Preventing Youth Homelessness Series Webinar: Identifying Student Risks through Project Upstream

The prevention of homelessness for youth and children necessitates interventions at crossroads, stabilizing young people’s living situations before such instability culminates in homelessness. Ideally, these risk factors can be identified within school environments. Enter Project Upstream, an Australia-conceived and Canada-championed model for preventing child and youth homelessness through school-based assessments and supports. Upstream has shown promise wherever it has been piloted, achieving priorities for homelessness and education advocates alike. But this evidence-based intervention is nascent in the United States.

This webinar, then, explores the experiences of funders and advocates in Canada who have shepherded Project Upstream from the beginning. Joining US-based research powerhouse, Chapin Hall, we will discuss what makes these initiatives successful, what challenges they experience, how they differ from other school-based assessments, what it would take to expand Project Upstream in the States, and where such interventions fit in our broader movement.