Our Vision
Our vision is to end youth homelessness in suburban Cook County by the end of 2024. Driven by youth leadership and cross-sector collaboration, youth homelessness in our community will be brief, rare, and one-time. All young people experiencing homelessness will have immediate and equitable access to everything they need to thrive in their housing, education, employment, well-being, and positive connections.
The Cook County Continuum of Care (IL-511) recognizes that ending homelessness requires investing and partnering with young people. As such, we collaborate with our Youth Action Board, provider partners, and community stakeholders to have a designated young adult Coordinated Entry (CE) system. This was first established with the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) which launched in October 2020 following a successful application to HUD in spring 2019 and the submission of our plan to end and prevent youth homelessness in March 2020. We have continued to improve and expand on our response to young adult homelessness and our young adult CE system currently consists of the following components:
Youth Action Board (YAB)
Young adult leaders with lived experience of homelessness who partner with our Continuum of Care and provider agencies to work toward the goal of improving housing services, and ultimately ending homelessness for young people in suburban Cook County.
System Navigation
System Navigators are the first point of contact for young adults experiencing housing instability and help to navigate our system by providing outreach, assessment, care coordination, and housing solution problem-solving.
Joint Transitional Housing and Rapid-Rehousing (TH/RRH)
TH/RRH combines transitional housing and rapid re-housing in a single project to provide more individualized and comprehensive support to young people who have been experiencing homelessness in gaining and maintaining housing. The project provides short term rental assistance, supportive services, and care coordination centered in Housing First and progressive engagement to assist households with the resources to thrive.
Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)
PSH provides long term rental assistance and comprehensive case management to young people who have been experiencing homelessness and have a diagnosed long- term disability that affects their ability to sustain independent housing.
Youth & Young Adult Leadership Team
Consisting of agency partner staff, Alliance team members, and the YAB, this team collaborates in the development, implementation, and ongoing improvement of the young adult Coordinated Entry (CE) system.
Young Adult Services Community Collaboration Group
Consisting of representatives from social and educational service providers across the Chicagoland area, we meet virtually each quarter to develop mutual referral networks, collaborate on programing, engage in policy advocacy, and learn from each other. To join this group please contact the Young Adult Projects Manager at mnelsen@suburbancook.org.
Implementing Partner Agencies, FY2023-2024
- Connections for the Homeless
- Northwest Compass
- Kenneth Young Center
- Housing Forward
- New Moms
- African American Christian Foundation
- BEDS Plus
- Proactive Community Services
