Community-Based Residential Services For Minor Youth

Solicitation Description: The Office of Youth Services seeks to procure Community-Based Residential Services for Minor Youth for our vulnerable youth population, ages ten to less than eighteen (10 to <18), throughout the State, at all island/county locations. OYS plans to purchase guaranteed bed spaces for vulnerable youth who are involved in or are at risk of being involved in the juvenile justice systems. Such vulnerable at-risk minor youth population includes, but are not limited to, the following: • Youth who are or are at risk of being picked up for status offences; • Minors who are chronically absent or truant, and/or have dropped out from school; • Youth who run away and/or are considered beyond parental control; • Youth who are considered homeless or unsheltered; • Youth who is pregnant or is a single underaged parent; • Youth who self-identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexuals, Questioning, Intersexual, Asexual and more (LGBTQIA+); • Youth who are historically marginalized and overrepresented in the juvenile justice system due to risk factors, such as poverty, family instability and dysfunction, child maltreatment, exposure to community violence, lack of community and school resources, learning differences, behavioral challenges, transient living situations due to housing challenges; • Youth who are abusing drugs or alcohol and are at high risk of becoming drug or alcohol dependent; and Additionally, youth may be members of multiple at-risk statuses, which place them at higher risk for negative outcomes, particularly, if they share two or more of the following risk factors: poverty, family instability, family dysfunction, child maltreatment, exposure to community violence, lack of school resources, attending schools with problematic social issues (bullying or behavioral problems), lack of community resources, transient or moving frequently, and youth who are racially and ethnically over represented in Hawaii’s juvenile justice systems