KEYS

KEYS to a Future Without Youth Homelessness (KEYS) is the comprehensive community plan to end youth homelessness, written by community stakeholders with leadership from Strategies to End Homelessness and Lighthouse Youth & Family Services. As of 2019, the Children’s Law Center became a funded partner of KEYS through HUD and has since worked through this program to combat legal barriers to housing faced by youth ages 18-24 in partnership with several youth-serving shelters. CLC helms this effort to remove legal barriers to housing by hosting open office hours at local youth shelters, accepting direct referrals from case managers, hosting clinics to assist and educate youth in legal matters, representing youth in sealing and expunging records which prevent them from securing housing, assisting youth.

As the legal advocates, Children’s Law Center attorneys will provide direct legal services while ensuring that the child and family of the child are linked to other services and organizations. 

Through the program, Children’s Law Center will work to advocate for youth in pursuing four major outcomes: economic opportunity, stable and supportive living situations, safety and well-being, and self-advocacy. Specific outcomes include school or college enrollment, employment, job training or assistance programs, graduation, GED, improved educational supports, grade promotion, and improvement in school attendance.

For each client receiving services, the Children’s Law Center will help them identify their goals, create a case plan for achieving those goals, and provide services or referrals to other agencies/organizations to assist in obtaining identified goals and outcomes.