UCS News: 2018 Homelessness Count; TAY; Staff Promotion

January 11, 2017

Johnson County Prepares for 2018 Homelessness

Point-in-Time Count

Each year, Johnson County's Continuum of Care on Homelessness (CoC) conducts a count of persons experiencing homelessness in the county to better understand how many are experiencing homelessness, their households' characteristics and identify local gaps in housing and supports. As the CoC's lead agency, UCS works each year with its partner organizations to collect and compile the data to better serve some of the community's most vulnerable households.

In 2018, data will be collected on where households slept on Tuesday January 23, 2018. The purpose of the Point-in-Time Count is to enumerate the number of persons who slept overnight in emergency shelter, transitional housing, or in places not meant for human habitation (e.g. on the streets, in their car, in abandoned buildings, in temporary camps). Local services organizations and volunteers will be collecting the data Wednesday through Friday, January 24-26. The count is a snapshot of who is experiencing homelessness in the county on one day - their ages, type of households, barriers to housing and employment, and other characteristics. Understanding who experiences homelessness locally assists housing and service providers plan for appropriate services and supports to partner with households to regain safe and stable housing.

Results of the 2017 Point-in-Time Count for Johnson County Homelessness can be viewed here.

Transitional-Age Youth in Johnson County

United Community Services released its most recent fact sheet today on the trends and needs of young adults 18-24 years of age in Johnson County, often referred to as transitional-age youth (TAY). These young adults are in a critical developmental stage of life. It is often the time when young people prepare to launch into independence, higher education, or full-time employment, setting the foundation for their future.

Those who enter this stage without the support of family connections or a financial safety net are more likely to fall behind and experience poverty as adults.

In 2016, UCS published From Foster Care To Independence: An Assessment of Best Practices to Support Youth Who Age Out of Foster Care and is currently leading a collaborative Transitional-Age Youth Planning Project to improve outcomes for at-risk members of this population.

UCS Promotes Kathryn Evans Madden

UCS is proud to announce the promotion of Kathryn Evans Madden to Director of Education and Planning. She had been the Poverty Project Manager for UCS since 2015, leading UCS' Poverty Project. UCS' Executive Director, Julie Brewer, noted that Evans Madden has taken on a number of leadership roles within the organization during the last few years including facilitating the Transitional-Age Youth Planning Project and the Johnson County Health Equity Network community collaboration. Additionally, her education, research and data analysis role has expanded with the organization. The promotion recognizes Evans Madden's growing leadership responsibilities.

Prior to joining UCS, Evans Madden was the lead community organizer for Communities Creating Opportunity (CCO), where she managed grassroots campaigns for racial and health equity in the Kansas City urban core, and led an initiative to develop a community organizing and public health integration model focused on building civic leadership to address social determinants of health.

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