STAGE 1: GETTING STARTED

LCSC Building Blocks for Success

In the earliest stages of forming an LCSC, the following elements are important:

  • A belief that youth voice should be centered and amplified in developing and implementing solutions to end youth homelessness. 
  • A lead/host organization that is fully invested in preventing and ending youth homelessness in the community.
  • The ability to connect to/recruit young people with lived experiences to form a Youth Action Board.
  • Resources for supporting the LCSC should include a part-time or full-time staff position, compensation for young people’s time, and meeting and communications costs.
  • A strong commitment to centering equity and racial justice.

Stakeholders to Include in Your LCSC

The local Continuum of Care will likely include many of the relevant stakeholders you wish to have so that invitees can use that group as a starting point. To the extent your capacity allows, make sure to include representatives from:

  • Local agencies youth experiencing homelessness may come in contact with:
    • Youth homelessness
    • Housing
    • Child welfare
    • Juvenile justice
    • Education
    • Behavioral health
    • Youth employment
  • Advocates and community-based service providers 
  • Youth-serving or advocacy organizations that do not specifically focus on youth homelessness but on youth systems and programs that see and or serve youth at risk of or experiencing homelessness (e.g., mentoring agencies, youth civic engagement organizations, YMCAs, or Boys and Girls Clubs may encounter young people experiencing homelessness daily)
  • Young people affiliated with service providers or agencies described above. (Note that all members of your YAB are also LCSC members.)
  • Any relevant Continuum of Care members or members of existing youth-focused committees or workgroups not listed above

NN4Y recommends forming your Youth Action Board and building their capacity before formally creating your LCSC. Learn more here. 

Meeting Facilitators
Meeting facilitators should be used throughout all stages of your LCSC’s work. The role of a meeting facilitator is to moderate the conversation during your meeting. They help set the tone for the discussion and keep the agenda on track. Meeting facilitators ensure that everyone has a chance to participate in the meeting and creates an inclusive meeting environment.

LCSC Decision-Making
LCSC members may have worked together for many years and may have good personal relationships but deeply entrenched differences in their beliefs about how to address youth homelessness. For example, an agency that runs a shelter program may acknowledge that couch surfing is a problem in the community but may believe that youth who are couch surfing should be a low priority for funding or services. Addressing differences of opinion will require difficult conversations, but coming to a consensus on goals and strategies (rather than going by a majority vote), will lead to participant “buy-in” and greater investment in achieving the group’s vision. Having a skilled and well-respected facilitator can help achieve consensus, and additional tools for consensus decision-making are available at www.seedsforchange.org.uk/consensus.

Collective Impact

NN4Y’s work with LCSCs utilizes the concept of collective impact. The collective impact framework offers a guide to helping the LCSC address youth homelessness in the community. “Collective impact” describes an intentional way of working together and sharing information to solve a complex problem. For example, mapping out all of the services and eligibility requirements in your community and collaborating to make better connections for youth who initially approach a provider who doesn’t offer the assistance they need or the population they are part of (e.g., minor vs. young adult). 

Successful collective impact initiatives typically have five conditions that together produce alignment and lead to powerful results:

The 5 Conditions of Collective Impact

Additional Resources for Stage 1

Background reading on collaboration: Michele Jolin, Paul Schmitz, and Willa Seldon. “Needle-Moving Community Collaboratives: A Promising Approach to Addressing America’s Biggest Challenges.” (2012)