Y-HEAR

Y-HEAR-US in Action

Our youth-led Y-PLAN partnership at Oakland High Law and Social Justice Academy (LSJ) identified a third to half of Oakland High students as at risk of homelessness or already unhoused. Extensive surveys of their peers and teachers revealed structural impediments to unhoused student success, including academic support, transportation, and mental health. Though slightly under half of the students surveyed had personally experienced homelessness or knew someone who had, these youth built policy ideas from shared experiences of vulnerability and hard-earned local knowledge.

Over the past five years of collaboration with over 200 Oakland High school students around solutions to student homelessness and dozens of UC Berkeley student mentors to conduct research and brainstorm solutions to this crisis. CC+S PLUS Graduate Student Fellows have produced policy briefs and story maps on housing identification and data systems, academic needs and curricular programming, and the intersection of community and urban planning. These partnerships, which we plan to scale further in coming years, have already achieved major milestones along our three core components of Y-HEAR-US – Collaboration, Curriculum, and Communication –  as cataloged below.

1. Collaboration: Leveraging and Aligning Policy and Action

Through the Y-HEAR initiative, CC+S is forming partnerships with a range of local, regional and statewide government agencies and advocacy groups. 

To date, these collaborations include:

• California Department of Education (CDE) – Homeless Education Services Office 
• Three Homeless Education Technical Assistance Centers (HETACs): Contra Costa County Office of Education, LA County Office of Education, San Diego Office of Education 
• Institute of Educational Leadership and their Community Schools Coalition
• UCLA Center for Community Schooling  
• 21st Century School Leadership Academy (21CSLA)
• National Center for Youth Law (NCYL)

We have also co-hosted a number of events to bring statewide leaders together to transform the status quo of student homelessness.

2. Curriculum: Activating College and Career Readiness

Y-PLAN students and partners at Oakland High School Law and Social Justice Academy (LSJ) launched a multi-year Y-PLAN action research initiative focused on improving conditions and resources for unhoused students and families facing housing insecurity.