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AYA Youth Collective reports ARPA‑funded gains in youth housing, health enrollment and transportation
Summary
AYA Youth Collective told the committee its 2023 ARPA investment of $2 million helped expand a comprehensive health initiative serving 14–24 year olds countywide, producing measurable reductions in weeks of homelessness and near‑universal enrollment in benefits after adding an on‑site MDHHS specialist.
Lauren Gameland Van Kuehlen, CEO and cofounder of AYA Youth Collective, and Stephanie Collier, vice president, updated the Kent County Community Health and Safety Committee on results from the organization’s ARPA‑funded comprehensive health initiative.
Van Kuehlen said AYA received $2,000,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds in 2023 to expand services countywide to youth ages 14 to 24, focusing on relationships, resources and housing that lead to stability. “Most of the young people that we serve are experiencing some form of housing instability,” she said.
The presenters provided the committee with program data for 2024: AYA served 792 unique young people, including 487 who were new to services; 425 of those clients were categorized as experiencing homelessness outdoors or in shelters (category 1). The organization said it reached more than 3,000 youth through a countywide health fair and recorded more than 1,000 connections to an on‑site Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) eligibility specialist.
Collier told the committee that before placing the MDHHS eligibility specialist on site, the program’s success rate for enrolling youth in Medicaid and food assistance was less than 3 percent; with the on‑site specialist the rate rose to 100 percent and “they’ve enrolled hundreds of young people,” she said. AYA said this enrollment enabled more youth to access on‑site medical care from a partner clinic, Catherine’s Health Center.
Van Kuehlen said the group is tracking outcomes that indicate
