Point Source Youth

Grateful to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities for spotlighting innovative community-led solutions that use direct cash assistance to stabilize people experiencing homelessness and housing instability. PSY’s collaboration with Chapin Hall through the Trust Youth Initiative is making an impact on young people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco and New York City! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eu9gv3Dj

Reminder! The 2025 Innovation Summit is less than a month away! The Portland, OR event will take place on January 14-15, and tickets are almost sold-out. Get yours today at https://lnkd.in/e6TBmETq!"

ICYMI: Two weeks ago, PSY staff Lauren Wilkie and Anjala Huff, along with PSY Youth Consultant Garrett Mason, had the privilege of presenting at the RHY National Grantee Training in Atlanta. We shared insights about the National Prevention Learning Collaborative (NPLC) and our innovative approach to Direct Cash Transfers as Prevention (DCT-P). It was an inspiring opportunity to highlight our work while learning from the incredible efforts of grantees and attendees across the country. Together, we’re shaping strategies that make a real difference in youth homelessness prevention and advocacy.

Join us in welcoming Lady Shug to our Innovation Summit! She will be speaking on a panel entitled, Honoring Indigenous & Queer Legacies in Movement Building, and will performing! Lady Shug is a proud Indigenous drag artist, born for the Diné (Navajo) Nation, raised in the Four Corners area of New Mexico. Lady Shug has been entertaining audiences for over 10+ years, beginning her career with nightly performances on the Las Vegas Strip. Recently, Lady Shug felt called to return home to the Navajo Reservation and now lives along the Arizona-New Mexico border. As a community activist, Lady Shug works with grassroots collectives to fight for equal rights for her 2SLGBTQ+ Indigenous relatives living in rural areas and on reservations that have long denied them equal treatment. Lady Shug uses her platform to connect her passions for drag and activism to raise awareness and stand in solidarity with social movements.

Join us at our Innovation Summit for this dynamic and impactful youth-led keynote where young leaders at the forefront of the movement to end youth homelessness will share their stories, challenges, and visions for the future. These young advocates will highlight the critical role young people play in shaping policies, creating solutions, and making systemic change. This session is an invitation to listen, learn, and engage in the conversation about how we can all work together to build a more inclusive, equitable future. Register at https://lnkd.in/e6TBmETq.

Direct Cash Transfers are one of the most fast and effective interventions we have to end and prevent youth homelessness. This story about a young person who received a one time DCT-P payment while in the DCT-P Pilot with Lifeworks shows us how efficient and transformative these community-based programs can be.

Last week we met with 47 amazing young people who provided crucial insight that will inform the DCT and DCTP projects that will be launching in 2025 with LAHSA and Youth Emissary respectively. We had two days of thoughtful conversations, knowledge sharing, and creativity, led collaboratively by PSY youth consultants and staff. Here is a quote from a participant "My hope for young people who receive cash is that they'll be able to feed themselves. They'll be able to wash clothes or pay a bill. They'll be able to find suitable housing and they'll treat themselves. They'll be able to get gas for their car. They'll be able to get medicine they need and pet care."

As we approach our 10th Anniversary next year, we’ve reorganized our work to focus specifically on the interventions that we believe will work best to prevent and end youth homelessness—initiatives that empower young people by placing resources directly in their hands. This #GivingTuesday, you can join us in putting power and resources directly in the hands of young people. Over the next year, with your help, we’ll double our reach from 15 to 30 communities across the country–and then expand to empower tens of thousands of young people to thrive–by piloting and scaling Direct Cash Transfers to reach those who need it most in places such as Washington state, Los Angeles, Oregon, and beyond. Help sustain the movement to end youth homelessness at https://lnkd.in/d9Th7SR.

Sharing this amazing paid storytelling program opportunity for NYC content creators and artists across a range of mediums to share their stories about unstable housing and homelessness over the course of 2025. Our friends at the Housing Narrative Lab are launching this paid NYC-based program called I ❤ Home: NYC Story Exchange. Check out the application form here! https://bit.ly/4iaOQVA

Direct cash transfer programs are being recognized as a powerful and effective intervention to prevent youth homelessness. At PSY, we’re proud to lead the charge on Direct Cash Transfers as Prevention, helping young people stay safe and stably housed in their communities. Thank you for amplifying DCT-Ps in your research ORS Impact & Community Solutions! Check out this report to learn more about DCT-Ps! ORS Impact & Community Solutions, Inc. https://bit.ly/4eHtr35