Unaccompanied Children Lived Experience and Youth Engagement Program

The Unaccompanied Children Lived Experience and Youth Engagement Program (LEYEP) is forecasted to provide funding to establish, manage, and evaluate a Lived Experience Council and Youth Leadership Academy (as a subgroup of the Council) comprised of former unaccompanied children and individuals who sponsored children from ORR care. The recipient shall recruit, identify, orient, and train lived experience experts that reflect the demographic diversity (e.g., age, language, etc.) and varied experiences and circumstances (e.g., pregnant/parenting youth, survivors of human trafficking, etc.) of former unaccompanied children and sponsors. Therefore, prior experience developing programming centering lived experience and youth voice and/or supporting unaccompanied children, sponsors, and reunified families is highly desirable. The program's primary objective is to provide research and reporting on best practices for working with individuals with lived experience with the ORR Unaccompanied Children Program, their integration into the United States, and post-release outcomes. This research and reporting will focus on best practices in serving unaccompanied children and ensure that such children are protected from traffickers and other persons seeking to victimize or otherwise engage such children in criminal, harmful, or exploitative activity. The second objective is to positively impact the lives of Council members by building their capacity to serve as leaders within their respective communities. The recipient shall provide the necessary resources, such as personnel, to support the implementation of the lived experience bodies. Task areas will include: a) development of the Council implementation plan and Leadership Academy curriculum; b) development of a web-based application; c) selection of eligible candidates to the appropriate lived experience body; d) project management; e) interpretation and translation services for, and during, community meetings; f) provision of secure technology for members to participate in virtual meetings and webinars; g) identification of resources needed to address barriers to participation (e.g., child care responsibilities); h) coordinate and implement Washington Weeks for Council members to meet with government leaders and relevant stakeholders, and i) disseminate to the ORR-funded residential and post-release service provider grantee networks, State/local government agencies, school districts, healthcare providers, and social services providers feedback obtained through the lived experience bodies' work that centers youth voice and lived experience.