2013-2028
Phase I (2013-2017)
Phase I of this project (YARH-1) provided evaluation-related technical assistance to organizations awarded planning grants for the development of interventions for youth and young adults with child welfare involvement who are most likely to experience homelessness. Key project tasks included providing technical assistance on use of data required to inform planning activities and on the development of evaluation plans; conducting evaluability assessments; and conducting a process evaluation of grantees’ planning processes and outcomes.
Phase II (2015-2021)
Phase II of this project (YARH-2) provides evaluation-related support for organizations awarded implementation grants for the further development and testing of interventions for youth and young adults with child welfare involvement who are most likely to experience homelessness. Key project tasks include conducting evaluability assessments, providing technical assistance on use of data required to inform implementation and continuous quality improvement activities and on the development of formative evaluation plans; and conducting a process evaluation of grantees’ implementation processes and outcomes.
Between February-May 2021, The Child Welfare Information Gateway hosted five national webinars, each focused on one of the YARH-2 grantees. These webinars featured lessons learned and shared additional resources and tools. The webinars can be found on the Children’s Bureau Discretionary Grants Youth At-Risk of Homelessness section of the Child Welfare Information Gateway.
Phase III (2019-2028)
Phase III of YARH (YARH-3) will continue to provide important information to the field by supporting organizations from Phase II in evidence-building activities, including providing evaluation-related TA; assessing sites’ readiness for summative evaluation; designing and conducting a federally led evaluation of at least one comprehensive service model, including an implementation study and an impact study; and disseminating knowledge gained through project activities. The evaluation team will work closely with ACF, a broad range of relevant groups and individuals, and selected experts so that the TA activities and evaluation will yield timely findings that inform policy and practice.
Key Project Activities:
- Assess sites’ suitability and preparedness for participating in a summative evaluation and other evidence-building activities.
- Provide TA designed to help sites participate in evidence-building activities, including disseminating formative evaluation findings on the initial implementation and outcomes of sites’ interventions. TA includes individualized assistance to YARH sites and peer- or group-based learning on topics relevant to multiple sites.
- Provide focused TA to support formative evaluation activities.
- Design and conduct a federally led summative evaluation of at least one intervention implemented by a site.
This work is being conducted through a contract to Mathematica.
Point(s) of contact: Mary Mueggenborg.
The study for YARH-2 is registered on the Open Science Framework under the title Building Capacity to Evaluate Interventions for Youth/ Youth Adults with Child Welfare Involvement At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) Visit disclaimer page.
The study for YARH-3 is registered on the Open Science Framework under the title YARH-3: Building Capacity to Evaluate Interventions for Youth/Young Adults with Child Welfare Involvement At-Risk of Homelessness - Summative Evaluation .
Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0445 and #0970-0574. Related materials are available at the
- YARH-1 and YARH-2
- YARH-3 (Supporting Youth to be Successful in Life [SYSIL] Study) information collection page on RegInfo.gov
The most currently approved documents are accessible by clicking on the ICR Ref. No. with the most recent conclusion date. To access the information collections (E.g. interviews, surveys, protocols), click on View Information Collection (IC) List. Click on View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to access other supplementary documents.