Rural Collaborative for Youth and Families

Client

Colorado Department of Human Services, Huerfano County Department of Human Services, San Luis Valley Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center

Funder

Family and Youth Services Bureau (Supportive Services for Runaway and Homeless Youth Demonstration Project & Basic Center Grant), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Statewide Strategic Use Fund 1 & 2

Stakeholders

Service providers, community advocates, local government entities and rural youth and families without stable housing in 13 southern and western slope Colorado Counties.

Description

The Rural Collaborative brings together the resources, knowledge and expertise of six rural Western Slope and Southern Colorado communities (providing services to a 13 county region) to form an effective safety net of support for TANF eligible families, and youth without stable housing. While helping youth and families with rent one month offers a short term solution, it does not address the systemic nature of poverty in rural Colorado. This project is looking at housing as a foundation for stability, but will include significant nonresidential support that specifically targets expanding training and educational opportunities and, subsequently, job access, to increase the overall economic wellbeing of rural Colorado youth and families threatened with homelessness. In addition, the Collaborative uses their experience and collective voice to shape public policy that is beneficial to all Colorado’s rural communities.

The Collaborative works to accomplish the following key outcomes for rural Colorado youth and families impacted by poverty and homelessness:

Increased self-sufficiency of families in need, through, for instance, improved life skills, parenting instruction, access to financial assistance and counseling, and access to affordable housing, so that children can be cared for in their homes;
Reduced dependency of parents in need by providing job support, through, for instance, resume composition assistance, assistance with job application and interview skills, and by increasing access to educational and vocational training opportunities;
Improved access to information for youth and families in need about services and supports including housing, education, workforce, health, mental health, and other community services;
Increased capacity across local organizations;
Increased efficiency of overlapping services through integration of funding streams;
Streamlined evaluation and data collection processes;
Collaboration in developing and implementing an array of appropriate prevention and intervention programs;
Increased number of youth and family leaders in the community, through outreach and training programs; and
Increased capacity as a collaborative, in cooperation with the Statewide Homeless Youth Coordinator and the Center for Systems Integration, to identify policy barriers, develop solutions, and advocate for policy change at the statewide level.

The Center for Systems Integration is providing training, technical assistance, project coordination, and evaluation on the project. The six rural counties leading this effort are: Huerfano, Alamosa, Montezuma, Montrose, Moffat and Garfield. Urban partners on the project include The Colorado Department of Human Services’ Division of Child Welfare and Division of Supportive Housing and Homeless Programs, Urban Peak Denver, Family Tree and Lutheran Family Services.

External Links