In an effort to reshape how Portland’s houseless youth interact with local service providers, Maina facilitated two critical community discussions to examine youths' experiences accessing services, while also defining a more trauma-informed approach to data collection within the Homeless Youth Continuum (HYC). The first event hosted social workers from HYC organizations to discuss their data collection processes and potential improvements, while the second event hosted houseless youth who use their services. Both conversations explored how data collection processes and the data gathered can be improved and used to provide houseless youths with the resources they need to further empower them towards stability and housing.
Centering Youth Perspectives
The first event laid the groundwork for an ongoing discussion about data justice in Portland’s houseless youth services, with participants from four houseless youth organizations in attendance—two a part of the HYC—and all with varying levels of expertise in data collection. Maina’s goal was clear: to invite social workers and case workers from the HYC into a conversation to understand how data is collected, shared, and protected, examining any record of youths' personal experiences receiving services, and exploring whether and how data sharing and collaboration between the City of Portland and HYC service providers could lead to better outcomes for houseless youths.
A significant takeaway from the first event was the recognition that the current data collection processes are quite traumatizing, often further distressing already vulnerable individuals. Nonprofits within the HYC operate under the same data collection guidelines established by the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), a system used to collect client-level data on the provision of housing, shelter, and services in Oregon. However, despite this system being technically designed for collaboration, youth accessing these services often experience a lack of cohesion between organizations within the HYC. Moreover, the high turnover rate among social workers and caseworkers at the HYC only worsens the situation. Youth are frequently forced to repeat their personal stories and needs to a new staff member each time they visit a service center, increasing their trauma with each transition. Attendees who work within the HYC as social workers and case workers expressed a shared desire to modify these practices in ways that allow for youth to tell their stories authentically and on their own terms.
Hearing from the Youth Themselves
Maina’s second event took this conversation a step further, engaging directly with at-risk and houseless youth who have experienced Portland’s HYC support systems firsthand, either at present or in the past. Their feedback was both candid and troubling as they recounted their negative experiences—often rooted in prejudice, favoritism, and a lack of trauma-informed care.
Youth participants from the second event shared that navigating the HYC’s system— especially from marginalized communities— felt like an uphill battle. They described interactions with staff as dismissive and discriminatory, with many citing racism, ableism, and bias as persistent barriers to access. Accounts were shared on how Black and Brown youth were treated and punished more harshly than the white youth around them; how white and able-bodied youth were regarded as the “ideal” client, a comment that felt dismissive of others needing more support; and how the lack of accessibility and resources impacted youth individually and collectively. These stories were particularly revealing in the context of data collection. Many of the youth recalled feeling dehumanized during the intake process, where personal information was gathered without adequate care for their emotional state. One major concern was the absence of any consistent, trauma-informed method for gathering this data— a gap that both staff and youth acknowledged.
Despite these hurdles, there was a shared sense of gratitude among the youth in attendance as they came together and bore witness to their shared experiences. The conversation highlighted that while the system has let them down numerous times, the youth have built a resilient community in one another from which they can support each other regardless of the instabilities in their lives. While they may not use terms like "data justice," they are deeply aware of the ways in which their personal information is mishandled, their cases mismanaged, and their progress impeded — and the emotional toll it takes.
A Call for Reform
Both events underscored the critical call for reform within Portland’s HYC and while the road to meaningful change remains steep, it’s one that is possible.
It is evident that both the data collection practices and the systems of communication and data sharing—both internally and with other HYC organizations—can be improved to make the experience smoother for youth seeking stabilizing resources. While there is significant interest among the social workers who attended the first event, administrative barriers persist in transforming the data collection process into a more trauma-informed approach. Nevertheless, these ongoing data justice discussions with HYC staff and houseless youth have laid the groundwork for continued advocacy and transformation, with the goal of empowering youth to play a direct role in shaping the future of these services.
Learn more about the Community Leads Cohort Program.
About Brandt Maina
Brandt Maina, RIOA wa ROE (They/He, Her/Our), is a Portland-based conceptual artist and absurdist writer from Nairobi, Kenya. In 2016, they moved from Kenya to rural Indiana at 19 years old, a seven-year Crash Course on everything America has to offer a Black queer undocumented immigrant. With a BFA in the arts, and fresh memories of being homeless in downtown Portland, Brandt is documenting and abstracting his autobiography into artworks and performances that reify to audiences this sense of the Present Future as it passes, right here, the slowing down, right now, the deep breath that joyously exhales our collective traumas.
In his advocacy and social practice work, Brandt has worked with Portland Parks Foundation and P:EAR mentor to lead discussions with at-risk and homeless youth about their experiences and hopes for the renovation of O’Bryant Park. Brandt worked as a creative programing designer with PUSH Movement for their after-school programs within the Portland School Districts. In Summer 2023, Brandt completed a training course with Oregon Health Equity Alliance after producing a project where he and his cohort partner designed and co-wrote a financial literacy resource book with a group of women from the African immigrant and refugee community in the Portland Metro.