OUR WORK
NEW DEAL TO END YOUTH HOMELESSNESS
The New Deal to End Youth Homelessness is a federal policy proposal that offers a roadmap to transform how young people, particularly Black, Brown, Indigenous, and LGBTQ young people, are supported in our society.
The most comprehensive proposal of its kind for youth and young adult homelessness, the New Deal aligns the nation’s leading funders, advocacy organizations, and service providers around a transformative vision grounded in equity and defined by young people.
Five Pillars of the New Deal
Housing Justice
Housing is a human right, an entitlement, so that no young person, family, or individual experiences homelessness. People have access to the housing supports they need and the services they want to bolster their housing stability.
Child and Family Well-Being Justice
A new system centering well-being and focusing on supporting families, including kinship networks and chosen family, in safely staying together, or providing safe alternatives of a youth’s choice
Transformative Justice
We recognize the harm that our current policing, legal, and incarceration systems enact and perpetuate. This harm is systematically and disproportionately inflicted on Black people in particular, as well as on communities of color more broadly and on members of LGBTQ communities. We support defunding these systems and mechanisms of surveillance and punishment in favor of investments in the supports and services our neighbors and communities need to thrive.
Immigration Justice
We recognize the harm, trauma, and even death that our immigration systems enact and perpetuate. This harm is systematically and disproportionately inflicted on Black, Brown, and other immigrants of color, the lowest income immigrants, and LGBTQ immigrants. We support defunding these systems and mechanisms of surveillance and punishment in favor of investments in the supports and services those immigrating to the country and those living in the country who have already immigrated need to thrive.
Economic Justice
We recognize the harm, trauma, and even death that economic policies have caused in this country, including policies on public benefits, employment, and education. This harm is systematically and disproportionately inflicted on Black, Brown, and other people of color and LGBTQ communities. We support a comprehensive overhaul of economic supports, employment, and education in this country that includes comprehensive policy changes and large scale local, state, and federal investments. These investments must include full scale reparations for Black and Indigenous Americans.
GRAND CHALLENGE: NEW DEAL IN ACTION
The A Way Home America Grand Challenge is a first of its kind program that assists communities in the US to end homelessness for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth, creating a path for ending homelessness for all youth.The Grand Challenge is focused on co-creating a community organizing framework, led by youth in Grand Challenge communities and supported by AWHA. Efforts are centered on building the community level power needed to implement the federal policy priorities of the New Deal and creating and implementing local policy priorities aligned with the New Deal. In everything we do, we lead with lived experience. We are committed to learning together across communities and the national movement, knowing that the answers lie in our collective learning and no one community or national organization has the full set of keys to transformation.
ON THE GROUND DATA COLLECTION
A Way Home America is proud to be a leading organization collecting data on youth homelessness that has helped shape policies and programming across the country.
Our work involves a multi-pronged approach. We have teams that focus on collecting stories and quantitative and qualitative data points relating to legislative policy, healthcare, workforce, and the other underlying institutional roadblocks that contribute to youth homelessness.
Data collected from our Grand Challenge and other programming helps inform researchers, advocates, service providers, and others across the country in their efforts to prevent and end homelessness among all youth and young adults in the U.S. We are proud to be a part of a movement that involves a diverse collection of organizations, individuals, and government agencies focused on this critical national issue.