The Street Outreach Program (SOP), administered by the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), Administration on Children, Youth and Families, provides outreach to runaway and homeless youth on the streets or in areas that increase the risk of sexual exploitation with the goal to help young people get off the streets. To that end, the program promotes efforts by its funded grantees to build relationships between street outreach workers and homeless street youth. Grantees also provide support services that aim to move youth into shelter or stable housing and prepare them for independence. Homeless youth also use SOP drop-in centers to shower, eat a hot meal or obtain food coupons, receive hygiene kits, and/or obtain referrals for medical, dental, mental health, or social services.

The aim of the SOP Data Collection Study was to obtain information on service utilization and needs from a subset of homeless street youth being served by a cohort of SOP grantees funded in fiscal year 2010 (data collection occurred in 2013). The goal was to learn about the needs of street youth from their perspective, to better understand which services youth found helpful or not helpful, and to identify alternative services they felt could be useful to them. The SOP Data Collection Study included standardized collection of data from youth served by 11 grantees. Data were collected from youth via computerassisted personal interviews and focus groups. The participants included street youth served by FYSB’s SOP grantees and street youth who were not currently using services from SOP grantees. The 11 grantee sites were: Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MN; New York City, NY; Omaha, NE; Port St. Lucie, FL; San Diego, CA; Seattle, WA; Tucson, AZ; and Washington, DC.

This report provides a portrait of the young people, ages 14–21, who were experiencing homelessness in areas served by the 11 SOP grantees. The sample is not nationally representative; however the data provide detailed information about the experiences and service needs of the 873 street youth from around the country who participated in the study. The intent is that data from the study will be used to inform service design and policy to better meet the needs of street youth who obtain and access services through street outreach programs.