Posts By: Sondra Lehmann

One of the things that truly sets TNOYS’ Annual Conference apart is the fact that youth and young adults are fully integrated as planners, presenters, and participants. It is part of TNOYS’ commitment to elevating youth voice and encouraging youth engagement in decisions that impact their lives — an approach that has been proven to… Read more »

As the 86th Texas Legislative Session winds down, we are excited to report that it has produced some important policy changes that will have a big impact for youth. TNOYS’ legislative agenda for this session addressed multiple issues, including increasing foster care reimbursement rates, strengthening the Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) program for youth transitioning… Read more »

This spring, TNOYS and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) co-hosted the training session “Building Alliances with Youth to Prevent Runaway and Other Challenging Behaviors” in three cities across Texas. Young adults with experience in the foster care system and youth currently in care helped present much of the material on how… Read more »

TNOYS and our partners Texas Homeless Network, and Texas Homeless Education Office have been hard at work moving the Safety Nets for Students and Families project forward, hosting dozens of training events and awarding over $600,000 in grant funding during the past school year. It is all part of an effort to support schools and community-based organizations… Read more »

Our Friends Place has been in operation in Dallas for just over 30 years, helping young women in its transitional living centers (TLC) learn the self-reliance and life skills they need to lead successful adult lives. Now, thanks to a new non-residential outreach and education program launched two years ago, the organization is bringing the… Read more »

For over 30 years, PEAKS Adventure Camp has provided an opportunity for teens in foster care to have a traditional camp experience, learning to overcome challenges and build partnerships with adults as they prepare to enter adulthood. This year, a last-minute budget shortfall threatened to keep TNOYS from hosting PEAKS Camp, but thanks to a… Read more »

In 2017, 1,700 youth in foster care in Texas ran away, and for many it wasn’t the first time they had done so. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has launched an effort to better understand why youth run from care and how they can better support these youth to prevent them… Read more »

One of the many benefits TNOYS offers our member organizations is assistance making their voices heard in policy decisions that impact their work. Last month, we hosted one of the most important events that helps us do that, our biennial Member Advocacy Day and Innovation & Excellence Showcase at the Texas State Capitol. The day… Read more »

TNOYS and our members are proud to have led many statewide efforts here in Texas to combat youth homelessness, from conducting the Youth Count! Texas survey to launching Texas’ Statewide Workgroup for Youth Homelessness. But it’s critical that we are also plugged in to efforts at the national level, to ensure that we stay abreast… Read more »

The devastation of Hurricane Harvey was hard to deny in the immediate aftermath of the storm – pictures and videos showed startling images of businesses destroyed and survivors fleeing their damaged homes. Now, just a little over a year after the hurricane hit, the visuals may not be as striking but the impacts are still… Read more »