Solid Foundations DC is the District's first-ever data-driven plan focused on the needs of unaccompanied youth. The plan will serve as a roadmap for building an effective system of care for unaccompanied youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness, to end youth homelessness by 2022.
Solid Foundations DC provides a framework for advancing intensive and coordinated work to prevent and end homelessness among youth by:
- providing essential definitions and key context on youth homelessness, including specific metrics to gauge problems and success;
- detailing what is known about the causes and costs of youth homelessness in DC, and how trends in the District compare to trends across the nation;
- explaining the results of data modeling completed as a planning tool to help estimate the types and number of interventions needed to meet the needs of young people experiencing homelessness each year; and
- identifying critical strategies needed to take existing programing in the community to the next level and build an effective systems approach for vulnerable youth.
The health, safety, and long-term success of our youth will have an impact on our entire community, and our DC values require that we continue finding ways to make homelessness in DC rare, brief, and non-recurring. By working together, we can build integrated systems that provide the support our young people need to stay healthy and succeed in school and life.