Missed the Briefing? No Problem!
Co-sponsor the Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act of 2023 (S.3125/H.R.6041)
SENATE: to cosponsor S.3125 contact Trent Benishek for Senator Collins at Trent_Benishek@collins.senate.gov or Chastidy Burns for Senate Majority Whip Durbin at Chastidy_Burns@judiciary-dem.senate.gov.
HOUSE: to cosponsor H.R.6041 contact Andrew Dunn for Representative Bonamici at Andrew.Dunn@mail.house.gov or Jaydn Smith for Representative Bacon at Jaydn.Smith@mail.house.gov.