We’re not here to work around broken systems. We’re here to transform them.
A Way Home America is a national initiative to end youth homelessness by shifting power toward the young people most impacted by it — Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and system-impacted youth.
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We don’t do direct service. We do strategy, storytelling, and systems change. We believe youth deserve not just shelter, but stability, care, and the power to shape their own futures.
Our Mission
A Way Home America transforms systems through public policy to prevent and end homelessness for Black, Indigenous, youth of color, and LGBTQIA+ youth, on a path to housing justice for all. We are a leader in the youth homelessness movement, uniting with national partners to ensure our systems work for all youth.
Our Vision
Our vision is for all youth and young adults through the age of 29 in the United States to have access to a variety of housing options through transformative public policy solutions that affirm equitable housing as a human right.
Who We Serve
Black, Indigenous, youth of color, and LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults at risk of and experiencing homelessness in two age groups from ages 13-17 and 18-29.
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Our Story
A Way Home America was born from a truth too often ignored — youth homelessness is not a personal failure. It’s a systemic one.
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Launched in 2016, AWHA began as a national initiative to end youth homelessness through cross-sector collaboration. But over time, it became clear that solving the crisis required more than coordination. It demanded a fundamental shift in who leads, who decides, and whose voices are heard.
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Today, we are a movement powered by the lived experience and leadership of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ youth. Together, we are organizing to transform the policies, narratives, and systems that create and sustain youth homelessness in the first place.
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We do this by building coalitions across the country, advancing the New Deal to End Youth Homelessness initiative, and supporting local communities through our Transforming the Way Home project. In every space — from national policy tables to grassroots organizing rooms — we center the wisdom, brilliance, and power of youth.
We are not here to manage a crisis. We are here to end it.
Movement
Milestones
First State of the Movement convenes 500+ leaders nationwide
AWHA launches to center youth-led solutions to homelessness
Youth leaders develop the New Deal for Youth
2020
2022
We’re growing — and we’re just getting started
2025
2016
Meet Our Team.
A Way Home America was built on a foundation of supporting and uplifting young people navigating systems that have not traditionally been accessible to them. In 2016, A Way Home America shifted from a traditional Board of Trustees to a Leadership Body consisting of a majority of youth, minority, and formerly unhoused individuals.
This intentional movement towards a more collaborative and diverse leadership team allows A Way Home America to exist in a space where we can use our personal expertise to end youth homelessness. Our team is committed to living our values in our work each day and we are proud to be pioneers in this movement.
How We Work
We lead with lived experience and fight for systemic change.
A Way Home America organizes across policy, research, and grassroots power to end youth homelessness at its roots. Our coalition centers the leadership of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth and challenges the systems that create instability from housing and child welfare to policing, immigration, and the economy.
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We don’t do charity. We build power.