Meet The 6 Recipients of Our Groundbreaking DCT-P Initiative

What if we could prevent young people from experiencing the trauma of homelessness? Across the United States, unaccompanied youth homelessness is far too common. According to research by Chapin Hall, an estimated 4.2 million youth and young adults experience homelessness, 700,000 of whom are unaccompanied minors. At the same time, few, if any, interventions exist in most communities to prevent youth and young adult homelessness.

Point Source Youth (PSY) designed a Direct Cash Transfers as Prevention (DCT-P) initiative to test and improve upon community models for supporting young people to thrive in safe, stable housing without needing to enter the homelessness system. PSY believes that by trusting young people, removing financial barriers to housing, and offering supportive services before becoming unhoused, we will see more young people avoid homelessness and stay housed long-term. We’ve seen the effectiveness of flexible, unconditional funding to prevent youth homelessness in Washington State. With innovative funding from the Schultz Family Foundation and the Raikes Foundation, program expertise from PSY, and proof of concept from A Way Home Washington, we’re confident that DCT-P is among our most promising solutions to the youth homelessness crisis.

PSY, the Schultz Family Foundation, and the Raikes Foundation will support four community-based organizations in building Direct Cash Transfers as Prevention programs! Meet AYA Youth Collective, LifeWorks Austin, Youth On Their Own, and Youth Empowerment Success Services! We’re thrilled to help bring DCT-P to Grand Rapids, Michigan, Tucson, Arizona, Atlanta, Georgia, and Austin, Texas. These communities will join a larger cohort of Direct Cash Transfers as Prevention programs including New York City.

Help us celebrate this milestone in the movement to end youth homelessness by sharing this email! Click below to learn more about our DCT-P RFP Initiative.