Members of the National Collaborative for Transition-Age Youth with lived experience in foster care participated in the Family Focused Treatment Association’s Public Policy Institute during their week of advocacy in Washington, D.C.

Knowledge Grant, a lived expert from Miami, Florida, was part of a panel, “Shaping what’s next: Lived experience leading system change.”

Knowledge, who chairs two youth advocacy councils in Florida, discussed the need for flexibility in federal housing vouchers designed to help young adults exiting foster care. She experienced homelessness and had to move from Tallahassee to Miami to use a voucher for housing. She held Florida up as a model for its Postsecondary Education Services and Support (PESS) program, which offers a $1,720 stipend for housing and utilities to transition-age youth who meet the requirements.

During the policy institute, Natalie Clark, a member of the Collaborative, from Utah, talked with Ruth White, executive director of the National Center for Housing & Child Welfare, about expanding housing vouchers in Utah.

“We discussed the intricacies of using lived experience advocacy to bring FYI housing vouchers into Utah to serve youth in Salt Lake County, the highest density foster care population in Utah,” Clark said. “We talked about the unique approach we took as a lived experience-led community designing referral and support service processes to ensure accessibility and sustainability of voucher use.”

Clark and Grant’s relationships with national leaders shows the power of lived experience that led them to participate in the National Collaborative for Transition-Age Youth, a group bringing together young people with lived experience, state and local child welfare policymakers, advocates and the combined strength of national organizations like Youth Villages, FosterClub, American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) and the Embark Georgia Center.

Young adults with lived experience in the child welfare system were vital members of the collaborative and co-designed the publication Improving Outcomes for Young Adults and the Systems that Serve Them: A Playbook of Best Practices.

On the panel, Grant talked about the importance of including the experience and expertise of young adults at every level of program and system design.

“Lived experience is important when creating policies,” Grant said. “Hear from us first, because we’re going to tell you what needs to go, what needs to stay and what could be improved.”

For more information on the National Collaborative for Transition-Age Youth, click here or email tay@youthvillages.org.

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