The Brown County Housing Coalition, Brown County Youth Action Board, and community partners will collaborate and partner to develop an integrated system to end youth homelessness and housing instability and ensure wrap-around support for youth to thrive.
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Individualized wrap-around supports to create a mentally and physically healthy environment for growing and learning, with partners who are culturally competent to serve youth who are fleeing human trafficking, BIPOC, pregnant, parenting, LGBTQIA+, and fleeing domestic violence.
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A variety of housing options that meet the needs of youth, with youth-chosen services and pathways
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Mental health, reproductive and preventive health care, and addiction services.
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Changes to laws and policies that are standing in the way of youth accessing and receiving the services they want and need.
Advocacy
“When I joined the Youth Action Board, the main thing that I was looking for is a place where I could feel like I could openly talk about what I was going through and how I could help fix it, so that things could be easier for someone else who might be going through the same thing. Brown County Youth Action Board is about bringing together youth in foster care and homeless, pregnant, parenting youth and young adults so we can do something to fix our community so that kids in these situations are more prepared and have a better success rate AT LIFE. Our Youth Action Board focused on mental health, wraparound care, and healthcare laws, and allowing youth and young adults to be more independent and to get the services we need if we do not have family to take care of us. I think it was easier for us to talk about all of these things, so we felt like we were not alone, and we challenged ourselves to NOT normalize being homeless."
Collaboration and Partnerships
BCHHC’s strategic objectives include youth as a priority service population. An Unaccompanied Youth Task Force was started in the Brown County community in the mid-2010s to bring service providers from various sectors, community members, and youth together to begin working on solutions.
BCHHC Youth Task Force’s goal is to provide, understand, and expand services for those under the age of 24 that are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless in Brown County. This group of agency and school representatives work to identify unmet needs and gaps in services toward addressing youth homelessness.
In 2019, Coalition member agencies successfully advocated for the passage of 2019 WI Act 22, allowing 17-year-olds experiencing homelessness to access emergency shelters before turning 18.
Joy Drive
The Brown County YAB (Youth Action Board) is collecting items beyond basic needs intended to bring JOY to youth in our community experiencing homelessness and housing instability. Drop off locations include schools, area businesses and House of Hope Green Bay.
You can find the amazon wish list here: https://a.co/8U5ZXpw