Transforming Systems. Centering Youth. Ending Youth Homelessness—Community by Community.
Communities can do a better job helping young people experience homelessness by implementing a multi-system approach centered on the expertise of young people who have experienced homelessness. NN4Y’s Local Cross System Collaboratives (LCSC) on Youth Homelessness are doing just that.
LCSCs bring together youth leaders, public agencies, and community partners to build coordinated, youth-centered systems that replace fragmentation with alignment and short-term fixes with durable solutions.
What Are Local Cross-System Collaboratives (LCSCs)?
LCSCs are community-driven partnerships where youth and adults work side by side to redesign how systems respond to youth homelessness. These collaboratives unify housing, education, child welfare, legal, health, philanthropy, and youth-serving nonprofits around shared goals and accountable structures.
“Before, everything was being decided for us, not with us. NN4Y changed that.”
— Arsie P., Oklahoma Youth Action Board Member
An LCSC is not another meeting. It’s a new way of collaborating, where youth expertise guides system design and where agencies commit to lasting partnership and shared accountability.
Why Do LCSCs Matter?
Every year, 4.2 million youth experience homelessness, yet the systems meant to support them operate in silos. Young people must navigate multiple agencies with different rules, definitions, and processes that rarely align.
LCSCs address these barriers by:
- Bringing systems together to coordinate strategies instead of working independently
- Centering youth with lived expertise in decisions that impact their lives
- Building sustainable infrastructure for long-term practice and policy change
- Linking local action with national policy advocacy, ensuring communities influence and benefit from federal improvements
What Impact Are NN4Y’s LCSCs Having Nationally?
Since 2018:
- 18+ LCSCs launched across the United States
- Youth Action Boards have been created or strengthened in every partner community
- Youth now co-lead governance reforms, policy strategy, and systems planning
- Youth leaders sit on statewide homelessness councils and HUD Continuums of Care
Communities now have:
- Documented sustainability plans guiding long-term system change
- Standing cross-system committees coordinating youth homelessness strategies
- Multi-year funding commitments from state agencies and philanthropy to continue their work
- Newly established roles, like Orange County’s Director of Youth Homelessness, to carry the work forward
Because LCSCs surface what communities and youth need most, they serve as national innovation partners—co-designing tools, frameworks, and training models that support the entire field.
From early pilots to national rollouts, LCSC communities help test and refine resources that strengthen youth leadership, cross-system coordination, and community readiness. This collaborative innovation has generated new national tools, such as the Youth Action Leadership Certificate, that are now widely used by providers, policymakers, and youth leaders across the country.
LCSCs don’t just benefit from tools, they help build the tools that will guide the next decade of youth homelessness work.
- Let’s GAB About Our YABs monthly learning series
- Cross-community coaching and multi-region peer exchanges
- Shared strategies and implementation frameworks used nationwide
What Do LCSC Communities Receive?
Each community works directly with NN4Y’s Community Strategies Team—experts in youth engagement, systems mapping, facilitation, cross-system strategy, and federal policy.
Through customized training, coaching, and hands-on facilitation, communities build the capacity to:
- Establish, strengthen, and sustain Youth Action Boards
- Build equitable youth–adult partnership structures
- Coordinate responses across state and local agencies
- Map system gaps and create multi-year strategic plans
- Advocate effectively at state and federal levels
- Implement equitable youth compensation practices
- Design and facilitate multi-agency convenings where partners analyze data, map system gaps, and build aligned action plans
Plus, exclusive benefits for LCSC communities:
- Leverage NN4Y’s national brand and reputation to strengthen local credibility, partnerships, and funding opportunities
- Join a national learning network with cross-community coaching, peer exchanges, and shared tools
- Access Summit opportunities, including eligibility for youth and provider scholarship support to attend the National Summit on Youth Homelessness
“NN4Y brought back hope and, during the Summit, gave us in-person connection with our state representatives… something I hadn’t experienced before.”
— Elio C., Oklahoma City Youth Action Board Member
LCSCs don’t just change local systems, they become part of a national movement to end youth homelessness.
What Success Stories Show the Impact of This Work?
“NN4Y helped educate me about where funding is, why it can be restrictive, and how to use it to your advantage.”
— Harlowe Clementine, St. Louis Youth Action Board
“I see my community making consistent, meaningful changes… NN4Y helped me feel like my story matters—and gave me the strength to make my voice heard.”
— Andi Burns, Utah Youth Action Board Vice President
“They taught me that what I do matters, and it makes a difference.”
— Jae Burley, Oklahoma City Youth Action Board
These stories reflect a growing movement—one where youth lead, systems align, and communities begin to experience the long-term impact of coordinated, youth-centered strategy.
