Overview

The Youth Health and Housing Lab was awarded the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action developmental grant for 2023 to engage an existing multi-sector consortium to develop, implement and assess the feasibility of an integrated system of healthcare and public health programming for youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) in and around Hennepin County, Minnesota. The title of our project was Systems Alignment to Optimize Health Services for Youth Experiencing Homelessness. This project built on the findings from our Optimizing Health Services for Youth Experiencing Homelessness project.

Project Aims

1. Engage an existing multi-sector consortium, as well as YEH, to develop and implement an integrated system of public health programming and health services for YEH in and around Hennepin County.

2.  Describe the complex barriers to data systems alignment in the current systems, and beginning to identify potential opportunities for systems alignment to create a more equitable data ecosystem

3. Assess the feasibility of implementing and, if successful, scaling an integrated system of public health programming and health services for youth experiencing homelessness.

Once we finalized our systems alignment plan, we began developing, piloting and implementing each of the aims. Check out Youth Health Connect here! 

More information about our work on the other aims will be added soon, as we finish our evaluation of the project.

Related Publications and Dissemination Products

• UMN Medical School Press Release Development Award

• Our RWJF Systems for Action webpage

• 2023 Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Conference Presentation: Strategies for Engaging Youth and Multi-sector Partners 

• American Public Health Association 2023 Conference Poster Presentation: Optimal Sexual Health and Gender-Affirming Care Services for LGBTQ+ Youth Experiencing Homelessness

• Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine 2024 Conference Poster Presentation: 

  • Abstract: Youth-Driven Systems Alignment Strategies to Optimize Health Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness

  • Poster

• Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine 2024 Conference Runaway and Homeless Youth Special Interest Group Presentation

• Systems for Action ResProg Webinar, March 2024: Recording and Powerpoint

• University of Minnesota Pediatric Research, Education & Scholarship Symposium Poster Presentation, April 2024: Optimizing Mental Health among Youth Experiencing Homelessness

  • Poster

• American Public Health Association 2024 Conference Poster Presentation: Optimizing mental health among youth experiencing homelessness: youth participatory action research to rebuild trust and advance equity across sectors

  • Poster

• 2024 Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Conference Presentation: Youth-driven Strategies for Supporting Health among Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Working Across Sectors to Advance Health Equity and Healthcare Access

• Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, July 2024, Caring for Youth Experiencing Homelessness

• Project Community Report

• UMN Medical School Press Release Impact Award

• UMN Medical School Grand Rounds Presentation, October 2024, Youth-Driven Strategies for Advancing Health Equity Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Youth Participatory Action Research in Action