Logo for Youth Action Board featuring a sunflower and circular text about homelessness prevention in Montana.

The Montana Youth Action Board (YAB) brings together young people with lived experience of homelessness or housing instability to co‑lead the policies, programs, and systems meant to serve them. YAB members don’t just share input — they shape decisions, influence policy, and build a statewide movement to end youth homelessness with youth, not for them.

Youth Action Board (YAB)

Youth Action Board

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Youth Action Board

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Youth Action Board

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Youth Action Board ✳︎ Youth Action Board ✳︎ Youth Action Board ✳︎

Featured Projects

Group Project Spring 2026 — Community Outreach Guide

Through research gathered during site visits conducted by the Youth Action Board (YAB) in 2025, the YAB has seen YHDP grantees rely heavily on agency referrals as the primary means for reaching new clients and connecting YYA’s experiencing housing insecurity and/or houselessness to services. While agency-to-agency referrals are helpful, the YAB has compiled some alternatives to help agencies better connect to a wider range of clientele.

The Youth Action Board created a community outreach guide in Spring 2026 to address the results of their 2025 grantee site visits. This was a collaborative project featuring testimony from each YAB member, demonstrating how creative outreach can be the difference between being unhoused, and finding housing support through connection to YHDP grantees.

Download Creative Outreach Guide
A nature scene with mountains, trees, and a river at sunset. Overlaid text promotes outreach ideas and community engagement for youth action board projects.
A flyer with the title 'MT Youth Action Board CREATIVE OUTREACH IDEAS' and sections on outreach in schools, local community, and activities/events. The flyer features a background with green leaves at the top and flowers and mountains, with a logo of the Youth Action Board at the bottom.
A flyer with green and white backgrounds presenting outreach ideas for the Montana Youth Action Board. The flyer includes a scenic mountain landscape photo, a logo with a tree and the words "Youth Action Board," and a section with bullet points listing places to share resources such as colleges, schools, parks, community centers, and food banks. It features a photo of a young man, Brandon, and a quote about his experience with the Youth Action Board.
A brochure page with information about outreach programs and mental health support in Yellowstone National Park, Montana. The page features a photo of a park with a playground, trees, and mountains in the background, along with the Youth Action Board logo and a picture of a person walking on a dirt road in a field.
Flyer promoting outreach event ideas, featuring a scenic mountain landscape with a rainbow, a photo of two women smiling at a social gathering, and sections with text offering tips, personal story, and list of event ideas like pizza night, movie night, game night, and others.
Sunset over a hilly landscape with silhouettes of trees in the foreground.

#ENDTHESTIGMA

Watch Now

#End The Stigma

In 2022, The YAB was awarded $3,000 for their presentation at the Montana Housing Conference. These funds were used to create a video featuring testimony from YAB members on their experiences with youth homelessness and housing insecurity — in an effort to #endthestigma surrounding the unhoused.

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/6MFjWLfdvoc?si=D-6gjV-qFse4syZF

A mountainous landscape under a bright blue sky with scattered clouds, featuring green vegetation, shrubs, and trees on rolling hills.

Makoshika State Park, as photographed by David O’Leary

“I was connected to the YAB through an old school counselor who had kept in touch. When I was working on getting enrolled in college, I discussed my experiences with housing instability with this counselor. He let me know about an opportunity I could have to join the Youth Action Board. Joining the YAB led to higher forms of stability in my life--providing employment and career building.”

-Brandon, YAB Member