Championing the needs of runaway, homeless, and other disconnected youth through advocacy, innovation and member services

Hill Day Preparation Edition

Late last night, Representatives Yarmuth (D-KY) and Biggert (R-IL) introduced the bi-partisan "Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act of 2008" (H.R. 5524), legislation that would reauthorize and strengthen the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act Programs. The legislation includes 16 of the 18 recommendations proposed by the National Network for Youth's Place to Call Home Act (H.R. 3409). Although the House minority leadership supported straight reauthorization without any additional provisions to the Act, the National Network was able to negotiate a compromise between majority and minority staff, finding some middle ground on the increase of lengths of stay and appropriations levels.

This legislation reauthorizes and strengthens these crucial programs through FY 2013. Among its improvements, the bill increases the authorization level from $105 million to $150 million for the consolidated account (Basic Center and Transitional Living Programs) and $30 million for the Runaway Prevention Account (Street Outreach); increases the RHYA Basic Center Program allotments for small states and territories; requires the Department of Health and Human Services establish an appeals process and grantee performance standards; requires periodic estimates of the incidence of youth homelessness; increases lengths of stay for Basic Center and Transitional Living Programs; clarifies that BCP's serve youth under 18 and TLP's can serve youth until their 22nd birthday; increases length of stay for TLP from 18 to 21 months; creates a process for developing a national runaway and homeless youth research and evaluation agenda; and authorizes a public awareness campaign on the issue of runaway and homeless youth. For more information about the bill, please see the attachment entitled "Overview of House RHYA Reauthorization".

TAKE ACTION NOW!!! It is critical that National Network members and youth advocates contact their U.S. House Representatives TODAY and urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 5524, the "Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act of 2008". Please click on the following link to send a letter to your Representative - http://capwiz.com/mobilize/issues/alert/?alertid=11098521

We strongly recommend following up with a direct call to Congressional staff handling human services within your U.S. Representative's Washington office. PLEASE LET CONGRESS KNOW THAT YOU ARE A NATIONAL NETWORK FOR YOUTH MEMBER WHEN CONTACTING CAPITOL HILL!!! We want to show a united front within the field and this will greatly assist our advocacy efforts.

On January 30th, hundreds of youth advocates and youth participating in the National Network for Youth's annual Symposium descended upon Capitol Hill to urge Members of Congress to champion programs for homeless youth. The National Network selected three public policy priorities for Hill Day 2008: Runaway and Homeless Youth Act Appropriations; Runaway and Homeless Youth Act Reauthorization; and the Place to Call Home Act, the Network's national policy blueprint to prevent and end youth homelessness. In addition, NNY identified two secondary issues that support our Place to Call Home Campaign – Youth Access to Child Welfare Services; and Youth Reentry.

NNY members canvassed key Congressional offices, including those of Senators Hatch, Leahy, Schumer and other leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act reauthorization. Members also targeted members on the Labor/HHS appropriations committees to advocate for increased funding for RHYA programs.

If you visited a Congressional office and did not submit your Hill Visit Report Form, please do so now...it is not too late! You can fax the form to (202) 783-7955, Attn: Mishaela Duran. These report back forms allow NNY to follow-up with staff to keep RHYA on the radar.

On February 4th, the President released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2009 (FY 2009). The overall priorities and goals outline by the President in this 2009 budget are nearly identical to last years budget: cuts in child and youth service programs include a half billion cut in the Social Service Block Grant (SBBG), a $221 million cut in juvenile justice programs, a $49 million cut in Homeless Assistance Grants, a $92 million cut in DOL's Youth Training program, a $46 million cut in Job Corps, a $291 million cut in 21st Century for Community Learning, a $9 million cut in YouthBuild, $5 million cut in Learn and Serve, and a $10 million cut in Abstinence Education, to name a few. For a comprehensive list of human and youth services programs and their proposed budgets, please review the attached document entitled "Budget Comparison".

The Runaway and Homeless Youth, Chafee Independent Living Program and Education Vouchers, and the Education for Homeless Children and Youth programs were all flat-funded from the FY2008 appropriation level. Luckily, through the advocacy work of NNY and its members, RHYA programs received an appropriations increase of $10 million for FY08, bringing the account to $113 million, the same amount adopted by the President's proposed FY 2009 budget. Of this, $43.3 million is allocated for the Transitional Living Program, $52.9 million is allocated for the Basic Center Program, and $17.2 is allocated to the Street Outreach Program. Project Based Rental Assistance received a $234 million increase and the Compassion Capitol Funding received a $22 million increased, under the President's proposed FY 2009 budget.

Total RHYA Program Funding: Five Year Progress

* Represents a 1% across-the-board spending cuts.

The total budget for 2009 is $3 trillion and includes more than $1 trillion in discretionary funds. This includes spending for domestic programs as well as the Defense Department. It does not include funding for the war which is likely to be included in a separate appropriations bill. After discretionary spending, the remainder is made up of entitlements and mandatory spending. The largest of these entitlement and mandatory programs is Social Security ($694 billion,) Medicare ($407 billion) and Medicaid ($215 billion).

The President's budget once again requests an increase of five percent for the Defense Department with total funding requests set at $515 billion. This entire total comes from discretionary spending. The Defense request is separate from the additional $70 billion for the war in Iraq, an amount significantly lower than the amount of $200 billion in 2008 that the President is still seeking. Outside of the discretionary spending in Defense and homeland security the President is requesting less than a one percent increase for all other discretionary programs including areas such as agriculture, the environment, education and most federal departments.

Under the budget proposal, a balanced federal budget will be reached within four years although this budget indicates that the deficit will exceed $400 billion in FY 2008 and 2009 close to the high of $412 billion reached in 2004. The Administration also anticipates a renewal of all of the President's past tax cuts throughout the next five years.

The budget also calls for cuts of $200.1 billion in Medicare and Medicaid over five years. $17.4 billion of that total is estimated to come from legislative changes to Medicaid, plus $800 million saved from administrative changes to Medicaid. Previously issued and pending regulations that would negatively impact on youth services agencies include a proposed rule on Medicaid Rehabilitation Services, which is currently stopped by a moratorium in P.L. 110-173 until June 30, 2008. Also outstanding is a restrictive interim final rule on Medicaid Case Management and Targeted Case Management (TCM) Services.

Today, the House is expected to pass a bill intended to expand the community service programs known as Learn and Serve America and AmeriCorps. The measure would reauthorize the Corporation for National and Community Service, (PL 101-610), for five years. The program places young people in community service jobs.

The bill (HR 2857) also would authorize an expansion of AmeriCorps by a third, to 100,000 workers. It would also create a National Office of Outreach and Recruitment, which Democrats say the organization needs to bolster its recruiting efforts among minority populations.

The House Education and Labor Committee approved the measure, 44-0, on June 27 after rejecting GOP attempts to limit administrative costs for the program.

Several amendments were deemed in order under the rule governing floor debate. Among them is an amendment by Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona that would strike the "summer of service" grant program and reduce the amount of money authorized for the program.

Another amendment, by Democrat Carolyn McCarthy of New York, would create new service initiatives, including a pilot program to support individuals seeking to work for small groups and a "Silver Scholarship" program for people 55 and older who perform 600 hours of service.

An amendment by Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and John Sarbanes, D-Md., would create an Energy Conservation Corps, which would seek to address the nation's energy and transportation infrastructure needs while providing work and service opportunities.

Also made in order was an amendment that would establish a temporary Congressional Commission on Civic Service to make recommendations about how to improve opportunities for public service. That amendment is sponsored by Jim McDermott, D-Wash., Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Sam Farr, D-Calif.

The National Network for Youth has taken action on this reauthorization and is very supportive of the creation of the Summer of Service program and the increased authorization of appropriations for Learn and Serve. However, NNY is deeply concerned with some of the provisions included in the GIVE Act, specifically, the elimination of a dedicated account for multi-state non-profits and the reduction of the Learn and Serve competitive funding from 26% to 18%. We are working closely with Service-Learning United, a coalition of national organizations, to address these concerns as the bill reaches the Senate, and ultimately, the Conference Committee.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Children's Bureau has announced the final regulations for implementing the National Youth in Transition Database. The new regulations require States to collect and report data to ACF on youth who are receiving independent living services and on the outcomes of certain youth who are in foster care or who age out of foster care. The final rule implements the data collection requirements of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 (Pub. L. 106-169) as incorporated into the Social Security Act. The National Network for Youth, Child Welfare League of America, and other national youth advocacy organizations played a key role in passing this landmark legislation in 1999, with former foster youth in RHY programs testifying before Congress on the connection between foster care and homelessness.

Under the new regulations, States must collect and report information on six general outcomes:

The National Network for Youth will be closely following the implementation of the new regulations, especially in regard to the reduction of homelessness among youth aging out of the foster care system, which is a component of the Place to Call Home Campaign. We encourage members to work with their States to develop plans and come into compliance with the regulations. All states must implement their plans by October 1, 2010.

The Federal Register announcement is available online at: a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-3050.htm

The announcement can be downloaded at: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-3050.pdf

On February 7, President Bush signed an Executive Order establishing the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs, a coalition of Federal agencies that will help support communities and organizations working on behalf of our nation's youth.

The order builds on the tenets of Helping America's Youth, a three-year interagency initiative announced by President Bush in his 2005 State of the Union address. The President asked Mrs. Bush to lead this nationwide effort to raise awareness about the challenges facing our youth, particularly at-risk boys, and to motivate caring adults to connect with youth in three key areas: family, school, and community. As the leader of this Initiative, the First Lady has hosted one national conference and five regional conferences, and participated in 125 other Helping America's Youth activities in 24 states and the District of Columbia to promote the efforts of youth-serving organizations.

In her remarks during the signing ceremony, Mrs. Bush commended the Community Guide to Helping America's Youth as "a terrific online resource" that "allows caring adults to use the Internet to learn more about the challenges facing children."

Resources:

For access the President's Executive Order, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/02/20080207-15.html

For additional information about the Helping America's Youth Initiative, visit http://www.helpingamericasyouth.gov/

On February 14, 2008, Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA), Chair of the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, together with a number of other Subcommittee Members, introduced H.R. 5466, Invest in KIDS Act, a child welfare improvement bill, which combines recommendations for a number of changes in child welfare financing and attention to substantive concerns for children in care that are intended to improve outcomes for children.

The bill builds on the Leave No Abused or Neglected Child Behind Act (H.R. 3576) that Rep.McDermott introduced in the 109th Congress, as well as other legislation that is currently pending that addresses kinship care (H.R. 2188/S. 661), support for older youth transitioning from foster care (H.R. 4208/S. 1512), IV-E access for American Indian children (H.R. 4688/S.1956), expanded eligibility for foster care and adoption assistance (H.R. 4207/H.R. 4091/S. 1462), and the educational needs of children in foster care (H.R. 4880).

The legislation does not include proposals under the National Network for Youth's Place to Call Home Act (H.R. 3409), including the spin-off legislation, Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act (H.R. 4208/S. S. 2560). The Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness companion measures were introduced in late 2007 by Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and Senator John Kerry (D-MA). The legislation seeks to create the income security conditions and family supports needed to ensure permanence for the Nation's unaccompanied and other disconnected youth. NNY will continue its advocacy around the Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act and engage our members in advancing the legislation.

Major provisions of the legislation include extension through age 20 the period in which youth may remain in state foster care and receive federal foster care maintenance payments; removal of barriers that prevent teen parents from accessing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families income security program; and extension of the Work Opportunity Credit to employers who hire homeless youth.

National Network for Youth

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