Achievements & Lessons Learned-J: Larkin Street Youth Center

Knowledge Item: CA-Initiative Impact-99J
Major Achievements and Lessons Learned: 1994-1999

Larkin Street Youth Center

Larkin Street Youth Center (LSYC) has reduced barriers to care and has assisted homeless youth in the San Francisco Bay Area in accessing services.

In 1999, the Evaluation and Dissemination Center asked each project to state its major achievements and the lessons it had learned from conducting the project. Those stated achievements and lessons learned are reproduced here (with minor editing) as reported to the Evaluation and Dissemination Center. The summary statements given here are those aspects of the program's experiences that the Project Director wished to emphasize.

*Achievement 1:* Established a licensed twelve unit assisted living and long term care facility for homeless youth, ages 16-24, living with AIDS. Acquisition and capital development of a $2.1 million facility.
Key Elements for Success: Community support, Executive and Board leadership. Financial support of private and individual foundations. Ability to leverage SPNS funding to acquire capital commitment.	Factors that Limited Success: Capital construction timeline.	Factors that Ensured Success: Perseverance, ability to continue to provide services for youth awaiting the completion of the facility's construction.

Achievement 2: Expanded existing HIV support services (emergency housing, comprehensive medical care and psychosocial support services) and relocated services to the new permanent housing site which now serves as the focal point for providing a coordinated and fully integrated service delivery model of HIV care for youth.
Key Elements for Success: Track record and history of providing and designing HIV services for youth beginning in 1989.	Factors that Limited Success: None listed.	Factors that Ensured Success: Flexibility of service delivery to adjust to changing times and medical needs.

*Achievement 3:* Produced four papers which are currently being submitted for publication: (1) A Continuum of Care Model for Adolescents Living with HIV: Larkin Street Youth Center, (2) Comprehensive Care for Disabled Sero-Positive Youth, (3) Developing a Community-Based Residential Care Facility for Adolescents Living with HIV, and (4) Stages of Adaptation for Adolescents Living with HIV.
Key Elements for Success: Support of local evaluator, expertise of local evaluator in working with service providers in a collaborative, respectful manner.	Factors that Limited Success: None listed.	Factors that Ensured Success: Program expertise in conjunction with local evaluators research expertise.

*Achievement 4:* This year, LSYC was awarded a grant from the Title IV Adolescent Initiative to expand and provide an HIV Adolescent Care Specialty Medical Clinic at the new facility.
Key Elements for Success: Program Service Model, experience as SPNS grantee to create model of care that is the first in the nation. This helped to attract interest of medical partners.	Factors that Limited Success: None listed.	Factors that Ensured Success: Leverage provided by SPNS grant, a model project with significant accomplishments.

*Achievement 5:* Youth who have been living at the new Assisted Care Facility have shown drastic improvements in their health and quality of life.
Key Elements for Success: Youth trust in program, access to highly skilled clinicians. Adolescent centered approach. Access to drug combinations and ability to help youth manage their medications, improved nutrition, and life style.	Factors that Limited Success: None listed.	Factors that Ensured Success: Commitment of staff and agency to provide highest level of services for HIV-positive youth.

1. Lesson Learned: The Program model's flexibility to meet changing needs is extremely important.

How related to achievements: Not specified.

2. Lesson Learned: Capital development takes much longer than expected and requires extensive community support.

How related to achievements: Delayed the original time line for opening the facility.

3. Lesson Learned: Integrated and expanded services offered at one service site increases access and utilization.

How related to achievements: Homeless youth respond to a wrap-around, multi-service site model.

4. Lesson Learned: The project reinforced our knowledge and belief that adolescent-centered services are distinct and need to be preserved for HIV-positive youth to ensure their continued participation and adherence to care, etc.

How related to achievements: The facility's success was visible early on, shown by youth's interest and the immediate utilization of services.

5. Lesson Learned: Involvement of a local evaluator who is experienced in research with adolescents is important.

How related to achievements: Local evaluator helped us develop relevant papers and a youth friendly assessment tool.

Completed By: Michael Kennedy, M.F.C.C.; Anne Stanton, M.S.W., L.S.W.
Last Updated: July 1999

Project Resource Page

Larkin Street Youth Center

Evaluation Data

Service Population Demographics

Service Referrals

Last Updated: August 02, 2001; data through June 15, 1999; analyses conducted January 2000.

Knowledge Base Citation: The Knowledge Base and this Knowledge Item were designed and authored by G. J. Huba, Ph.D.; in collaboration with Lisa A. Melchior, Ph.D.; A. T. Panter, Ph.D.; and the staff of The Measurement Group. Cite this work as "Huba, G. J., Melchior, L. A., and Panter, A. T. (1998 - 2001). The Measurement Group Knowledge Base on HIV/AIDS Care. On the World Wide Web: http://www.TheMeasurementGroup.com."

Questions or Comments: Contact The Measurement Group.

Use of Knowledge Base Information: Acceptable Uses and Limitations.

Collaborators from Participating Projects: Cooperative Agreement Steering Committee 1999.

Participating Projects: This Knowledge Base is based on the service delivery experiences of 27 Cooperative Agreement Projects on Innovative Models of HIV/AIDS Care. These projects and the Evaluation and Dissemination Center which produced this Knowledge Base were funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) as Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) between 1994 and 1999.

Why This Evaluation was Conducted: Editorial.

More Information: Design of this Knowledge Base.

Recommended Citation Format for Web Materials: American Psychological Association Publication Manual Section, Revised 2001.

Work on the Knowledge Base and the cross-cutting evaluation was supported in part by Grant Number 5 U90 HA 00030-05 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau's (HAB) Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS). The contents of this Knowledge Base are solely the responsibility of The Measurement Group and do not necessarily represent the official views of HRSA or HRSA/HAB's Special Projects of National Significance nor may they represent the positions of the individual grantees whose projects are included in the cross-cutting evaluation.