Second Story serves homeless, runaway and at-risk young people and families from Northern Virginia and beyond. Our programs are located in Fairfax County, the most populous of the Northern Virginia counties. In the greater metropolitan region, Fairfax County has the second largest number of homeless families. The effects of the recent economic crisis have not left our community unscathed. A 2015 survey found that one out of five students in Fairfax County Public Schools reported going hungry because of lack of food in the home in the previous 30 days, and almost 50,000 Fairfax County Public Schools students are currently eligible for subsidized meals according to the Virginia Department of Education. In the past three years Second Story has seen a 75% increase in requests for food from the at-risk young people and families at our Community Based programs. Adolescence can be a tumultuous time. When combined with the trauma and chaos of homelessness, this period in a young person's life may feel like a constant, endless struggle. Second Story provides services to tens of thousands of homeless and at-risk young people and families every year. Our programs and services help young people and families break cycles of poverty and violence, and our caring and qualified staff help young people accomplish self-identified goals. Second Story is the only Northern Virginia nonprofit charity focusing exclusively on the needs of at-risk and homeless young people. The programs and services at Second Story aim to help young people break cycles of poverty and violence and prevent life-long struggles by stepping in at critical moments when the stakes are highest. Our goal is to help young people make positive choices and shape a new narrative for their lives. In 2014-2015, Second Story provided housing and support to approximately 539 young people at our Residential programs as well as services and programs to an additional 20,840 children and families at our Community-Based programs. Our most urgent priority is to move teenagers off the streets and into safe havens. Individual case services are also instrumental in helping our young people manage their emotions, handle crises, cope with trauma, and make positive decisions. Over the next five years we will increase the number of homeless and at-risk youth we can serve and advocate for policy changes that will help reduce the number of young people needing services. Our programs and services ensure that children and young people have access to safe shelter and caring adults; that no young person leaves any of our programs for an unsafe situation; that all young people know about the positive options that are available to them; and that our community provides a nurturing environment for all children and young people to grow and thrive.

Our strategies to achieve our goals include: Keep shelters open and staffed 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. Hire well qualified and caring staff. Provide nutritious meals. Provide individual counselingProvide family therapy. Provide transition plans for all children and youth in residential programs. Provide ongoing after-care to all children, youth and families in residential programs. Provide workshops and group discussion opportunities dealing with issues affecting young people. Provide positive development and affirmations to all children and young people. Provide assistance with educational needs. Provide and/or facilitate parenting classes and information. Facilitate quality education from birth through graduate school for children and youth. Facilitate growth of employment skills, job readiness and employment options. Advocate for children, youth and families with local, state and federal government and organizations. Outreach to all facets of the community advocating for children, youth and families. By providing young people with safe places to live and gather and support services from caring well-trained staff and volunteers, we give young people the room they need to achieve their goals and become self-sufficient members of our community. These services also ensure young people are safe, form permanent connections to caring adults and grow in their ability to support themselves and make positive choices.

Second Story has provided services to homeless, runaway and at-risk youth and their families for more than 45 years and has received federal funding since 1974. We have grown from a small shelter for runaway and homeless youth to a multi-faceted youth and family services organization. Our core assets include the capacity to work with young people in crisis. Knowledge of how to work with adolescents and young adults is key to our success. Our staff are trained in working with these young people to help them achieve successful outcomes. Second Story has a diversified funding base with approximately 1/4 of our resources provided by federal government grants, approximately 1/4 from Fairfax County contracts and grants and 1/2 from our community. This includes strong support from the faith community, individuals and foundations. Community support also includes a strong volunteer effort. Last year more than 1,574 volunteers provided 14,953 hours of service. We provide tours of our organization three times a month to increase community knowledge of the issues and challenges facing young people as well as some of the solutions our organization provides. Partnerships with other organizations helps us reach our goals. Second Story maintains links to more than 50 other service providers so that the young people we serve have access to services we cannot provide such as legal assistance, medical care, substance abuse treatment, etc. This provides quality support without duplication of efforts. Our long-standing presence in the community has allowed Second Story to establish extensive service coordination plans with local jurisdictional authorities and governmental agencies involved with youth. A level of coordination consistent with state and local licensing requirements is maintained at all times. Agencies with which Second Story has established plans for comprehensive and mutually beneficial service coordination include: law enforcement, health and mental health care providers, social services, child protective services, schools, culturally diverse organizations, youth outreach and advocacy groups and substance abuse centers. To ensure that funds are properly spent, Second Story uses a nationally knows accounting software package and allocates funding into appropriate cost centers. We adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures (GAAP) and obtain an annual audit from an independent auditing firm. For the past 20 years we have received a "clean" audit report. Finally, we implement Social Solutions Efforts to Outcomes software throughout our organization. This will allow us to better track the outcomes experienced by young people in our programs and fine tune our efforts to provide services effectively and efficiently.

Structured program data collection and review, with an eye towards program adjustments to improve performance, are scheduled on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. Second Story has implemented Social Solutions, Efforts to Outcomes Software. This data base allows us to better track our program efforts and outcomes. Reports generated from Efforts to Outcomes are reviewed by Program Managers and Vice Presidents on a weekly basis. These reports are reviewed by the CEO monthly and the Board of Directors, quarterly. At the end of each Fiscal Year Program Directors, the CEO and the Board of Directors measure our success against goals set in our Strategic Plan. Outcomes are reviewed to make certain program metrics are met and program adjustments are made to improve effectiveness. Key indicators include:Number of youth provided with shelter. Number of youth exiting programs to safe and appropriate living situations. Number of youth who are parents who improve their parenting skills. Increases in life skills achievements (such as budgeting, nutrition, time management, etc. ). Educational achievements including number of youth graduating from high school and number moving on to higher education. Increasing levels of connections to caring adults and to the community. Number of youth who have stable employment at the appropriate level (part-time while in school, full-time if not enrolled in classes). These indicators are monitored on an ongoing basis as described above. When metrics are not met or we see a trend that indicate our young people are struggling in an area, programmatic changes are made. These metrics are also used to fine tune program offerings tailored to each individual.

The programs and services at Second Story help young people and families break cycles of poverty and violence. Caring and qualified staff help young people accomplish self-identified goals. Our most urgent priority is to move teenagers off the streets and into safe havens. Individual case services are also instrumental in helping our young people manage their emotions, handle crises, cope with trauma, and make positive choices. Our Second Story for Young Mothers program and Second Story forHomeless Youth are two of our Residential programs that provide supports and services to homeless young people. In the 2015 Fiscal Year, our Second Story for Young Mothers program provided safe shelter and supports to 15 young women and children. With help from our staff, 85% of our young moms improved their parenting skills, 90% were successfully employed and 90% reduced their debt while increasing their savings. These outcomes lead to our young women being able to successfully and safely support themselves and their children when they leave our program. This breaks cycles of poverty that is at times generational and gives hope not just to the young woman but to her children as well. Our Second Story for Homeless Youth provides homeless, unaccompanied Fairfax County high school students with assistance in locating and paying for safe and appropriate shelter. At the program, our young people learn to budget, manage their time, maintain their health, prepare nutritious meals, and address mental health problems. Providing housing and equipping our young people with vital resources and skills help our young people focus on their academics and complete high school. Staff encourages young people to move on to higher education, employment, or a combination. Last year we provided housing to 40 young people through host homes, rent vouchers and group homes. 83 students received case management and counseling sessions. 90% of eligible high school seniors achieved their diploma during the 2015 school year. These are just two of several programs provided by Second Story. Our cost-effective programs step in at critical junctures in a young person's life and empower them to transition into a successful adulthood instead of homelessness, jail or institutions. We offer an urgently needed response at a vital development stage—working to keep young people from entering an adult system that costs them their bright futures and society an average of $930,000 in care and lost wages over a lifetime. We have come a long way in our efforts, but there is still a ways to go. Our goal over the next ten years is to hire an additional 25 counselors, add four townhouses for our young moms & babies at Second Story for Young Mothers and open another shelter for teenagers in Northern Virginia. Our programs are at maximum occupancy & have long waiting lists. Our goal is to not have to tell any young person they have to wait but to provide the help they need when they need it.