Point Source Youth, NYU Silver Announce Third National Symposium on Solutions to End Youth Homelessness

Point Source Youth, a national organization dedicated to ending youth homelessness, and NYU Silver School of Social Work have announced the Third National Symposium on Solutions to End Youth Homelessness, which will be held from June 17-19, 2019, at NYU Skirball Center in New York City. The event will build on the knowledge shared at this year’s Second National Symposium on Solutions to End Youth Homeless, videos and presentations from which are now available.

The symposium will bring together more than 700 national leaders to discuss implementing solutions that work to end youth homelessness. The three-day event, facilitated by youth with lived experience of homelessness, will feature plenary sessions and interactive breakouts with service providers, researchers, advocates, policymakers, and funders.

Topics that will be addressed include structural barriers to ending youth homelessness; generational trauma; youth leadership and empowerment; supporting trans and queer youth of color; host homes as an alternative to shelters; supporting youth in rural communities; securing funding for new programs; and the latest research on youth homelessness and LGBTQ youth homelessness. The symposium will also focus on building local and regional networks of staff and youth addressing youth homelessness who can continue to support each other throughout the year.

“We are thrilled to once again help bring together hundreds of leaders from across the country who are doing amazing work in their communities to support homeless youth,” said Larry Cohen, Executive Director of Point Source Youth. “Being able to share model programs throughout the country that build relationships across regions is incredibly powerful for our mission to end youth homelessness.”

NYU Silver Professor Deborah K. Padgett, co-lead of the Social Work Grand Challenge to End Homelessness and first author of Housing First: Ending Homelessness, Transforming Systems and Changing Lives (Oxford University Press, 2015), said, “It is unacceptable that one in ten young adults in America experiences homelessness over the course of a year. We hold this annual symposium to share the latest knowledge, promote the implementation of promising approaches, and redouble our collective advocacy to end the youth homelessness crisis.”

Registration for the Third National Symposium on Solutions to End Youth Homelessness will open in November.

Point Source Youth's mission is to work with 50 communities across the country to scale-up host homes, rapid rehousing, and family strengthening programs to end youth homelessness with a special focus on supporting LGBTQ youth.

NYU Silver School of Social Work provides a robust and engaging environment for the education of professional social workers, offering undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degree programs. The School serves as a major postgraduate training center for practicing social workers through its Office of Global and Lifelong Learning. Founded in 1960 and renowned for a strong tradition of excellence in direct social work practice and dedication to social justice, NYU Silver has provided rigorous training to over 18,000 social work practitioners and leaders in every area of the field.