Skip to main content

Youth Action Board

Salt Lake County Youth Services Youth Action Board (YAB) is a youth-driven Board, unified in preventing and ending youth homelessness. The YAB mission is to advocate, empower, and elevate youth voices within the CoC and Salt Lake County (SLCo), with an emphasis on bringing about change and creating avenues for partnership and collaboration. In support of its mission, the YAB purpose is to provide youth perspective, voice, and expertise to the CoC and extended SLCo community.

The Youth Action Board brings youth perspectives and expertise to Salt Lake County Youth Services to promote continuous quality improvement. The Youth Action Board is composed of 5-7 members.  You can meet the current Youth Action Board members and learn more the current board. Each member is approved by sitting members and must be between the ages of 16-24 years of age. Members shall broadly represent Salt Lake County Youth Services and reflect the diverse geography, economy, culture, gender, philosophy, and community of Salt Lake County Youth Services. The Youth Action Board will provide an application to the requesting/recommended individual. Members are required to make a 1 (one) year commitment. Each member can serve 3-4 terms of commitment, 1 year in each position. 

Join the Youth Action Board!

If you are interested in becoming a member of the YAB, please fill out the application below.  If you have specific questions, please email Mina Koplin. 

Youth Action Board Application
Youth Action Board Referral
YAB Onboarding

About the Youth Action Board

Salt Lake County Youth Services (YS) Youth Action Board (YAB) is a youth-driven Board, unified in preventing and ending youth homelessness. The YAB mission is to advocate, empower, and elevate youth voices within the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness and Salt Lake County (SLCo), with an emphasis on bringing about change and creating avenues for partnership and collaboration. In support of its mission, the YAB purpose is to provide youth perspective, voice, and expertise to Salt Lake County Youth Services,  Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness and the extended SLCo community. 

Authentic youth collaboration is defined in our community as young people who are respected and valued for their unique perspective, experience, skills and are integrated into the decision-making process. This type of collaboration goes beyond simply giving young people a seat at the table and not having tokenistic youth engagement; it requires a genuine commitment to create an opportunity for youth to lead and take ownership of their experiences. Authentic youth collaboration in our community is a meaningful and equitable partnership between young people and adults working together to create a positive change in their community. It involves a process of engaging youth in decision-making, planning, and implementation of projects that impact their lives and the lives of those around them. It requires adults to learn from and be led by young people. Authentic youth collaboration is about empowering young people to be the change in their communities and creating a more just and equitable society for all.  

The YAB Guiding Principles are:

  • Commitment to Purpose: Focused on preventing and ending youth homelessness.
  • Representation: Amplifying a variety of youth perspectives.
  • Authentic Collaboration: Building meaningful partnerships that empower youth leadership.
  • Catalyst for Change: Bridging youth and community to foster better outcomes for all.
  • Leadership and Advocacy: Promoting equity and youth-driven solutions.

Core Beliefs

  • Youth voices make a difference.
  • The YAB’s work has a tangible impact on the community.
  • Youth deserve to be heard and respected.

Goals

  1. Elevate Youth Voices: Ensure that youth perspectives are integrated into community discussions and decisions.
  2. Raise Awareness: Highlight youth issues and needs in the community.
  3. Promote Equitable Partnerships: Work with government, business, and community stakeholders to achieve equity for youth.
  4. Provide Expertise: Share insights with YS and the SLVCEH.
  5. Organize Community Activities: Identify and lead events addressing youth priorities.
  6. Promote Continuous Improvement: Support ongoing evaluation and enhancement of youth-focused programs.

Youth leadership and youth voice are critical to the success of Youth Services (YS). The YS Youth Action Board (YAB) provides this opportunity. In collaboration with our community, their vision is to prevent and end youth experiencing homelessness, by housing that is supportive and equitable, creating pathways of employment, education, and leadership to ensure youth experiencing homelessness is rare, brief, and nonrecurring. With an emphasis of recognizing systematic failure for youth identifying as BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+.   

YAB provides an opportunity for youth to advocate, it gives them a voice and aids them in progressing through emerging adulthood with a sense of leadership and a focus on lived experience and youth voice. It provides an opportunity for youth to lead through a paid Peer Mentor position that requires an average of five hours of work monthly. YAB provides feedback at a monthly meeting on policies and rules for YS from a youth/client perspective and collaborates with State and local partners including the SLCo Mayor as requested. YAB is actively involved in supporting and participating with the SLCo Milestone Transitional Living Program (MTLP) service projects and program implementation.  

The lived experience experts of YAB, in partnership with MTLP staff, provide MTLP youth and youth in the broader community with opportunities to be involved in community service and service-learning activities. All participating youth receive education on how to become a YAB member, which provides ongoing referrals for YAB, fosters the peer mentor role, and promotes long-term youth engagement.  

YAB was involved in the renovation of a Sandy Milestone Home, providing design feedback and engaging in a service project for the Ribbon Cutting and dinner on July 15, 2024. In partnership with MTLP staff and participants, YAB helped set up, decorate, present, and take down a dinner for 180 community members. The purpose of the dinner was to educate public officials and community members on the MTLP and how to duplicate the MTLP model throughout the state.   

For the past two years, the MTLP and YAB have partnered with VOA YRC, to complete a youth-specific PIT, previously described. This required the MTLP and YAB leadership to attend PIT Work Group meetings and collaborate with YRC administration to plan the youth count at the YRC youth shelter, including the plan for food and activities for youth experiencing homelessness. YAB members create flyers to notify YEH of the date and time of the count, collect donations, and deliver donations on the day of the event. YAB produced a youth-specific PIT count training video, as an online education resource for the community. The YAB further improved the PIT and Housing Inventory Count for youth who enter the homelessness system.    

YAB members have also presented at national trainings, to local elected officials, and to community members. 

  • Provide youth perspective and expertise to Youth Services and Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness on issues that affect youth and youth experiencing homelessness in our community
  • Provide the primary communication link for youth to government, business, and the entire community on a variety of subjects and opportunities
  • Identify and advocate for the needs of youth in our community
  • Identify and carry out events and activities for the community which are important to youth
  •  Promote continuous quality improvement 

YAB Achievements

For the past three years, the YAB has partnered with Volunteers of America (VOA), Youth Resource Center (YRC), to complete a youth-specific PIT. The "Youth Point in Time Count" in Salt Lake County (SLCO) refers to a yearly count conducted to assess the number of young people experiencing homelessness within the county, usually taking place during the last week of January as part of the broader "Point in Time Count" mandated by HUD; this data is crucial for understanding the scope of youth homelessness and allocating resources to address it.

Key points about the Youth Point in Time Count in SLCO:

  • Focus on youth:

This count specifically targets individuals under the age of 25 experiencing homelessness, including both sheltered and unsheltered populations.

  • Part of a larger count:

The youth count is conducted alongside the overall Point-in-Time Count, which captures all individuals experiencing homelessness in the county.

  • Data usage:

The information gathered from the youth count informs policies and funding decisions related to youth homelessness prevention and intervention programs.

  • Volunteer involvement:

The count relies on volunteers who go out into the community to identify and interview individuals experiencing homelessness.

This required the YAB leadership to attend PIT Work Group meetings and collaborate with YRC administration to plan the youth count at the YRC youth shelter, including the plan for food and activities for youth experiencing homelessness. YAB members create flyers to notify youth experiencing homelessness of the date and time of the count, collect donations, and deliver donations on the day of the event. YAB produced a youth-specific PIT count training video, as an online education resource for the community. The YAB further improved the PIT and Housing Inventory Count for youth who enter the homelessness system.  

YAB supported the Milestone expansion in Millcreeek.  YAB has supported the Milestone and Salt Lake Rotary partnership to expand the MTLP, by participating in a fundraising film for SL Rotary, attending the Rotary fundraising kick off and writing a letter to support a $2.9 Million dollar Office of Homelessness Services  grant -  that was awarded to SL Rotary in August 2023.

YAB was also involved in the renovation of a Sandy Milestone home that was featured in the Salt Lake Parade of Homes. They provided design feedback and engaged in a service project for the Ribbon Cutting and dinner on July 15, 2024. In partnership with Milestone staff and participants, YAB helped to decorate, set up, present, and take down a dinner for 180 community members. The purpose of this dinner was to educate public officials and community members on the Milestone Program and how to duplicate the their model throughout the state.   

In September 2022 the SLCo Youth Services Youth Action Board (YAB) met with Homebase to address youth homelessness as a priority for our states homeless strategic plan and to request a Youth Needs Assessment (YNA). The meeting was a success! The 2023 state strategic plan included not only youth and young adults experiencing homelessness as a priority, but also a recommendation for a YNA.

Led by the YAB, funding was secured to complete a youth needs assessment* with Corporation of Supportive Housing. This was published in the fall of 2024. The results have informed improvements and approaches by all community partners serving youth experiencing homelessness.

*Based on 2023 data.

In 2023, Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness, with YAB leading the way, applied and was awarded $2.75 million dollar Youth Homeless Demonstration Grant. The grant provided the Youth Action Board.  

The YHDP will provide your community with the funding, technical assistance, and flexibility to develop and implement a coordinated community approach to youth homelessness that matches the needs, assets, constraints, and preferences of your community stakeholders. 

What does HUD expect of selected communities?

  • Communities will work with HUD technical assistance teams to develop and implement a Coordinated Community Plan (CCP) to prevent and end youth homelessness. This plan will be due to HUD within 6 months of the announcement of community selection (April 24, 2024).
  • The local YHDP team is expected to engage all the partners included in their YHDP application Collaboration Chart and as many of the other local stakeholders listed in the YHDP Notice of Funding Opportunity as possible. The local YHDP team will include, at a minimum, the Youth Action Board and Public Child Welfare agencies.
  • Youth engagement and leadership is critical throughout the planning and implementation of YHDP projects. Communities must ensure that the Youth Action Boards have resources to be full partners in this work.
  • Communities will try new approaches, models, and methodologies, and work with HUD to share their experiences with these innovations with the rest of the country.

KSL News report on YHDP Award.