Runaway and Homeless Youth Learning Agenda Support

Instrument 3: Site Visit Interview Protocol – Providers and Community Partners

Informed Consent

Hello, my name is [name], and I am here with my colleague, [name]. [IF APPLICABLE: As you know,] We are from the Urban Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan social and economic policy research organization based in Washington DC.

The US Department of Health and Human Services has funded us to do a study to increase understanding among youth service providers, the government, and others about how programs like [LOCAL RHY PDP PROGRAM] serve young people. We have invited you here today to provide your perspective on [LOCAL RHY PDP PROGRAM] design, implementation, and outcomes. The discussion should take about 1 hour.

We want to make sure that you know that this conversation is totally voluntary. That means you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. You may also end the conversation at any time. There are no consequences regardless of what you decide.

Now I will explain how the information from this discussion will be used. First, we will be taking notes during this conversation, and we consider the information you share with us to be private. Everyone on the research team has signed a pledge promising to never share your name with anyone outside of our team. We won’t identify you in a quote or tell anyone what you as an individual said today. We will share our findings in our reports, but information from all the people we speak with will be combined so that no one person can be identified. That said, there may be some information that a few people could know about you, so there is a small chance someone could guess who provided a response. We will do everything we can to avoid this but want you to be aware of this remote possibility.

We value your experience and expertise. Your responses will contribute to our effort to identify opportunities to improve services for young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

We also want you to know that we are taking some safety measures to keep everyone healthy from illnesses. As with any in-person interaction, there is the risk of getting sick. If you are feeling sick or unwell today, we ask that you not participate in-person, and we can conduct a phone interview with you instead, if you’d like. Are you feeling okay to proceed? [If yes, proceed with consent]

Ok, do you agree to participate in this conversation?

Additionally, to help us accurately capture the information you share, we would like to record this conversation. The recording is just a back-up for our notes and will be kept within our small research team and possibly a secure transcription service. Are you okay or not with recording this session? If you are uncomfortable with recording, we will just take notes.

[If permission granted, turn on recorder]

Okay, thank you. We are going to turn on the audio recorder now.

1. Introduction and Background

Thanks so much for agreeing to speak with us! Let’s get to know you a little bit first.

1. Can you tell us your name and role at your organization?

   1. How long have you been in this role?

   2. How does your role relate to the [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM] specifically?

      • Can you provide an overview of your organization’s role in the PDP? How did it first become involved and what is its role now?

2. Can you describe the service landscape for young people at risk of experiencing homelessness prior to the PDP? Describe your community’s readiness to participate in this demonstration?

3. As far as you’re aware, what is [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM] partners’ shared understanding of what prevention means?

   1. How was this shared understanding developed?

   2. Can you provide a general overview of how the PDP is moving “upstream” to prevent youth homelessness?

   3. What were the processes by which these stakeholders identified opportunities to move upstream toward prevention?

   4. What were identified as factors leading youth into homelessness? Which if these seem to represent the greatest inflow into homelessness in your community?

2. Partner Coordination and Community Capacity Expansion and Enhancement

I will now ask some questions about how you collaborate with community partners and how that has affected your ability to serve young people as a community.

1. What kinds of collaborations have you developed with other service providers to assist young people at risk of homelessness as part of [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]?

   1. How helpful have these collaborations been?

2. Who would you say are the primary partners in [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]?

   1. What roles have each played?

   2. How did the partners determine these key players’ roles and responsibilities? To what extent are these roles formalized?

   3. What were the primary tasks and milestones as part of [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM] in the [TIME PERIOD (e.g., last year)?

   4. What, if any, other linkages or partnerships are in progress?

   5. What, if any, other partnerships were attempted but didn’t pan out? What prevented them from moving ahead?

3. What conditions are necessary to form and sustain these collaborations?

   1. What do partners need to do to make these partnerships work?

   2. What would you say are the key factors that facilitated the collaboration and coordination of services?

   3. What would you say are the key factors that impeded the collaboration and coordination of services?

4. How have [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM] partners come together to

   1. Address systemic barriers to safe, stable housing for young people?

   2. Conduct needs assessments?

   3. Test promising prevention strategies?

   4. Develop referral pathways?

   5. Improve existing services models?

5. How has [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM] implementation changed how your team operates?

   1. [NON-DIRECTORS] How has your leadership supported these changes?

6. How successful would you say your partnerships with other organizations as part of [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]?

   1. What do you think the lasting impacts of the partnerships will be?

7. Are there external partners you are not currently collaborating with who you think would be helpful to your work? Why?

3. Leading in Partnership with Youth and Young Adults with Experience of Homelessness

Thanks for all of that. Now I want to talk about the planning process and how young people have been engaged in co-designing prevention strategies.

8. If you know, what was the approach to engaging young people in co-designing the Prevention Plan for [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]?

   1. How were young people identified?

   2. How were they onboarded (e.g., provided required context and background about the Prevention Plan and what collaboration would entail)?

   3. What opportunities were they given to collaborate on the Prevention Plan?

   4. How has young people’s input shaped the content of the Prevention Plan?

9. What do you think was most successful about the co-design process?

   1. What conditions, relationships, and/or resources were necessary to engage young people in co-design efforts?

   2. From your perspective, how positive an experience was this collaboration on the Prevention Plan for young people? Why?

10. What, if anything, made collaborating with young people on the Prevention Plan challenging?

11. How, if at all, have you continued to engage young people in co-design activities for [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]?

4. Program Reach

And now I have a few questions about how you ensure reaching a range of populations in the delivery of youth prevention services and measurement of outcomes.

12. How has the local PDP program ensured reaching a range of young people when looking to design and implement prevention efforts?

    1. Which, if any, specific outcomes have you focused on to measure successes related to reaching a range of young people?

    2. Which, if any, specific systems have you focused on when it comes to reaching a range of young people?

13. How have you conducted community outreach to engage a range of young people in the delivery of prevention services?

    1. What, if any, partnerships have you initiated to do this well?

    2. Are there any groups of young people you have struggled to reach?

14. To what extent do you believe that the RHY PDP project is creating welcoming environments at both the RHY program and in the service organizations youth use, e.g., health, mental health, etc.?

    1. How is the RHY PDP project contributing to welcoming environments?

    2. What more needs to be done with respect to creating welcoming environments?

5. Providers’ Experience of the RHY PDP

I also have a few questions about what it has been like for you to implement [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM].

15. Please describe the role of [CASE MANAGER ROLE NAME] in the [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM] prevention model?

1. How often do your case managers interact with young people?

2. What do they interact about?

   • PROBE: goal setting

   • PROBE: problem-solving

   • PROBE: budgeting and financial

   • PROBE: housing

   • PROBE: education or employment

   • PROBE: family mediation

   • PROBE: permanent connections

   • PROBE: well-being

   • PROBE: other

16. What services and supports do young people receive through [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]?

    1. Who delivers the services?

17. How do you and your partners tailor services for individual young people?

18. In what ways do the case management and services provided through the PDP prevention model differ from other services available to young people?

    1. How have agency staff reoriented to prevention?

    2. How did that change go?

    3. What actions are needed to manage barriers to the work?

    4. What are the most important facilitators?

19. To what extent are there services or resources that young people need to support prevention of homelessness that they’re unable to receive through [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]?

20. What do you think are the greatest successes of [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]? Why?

21. What do you think are the most notable areas for improvement of [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]? Why?

6. Youth Experiences of the RHY PDP

Finally, I also have a few questions about the young people who have participated in [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM].

22. To what extent have young people been able to progress toward their individual goals through participation in [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]?

23. To what extent have young people been able to leverage the project's components (reference specific services provided in a site, example cash assistance, case management, etc.) to avert homelessness?

    1. What was young people’s success with using the cash support? What did they use cash support for?

    2. Where do young people continue to need additional support?

24. To what extent have young people been able to make progress toward short-term indicators of safe, stable housing, education/employment, permanent connections, & well-being through participation in [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM]?

25. To what extent have young people interacted previously with RHY or with other human services programs?

Wrap Up

Is there anything else you’d like to share that seems important for me to understand how the development and implementation of [LOCAL PDP PROGRAM] has gone?

Thank you!

Urban Institute Page 5 of 5 Instrument 3: Site Visit Interview Protocol