The Division of Youth and Family Services (YFS) within Mecklenburg County’s Department of Social Services (DSS) partnered with First Place for Youth (First Place) to conduct a thorough ecosystem mapping and analysis. The analysis focused on understanding and addressing the needs and gaps of the system serving the county’s older foster youth (18-21) who are preparing to transition out of foster care. The comprehensive analysis process involved extensive stakeholder interviews, targeted focus groups, data analysis, desk research, and meaningful listening sessions with over a dozen youth with lived experience in foster care and encompassed an evaluation of services provided, available community resources, policies, and agency capacity.

To launch the endeavor, a group of young adults with lived experience in the system, YFS staff, and other key stakeholders co-created a future vision for how the system can support older foster youth in the years ahead: “All youth and young adults transitioning out of foster care in Mecklenburg County have the life skills required to thrive and attain self-sufficiency by age 21.”

Mecklenburg County Community Support Services’ Housing Innovation and Stabilization Services Division was also engaged to share insights on other supportive housing models throughout Charlotte-Mecklenburg.  Although funding and resources existed for this vulnerable population, deeper investment and more strategic engagement were necessary in order to create better outcomes for aged out youth.

This blog provides an overview of key learnings and recommendations from the ecosystem analysis and how Mecklenburg County is moving from insights to action to improve outcomes for youth transitioning out of foster care.

As we begin the 2023-2024 school year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) already has 2,369 students who are enrolled in McKinney-Vento services. CMS closed out the 2022-2023 school year with 4,815 homeless students, a 15% increase from the 4,206 students (including Pre-K and younger siblings) who experienced homelessness and housing instability during the 2021-2022 school year. Homelessness has a significant impact on the physical and mental health of children, often resulting in diminished social-emotional and academic well-being. Children experiencing homelessness and housing instability are at risk for higher rates of school absenteeism, poorer performance in math and reading assessments, school suspensions, and have an elevated risk of high school drop out.

This blog provides an overview of student homelessness and the services that are in place to support them.

In May 2020, at the onset of COVID-19, Mecklenburg County opened a hotel to provide a safe, non-congregate setting for older adults who were experiencing homelessness and had  health conditions that made them high risk for morbidity if they contracted COVID-19.  In 2022, Mecklenburg County invested $13.6 million dollars of American Rescue Plan Act funding to buy and renovate a 90-unit hotel to provide permanent, affordable, supportive housing to serve this vulnerable population. Phase One of the renovations were recently completed and on June 29th, the 29 remaining residents of the hotel were relocated to fully furnished apartments in the hotel conversion project.

This blog provides an overview of the state and nature of older adult homelessness and what’s being done locally to address the housing needs of this growing population.