Guidelines for

Homeless Youth Population Survey  

A Project of the Garden State Coalition 
for Youth and Family Concerns, Inc.
330 Washington Street
Newark, NJ  07102 (973) 286-3404

VII.  STREET OUTREACH 

Street outreach forms the heart of the survey strategy in counting homeless youth. It is best to builds on an existing runaway and homeless youth street outreach program. 

Mapping. Based on the street outreach experiences of outreach workers, organizations should identify and map a number sites where homeless youth can most often be found. Chart 1 below provides an example of a breakout of sites as identified by street outreach workers. This Chart defines each site by location, identifies it by zone, characteristics, supervisor, youth volunteer and adult volunteers assigned, day and date, and time of coverage

Chart 1

Site	Location	Zone	Characteristic	Supervisor	Youth Assigned	Volunteer Assigned	Day & Date

Definitions. Definitions are provided for each of these terms for planning purposes. 

Site: Sites are designated number (ex: 1,2,3, etc.), and must be defined by a number of contiguous blocks, a building, a street, a group of houses or an area in a mall. 

Location: Defines the exact location of the site by address.

Zone: Defines a group of contiguous sites, thus within a zone, there may be more than one site.

Characteristics: Because neighborhoods differ both as to ethnic makeup, language requirements and degrees of danger, it is suggested that each zone be characterized as such, so that resources may be efficiently and effectively deployed.

Homeless Youth: Youth in need of services, who are without a place of residence where they can receive supervision and care. Includes runaway youth, who by their own actions, are away from home at least overnight. Also includes throwaways, or children whose status is not the result of their own actions or personal qualities, but a result of being pushed out or leaves due to severe circumstances.

Couch Surfing: "Couch surfers" is the vernacular term used to describe the phenomenon of a homeless youth staying within someone else's home, until they have exhausted their stay, thereafter moving on to another individual who will provide them with a place to sleep. This describes a particularly hidden population of homeless youth, some of whom are compromising their own safety by trading sex or other favors in exchange for shelter.

Team: A street outreach team is comprised ideally of adult supervisor, a youth and a volunteer. The roles and functions of the different members may change depending on the circumstances, however, interviews are most often conducted by the youth while the other members of the team perform their regular outreach functions. 

Day, Date, Coverage: While time and dates of coverage are important for making assignments it must at times remain flexible. Weather and other circumstances may make increased coverage of some areas a necessity.

Volunteer Recruitment (youth and adults): It is important to recruit volunteers that have appropriate characteristics which allow for quick acceptance by youth on the streets, and an inherent comfort level with walking all parts of the community. A quick and easy rapport with youth on the street may assist in timely and genuine surveys. In addition, it may be prudent to provide basic training in safety protocols for street work to all volunteers. It is recommended that organizations utilize street outreach workers to carry out this training. All volunteers should be asked to follow accepted agency procedures for safety, such as working in teams, carrying cell phones, and wearing identification.

Back to V Time Period of Survey & VI Scope of Information Collection

Next Section: VIII Shelters & Food Kitchens, IX Institutions