Family and Youth Services Bureau
Runaway and Homeless Youth
Training and Technical Assistance Centers

History

The Family and Youth Services Bureau’s (FYSB’s) Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) Provider system was first established by Congress as a “coordinated network” of regional providers through the Juvenile Justice Amendments of 1977 (Public Law 95–115) to the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (Public Law 93–415).  The system is currently authorized by Part D, Section 342, of the RHYA, as amended by the Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children Protection Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–96). 

In FY 2007, the regional T/TA network was reorganized into two national Centers—the Runaway and Homeless Youth Training Center and the Runaway and Homeless Youth Technical Assistance Center—that provide comprehensive services to all Runaway and Homeless Youth Program grantees. FYSB has cooperative agreements with the University of Oklahoma National Resource Center for Youth Services to run both centers.

Purpose and Services Provided

The centers assist FYSB grantee agencies in developing new approaches to serving runaway and homeless youth, in accessing new resources, and in establishing linkages with other grantees with similar interests and concerns. Through the centers, FYSB tracks trends in youth and family issues, identifies and shares best practices, sponsors conferences and workshops, and provides direct T/TA.

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Training Center coordinates:

• The National Transitional Living Program Meeting held in collaboration with ACF’s Children’s Bureau’s annual Pathways to Adulthood Conference
  
  
• The annual National Runaway and Homeless Youth Conference, which highlights current FYSB priorities as well as best practices among grantees in FYSB’s Basic Center, Street Outreach, Maternity Group Home, and Transitional Living Programs
  
  
• Skill-based training sessions that provide opportunities for hands-on participation, direct observation, and expert feedback
  
  
• Distance learning training that focuses on core competencies needed by youth workers; courses are offered online and address topics such as Positive Youth Development, dynamics of runaway and homeless youth, cultural competency, crisis counseling, street culture, conflict resolution, resiliency, asset-based approaches, mental health issues, and staff safety and boundaries

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Technical Assistance Center offers:

• Intensive skill-based technical assistance for newly funded and/or inexperienced grantees
  
  
• Program-specific, individualized technical assistance through consultation; consultation may be provided onsite, via telephone, or through a combination of strategies that address and correct programmatic and administrative concerns
  
  
• Technical assistance that addresses the grantee’s program-specific needs, as identified by monitoring reports, Runaway and Homeless Youth Management Information Systems data, and corrective action reports
  
  
• Information sharing, especially regarding new and emerging information concerning service provision and best practices
  
  
• Technical assistance clinics on targeted grantee issues

Contact Information

Runaway and Homeless Youth Training and Technical Assistance Centers
The University of Oklahoma OUTREACH
4502 East 41st Street, Building 4W
Tulsa, OK  74135-2512
(800) 806-2711
www.nrcys.ou.edu/rhyttac
rhytraining@ou.edu
rhytechnicalassistance@ou.edu