A great deal of planning and foresight is required to administer a count. Although no count will be perfect, you can mitigate most risks with safety plans, contingency plans and thorough volunteer training.
A Focus on Youth
Implementing a Youth Count is much the same as implementing a PiT Count. However, due to the increased complexity of the Youth Count methodology—through service counts and magnet events—Youth Counts require even more organization and attention to volunteer management.
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Hint! Sample Volunteer Survey Kits
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Preparation
The more preparation you can do prior to the count, the smoother the day of the count will go. Plan to do the following in the weeks leading up to the count:
- Review the safety plan with your police contacts.
- Ensure all key players, including your Team Leaders, are familiar with the safety protocol.
- Gather supplies for your magnet event(s).
- Create the Volunteer Survey Kits.
- Send survey forms, shelter enumeration forms and supplies to shelters and participating services.
- Send a reminder to volunteers. Ask them to notify the Youth Count Coordinator if they are unable to attend. Reassign team members as needed.
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Helpful Resource The PiT Count Headquarters Set-Up Infographic developed by HPS and COH, lists the key components of an effective headquarters. |
Headquarters
Headquarters is a central, easily accessible location for volunteers to gather prior to their shift. Here, volunteers register, receive supplies, meet their teams and review key training topics. If you are conducting the components of your Youth Count at the same time, all volunteers should arrive and be deployed at the same time. If the components of your Youth Count happen at different times, the volunteers will arrive in shifts, depending on their survey location (e. g. street count, shelter count, magnet event, service count). We strongly recommend that volunteers, regardless of their assigned survey location, start and finish at headquarters. This allows you to monitor the whereabouts of your volunteers, track progress, reassign volunteers as needed and collect and review surveys at the end of the count.
If your community covers a large geographic area, you may require additional satellite locations. Assign an Assistant Youth Count Coordinator to each satellite location and communicate with them throughout the count.
If your count exceeds 24 hours, you may need to develop an alternative approach to the count administration (ex. service count volunteers meet at their assigned services, rather than at designated headquarters).
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Helpful Resource PiT Count Logistics (PPT) – Jesse Donaldson, PiT Count Coordinator, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness *Available on the COH Workspace on Homelessness |
Command Station
Create a command station, where a group of volunteers is tasked with tracking team progress, monitoring the whereabouts of volunteers and reporting any problems to the Youth Count Coordinator. The command station should phone Team Leaders once every hour. Team Leaders should provide a status update, report any concerns, and take inventory of their supplies. The command station can dispatch extra resources, if required. Keep a “jump team” on hand—an extra group of volunteers—to deliver supplies and/or provide extra support to teams in the field.
Youth Count Partners
Hint!Consider asking trusted members of your Youth Subcommittee to lead the command station. |
Ensure your Youth Count partners are clear about their roles and responsibilities on the day of the count. Set up clear channels of communication. How will information be passed from you to the various partners? Vice-versa? In the event of an emergency, you will need to quickly mobilize your partners. The table below provides suggested roles for key Youth Count partners.
TABLE 10. ROLES OF KEY PLAYERS DURING THE YOUTH COUNT
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Police |
On the day of the count, police may choose to increase patrol. Ensure they do not “clear away” any youth or encampments. In some communities, police provide a dedicated phone number for the Count Coordinator to contact during the count. Consider inviting a police officer to headquarters to remind volunteers of the safety protocols. |
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Media |
Media can provide beneficial coverage on the day of the count. Work with media in advance to develop guidelines for their participation. We strongly discourage inviting media to accompany survey volunteers, attend magnet events or visit service locations out of respect for participants’ privacy. |
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Shelter/Service Staff |
Ensure you have a key contact at every shelter and service location where you are surveying. Ask the key contacts to check in with you, or the command station, periodically. Be prepared to provide services with additional supplies and survey volunteers, if requested. |
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Counselling Support |
Where possible, counselling support should be available to youth who request it. Ask qualified staff to be on call, should a youth require support after participating in the Youth Count survey. |
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Outreach Teams |
Outreach teams should be on standby to provide immediate support to youth who are in distress or request support. Outreach teams should be dispatched when a homeless youth, under the age of 16, is found in an unsheltered or unsafe location. Communities without youth outreach teams should work with youth services and staff to form a temporary response team for the count. |
Debriefing
As noted, it is important to convene survey volunteers at the end of the count. First, this allows you to ensure that all volunteers have safely finished the count. Second, volunteers may be more willing to share experiences or concerns immediately after the event rather than later. Finally, and importantly, a debriefing session allows you, or a designated partner, to review the survey forms and clarify any inconsistencies or missing fields.
For more information:
Refer to the COH PiT Count Toolkit: Count Logistics for further guidance.