Descriptive Overview:African American Youth in Transitional Living Programs

Von E. Nebbitt, PhDAssistant Professor

E. Franklin Frazier Center for Social Work ResearchHoward University

Introduction

African American youth are one of our nation’s most vulnerable populations

They are: Over-represented in Juvenile Justice System Under-served by mental health community Failed by public education Second lease likely to be insured Most likely to live in impoverish urban areas

Introduction African American youth are also over-

represented among runaway/homeless youth in urban areas Being homeless probably increases their

vulnerabilities exponentially

It is likely that runaway/homeless AA youth are more susceptible to gangs and involvement in alternative market activities: to wit, prostitution & drugs

BUT WE DON’T KNOW THIS FOR SURE!

Introduction The current state of Runaway/Homeless

African American youth is ambiguous at best and totally unknown at worse A thorough portrayal of this population is not

readily available in the empirical literature Therefore, a definitive statement about their

physical, mental, academic and emotional status is not possible

A logical first step in this area of research is to began to pull together the pieces of this puzzle

Purpose

The purpose of this presentation is to provide a descriptive overview of African American youth in transitional living programs

Data Source

Family & Youth Service Bureau’s (FYSB)Transitional Living Program (TLP)

FY 2002 – FY2006

Transitional Living Program Provide homeless youth ages 16 to 21 with stable, safe longer-term residential services up to 18 months (or longer if the youth has not reached age 18)

Population Characteristics Original data set includes 20391

Includes five waves 2002 to 2006 33% (6617) African American 57 % (11636) female 78 % (16242) heterosexual

Subsample Criterion

African American youth Complete data (i.e. entry, service and exit

data) for all years No repeat data (Only one visit for this youth

within this data) Resulted in subsample of 4263

What did we find?

Demographic Characteristics

63%

36%

1%

Female

Male

Other

Data on age (date of birth) and sexual orientation

did not convert to SPSS

Living Situation at Entry

21%

9%

54%

7%2%1%1% 4% 1%

Shelter

On Streets

Private Res.

Res. Prog.

DetentionCenterMH Hosp.

Military

Other

Unknown

Referral Source

23%

20%

6%12%

6%1%

18%

2%1%1%1% 5% 3% 1%

Self

Individual

SOP

Temp. Shelter

Res. Prog.

Hotline

Other

Juv. Justice

Law Force

Faith base

Mental Hos.

School

Other

Unknown

Employment Status at Entry

31%

2%

43%

11%

3%6% 4% Fulltime

Seasonal

NW - Looking

NW-In school

NW-unable

NW-Not looking

Unknown

Percent in Foster Care

33%

7%

60%

Not FC

In FC

Missing

Youth in Foster Care Spent on Average 3.75 years in care

Percent in Juvenile Justice Involved

37%

3%

60%

Not JJ Involved

JJ involved

Missing

Youth in Juvenile Justice System Spent on Average 4 years in system

School Status

33%

10%20%

6%

23%

1%1% 6%Regular

Irregular

Graduated

GED

Drop-out

Suspended

Expelled

Unknown

Highest Grade Completed

1%1% 5%

79%

6%6% 1%1%

5 <

5th - 6th

7th - 8th

9th - 12th

GED

Some Colg.

School w/o grades

Unknown

Teen Parenthood

26%

12%

2%

60%

No Child

Children

Unknown

Missing

Limitations to this exploration Some important indices lost in conversion High number of missing observation on foster

care and juvenile justice involvement Wasn’t able to disaggregate to examine

annual trends Many indices are grouped (i.e., highest grade

completed 9 – 12)

What do we know from TLP data? Twice as many females use TLP Most in TLP youth come from private

residents Very few of the youth have children Most are in school of have graduated or have

GEDs

What don’t we know from TLP data? Actual scope of the population or the

problem Rate of runaway/homeless service use for

African American youth Individual, familial & community antecedence

to runaway/homeless episodes Factors that contribute to stable residency or

independent living following an episode

Next Steps Identify existing runaway/homeless youth

data sets that included African American youth to attempt to understand the breadth and the scope of the problem Prevalence and annual incidence of runaway /

homelessness among African American youth Set-up runaway / homeless surveillance

systems in urban areas where African American youth are likely to hang-out (i.e., housing projects)

Thank You

Any Questions?