What Is YAAB and Why Does It Exist?

Before you sign up, it helps to understand exactly what you’re joining and why it matters. YAAB isn’t just a volunteer opportunity — it’s a structured, respected advisory body that holds real influence over how Tennessee’s housing and support systems work for young adults like you.

A Network Built by and for Young People

The Youth Action Board (YAAB) of Tennessee is not a program that happens to young people — it is a movement led by them. YAAB is a statewide network of young adults ages 17 to 25 who have personal, lived experience with homelessness or housing instability. Members sit at decision-making tables alongside government officials, Continuum of Care (CoC) leaders, and service providers to make sure that the people most affected by housing policy actually have a say in shaping it.

YAAB operates across all of Tennessee’s CoC regions, including Memphis/Shelby County, Nashville/Davidson County, Knoxville/Knox County, Chattanooga/Hamilton County, Jackson/West Tennessee, Upper Cumberland, and Northeast Tennessee. Each region has its own local YAAB chapter, so wherever you are in the state, there’s a community ready to welcome you.

The Problem YAAB Is Solving

Across the United States, an estimated 4.2 million young adults experience homelessness in any given year, according to Chapin Hall’s Voices of Youth Count study. In Tennessee, transition-age youth — those between 17 and 25 — are among the most underserved populations in the homeless response system. Many age out of foster care with little support, face discrimination in housing and employment, and are often left out of the very conversations that determine what services exist for them.

YAAB was created to fix that gap. When young people with lived experience are in the room, policies get better. Programs become more relevant. Resources actually reach the people who need them. That’s the whole point.

Who Is Eligible to Join YAAB in Tennessee?

One of the most common questions people have before signing up is whether they actually qualify. The short answer: if you’re a young adult in Tennessee with any experience of housing instability, you almost certainly do. Here’s a clear breakdown of who YAAB is looking for.

The Core Eligibility Requirements

YAAB membership is designed to be as accessible as possible. To join, you generally need to meet the following criteria:

• Age: You are between 17 and 25 years old at the time of joining.
• Lived experience: You have personal experience with homelessness, housing instability, or housing insecurity — this includes couch-surfing, staying in a shelter, living in a car, doubling up with family or friends because you had nowhere else to go, or aging out of foster care.
• Tennessee connection: You live in, or have a connection to, one of Tennessee’s Continuum of Care regions.

You do not need to currently be experiencing homelessness to join. Many YAAB members are in stable housing now and use their past experience to advocate for others who are still in the thick of it.

What About Foster Care Experience?

If you aged out of the foster care system in Tennessee, you are absolutely welcome at YAAB. Young adults who have been in foster care are disproportionately represented among those experiencing homelessness — studies show that up to 36% of youth who age out of foster care will experience homelessness within a few years. YAAB specifically centers the voices of youth with foster care backgrounds, and several YAAB projects have focused directly on improving outcomes for this population.

Your experience in the system is not something to hide — it’s a perspective that makes YAAB stronger and more effective at creating change.

Do I Need Prior Advocacy Experience?

Absolutely not. YAAB provides training, mentorship, and support so that members can grow into their roles as advocates and leaders. Whether you’ve never spoken in front of a group before or you’ve already been to the state capitol, there’s a place for you. YAAB meets you where you are and helps you build skills in public speaking, policy analysis, community organizing, and more — all while you’re doing meaningful work that matters.

The 8 Tennessee CoC Regions and Your Local YAAB Chapter

Tennessee is a big state with very different communities from one end to the other. YAAB’s regional structure means you don’t have to travel to Nashville to have your voice heard — there’s a local chapter in or near your community. Here’s how the state is organized and what that means for you as a new member.

Finding Your Regional Chapter

Tennessee’s Continuum of Care system is divided into regional areas, and YAAB has a local chapter in each one. Knowing which region you’re in helps you connect with the right group of peers and the right local decision-makers. Here’s a quick overview of YAAB’s regional chapters:

• TN-500 (Memphis/Shelby County): Serving the greater Memphis area and surrounding communities.
• TN-501 (Nashville/Davidson County): Covering Nashville and the Metro area.
• TN-502 (Chattanooga/Hamilton County): Serving Chattanooga and surrounding Hamilton County.
• TN-503 (Knoxville/Knox County): Covering Knoxville and the East Tennessee region.
• TN-504 (Jackson/West Tennessee): Serving Jackson and the broader West Tennessee area.
• TN-506 (Upper Cumberland): Covering the Upper Cumberland plateau region.
• TN-507 (Northeast Tennessee): Serving the Tri-Cities area and surrounding communities.
• TN-509 (Southeast Tennessee): Covering Southeast Tennessee communities.

What Each Local Chapter Does

Each local YAAB chapter holds regular meetings, participates in its regional CoC’s planning processes, and works on projects specific to the needs of young people in that area. Local chapters might host peer listening sessions, attend city council meetings, review grant applications, or run community outreach events. The work looks a little different in every region because the needs of young adults in Memphis are not identical to those in Cookeville or Kingsport — and that local knowledge is exactly what makes YAAB powerful.

You can explore each regional chapter and find contact information by visiting the local YAABs page on the YAAB Tennessee website.

What YAAB Members Actually Do Day to Day

Joining YAAB isn’t just about having your name on a list. Members take on real responsibilities and gain real skills. Here’s a realistic picture of what your involvement might look like week to week and month to month.

Advising Decision-Makers

One of YAAB’s core functions is placing young adults with lived experience directly into advisory roles within Tennessee’s homeless response system. As a YAAB member, you may be invited to attend Continuum of Care planning meetings, review funding applications, provide feedback on new programs, or present your perspective to local government officials. This is real advisory work — not performative — and the input YAAB members provide has directly influenced how resources are allocated and how programs are designed across the state.

Peer Outreach and Community Connection

YAAB members also do the on-the-ground work of connecting peers to resources. If you know what it’s like to not know where to sleep tonight, you also know how hard it can be to navigate a system that wasn’t designed with you in mind. YAAB members help bridge that gap — sharing information about shelters, housing programs, employment services, mental health support, and more in ways that are real, relatable, and non-judgmental. You become a trusted source of information for your community.

Advocacy, Training, and Leadership Development

YAAB invests in its members. That means access to advocacy training, leadership workshops, and opportunities to represent Tennessee’s young adults at regional and national convenings. Some YAAB members have traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with federal officials. Others have testified before state legislative committees or been quoted in news coverage of youth homelessness in Tennessee. These are skills and experiences that follow you for life — into careers in social work, policy, community organizing, healthcare, education, and beyond.

To learn more about the full scope of YAAB’s work, visit the YAAB advocacy page for an overview of current campaigns and priorities.

The Real Benefits of YAAB Membership

You might be wondering: what do I actually get out of joining YAAB? The answer goes beyond the work itself. YAAB membership comes with tangible benefits — financial, professional, and personal — that can make a real difference in your life right now and in the years ahead.

Stipends and Compensation

YAAB recognizes that your time has value. Many YAAB activities — including attending meetings, participating in trainings, and completing advocacy work — come with stipends or other forms of compensation. The specifics vary by region and by activity, but the principle is consistent: YAAB does not ask young adults with lived experience to give their time and expertise for free. This is an important distinction from many volunteer programs, and it reflects YAAB’s commitment to treating members as the professionals they are.

Skills, Credentials, and Resume Building

Participation in YAAB gives you documented experience in advocacy, community organizing, public speaking, and systems navigation — all of which are genuinely valuable on a resume or college application. Some members have used their YAAB experience to qualify for jobs in social services, nonprofit management, and government. Others have leveraged it to strengthen applications for scholarships or GED programs. YAAB can also provide letters of reference for members who need them.

Community, Belonging, and Peer Support

Perhaps the most powerful benefit of YAAB membership is something harder to put on a resume: community. When you join YAAB, you meet other young adults who get it — who have been through similar experiences and come out the other side with something to say. That sense of belonging, of being seen and respected by peers, is something many YAAB members describe as transformative. You are not defined by your housing situation. You are a leader, and YAAB is the room that proves it.

For a deeper look at what YAAB is and how it operates, the About YAAB page has a full overview of the organization’s mission, structure, and history.

How YAAB Membership Compares to Other Youth Programs

Understanding how YAAB fits into the broader landscape of youth programs can help you make an informed decision about where to invest your energy. The comparison below lays out how YAAB stacks up against other common program types available to transition-age youth in Tennessee.

Why YAAB Is Different

There are a lot of programs out there for young adults experiencing housing instability, and it can be hard to know which ones are worth your time. Most programs provide services to young people — case management, shelter placement, job training. These are valuable, but they position young adults as recipients rather than leaders. YAAB is fundamentally different: it positions young adults as experts whose knowledge and perspective are essential to fixing a broken system.

That shift — from recipient to leader — changes everything about how you show up, how you’re treated, and what you walk away with.

Step-by-Step: How to Sign Up for YAAB Membership in Tennessee

Ready to make it official? Here’s exactly what the sign-up process looks like from start to finish. It’s straightforward, it’s free, and it’s designed to get you connected as quickly as possible.

Step 1 — Visit the Membership Page and Complete the Form

The fastest way to get started is to go directly to the YAAB membership sign-up page online. The form asks for basic information: your name, age, contact information, the Tennessee region you’re in, and a brief description of your lived experience with housing instability. You don’t need to write an essay — just enough for the YAAB team to understand your background and connect you with the right regional chapter. The form typically takes about 10 minutes to complete.

Step 2 — Connect with Your Regional Chapter

After you submit your information, a YAAB coordinator or regional chapter leader will reach out to welcome you and share details about upcoming meetings, events, and onboarding. Response times vary by region, but most members hear back within 1 to 2 weeks. If you haven’t heard anything after two weeks, don’t hesitate to follow up — the YAAB team wants to hear from you.

Step 3 — Attend Your First Meeting and Get Oriented

Your first YAAB meeting is about getting to know the group, understanding what the chapter is currently working on, and figuring out where your interests and skills fit best. There’s no pressure to jump into a leadership role immediately — most members ease in over the first few meetings. YAAB chapters typically meet monthly, with additional working groups and events throughout the year. Meetings may be in person, virtual, or hybrid depending on your region and the time of year.

What to Expect in Your First 90 Days as a YAAB Member

Knowing what to expect when you’re new to something makes it a lot easier to show up. Here’s a realistic picture of what your first three months as a YAAB member typically look like, so you can walk in with confidence.

Month 1 — Orientation and Getting Grounded

Your first month is mostly about listening, learning, and getting comfortable. You’ll attend your first regional chapter meeting, meet other members, and start to understand what projects are currently active. YAAB coordinators will walk you through the basics of how the Continuum of Care works in your region and what role YAAB plays in it. You might also complete a brief onboarding session that covers YAAB’s values, member expectations, and how stipends work.

Month 2 — Finding Your Lane

By your second month, you’ll have a clearer sense of where you want to plug in. Some members gravitate toward direct peer outreach — talking to other young adults about available resources. Others prefer the policy and advocacy side, reviewing documents and attending CoC meetings. Some love the training and leadership development opportunities. There’s no wrong answer, and you can shift focus over time as your interests evolve.

Month 3 — Contributing and Growing

By the end of your first 90 days, most YAAB members have attended at least 2 to 3 chapter meetings, participated in at least one advocacy or outreach activity, and started building relationships with peers and coordinators. You’ll also have a clearer picture of the stipend opportunities available to you and the training events coming up on the calendar. Many members say that by month three, YAAB starts to feel less like a program they joined and more like a community they belong to.

YAAB vs. Other Youth Program Types: How They Compare

Not all youth programs are the same. Here's how YAAB membership stacks up against other common program types available to transition-age youth in Tennessee across five key dimensions.

How YAAB Supports Members' Broader Needs

YAAB knows that advocacy doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Young adults who are still working through their own housing, education, or mental health challenges can still be powerful advocates — and YAAB is set up to support the whole person, not just the member role.

Connections to Housing and Services

YAAB is not a direct service provider — it doesn’t run shelters or assign case managers. But because YAAB members are embedded in Tennessee’s Continuum of Care network, they have direct connections to the organizations and programs that do. If you’re a new YAAB member who is still experiencing housing instability, your regional coordinator and fellow members can help connect you to local emergency shelter, rapid rehousing programs, transitional housing, and other supports. Being part of YAAB means being part of a network that looks out for its own.

Education and Employment Pathways

Many YAAB members are also navigating education and employment at the same time as their advocacy work. YAAB’s network includes connections to GED programs, workforce development organizations, and scholarship opportunities specifically for young adults with lived experience of homelessness. While YAAB doesn’t administer these programs directly, members frequently share information and referrals with each other — and coordinators can often point you toward the right resource for your specific situation. You can also browse the YAAB resources page for a curated list of supports available to Tennessee youth.

Mental Health and Wellness

Advocacy work can be powerful, but it can also be emotionally demanding — especially when you’re drawing on personal experiences of trauma, instability, or loss. YAAB takes member wellness seriously. Chapters incorporate trauma-informed practices into their meetings, and coordinators are trained to recognize when members may need additional support. YAAB also connects members to mental health resources when needed and creates space for members to set boundaries around how much of their personal story they share and when.

Common Questions and Myths About Joining YAAB

It’s normal to have hesitations before joining something new. Here are the most common myths YAAB hears from young adults who almost didn’t sign up — and the truth behind each one.

Myth: 'I Have to Have It All Together First'

This is probably the most common misconception that keeps eligible young adults from signing up. You do not need to be in stable housing, employed, or enrolled in school to join YAAB. In fact, YAAB was specifically designed to include young adults who are still in the middle of their own challenges — because those are often the voices most needed at the table. You don’t have to have your whole life figured out. You just have to be willing to show up.

Myth: 'My Story Isn't Dramatic Enough'

Some young adults hesitate to call themselves ‘homeless’ because their experience didn’t look like sleeping on a park bench. But housing instability takes many forms: couch-surfing, staying with a relative because you had no other option, living in a motel, or being kicked out of your home. All of these experiences are valid, and all of them qualify as lived experience for YAAB membership purposes. If you’ve ever been unsure where you were going to sleep, your experience matters here.

Myth: 'I Won't Have Time'

YAAB is designed to work with the realities of members’ lives. Most chapters meet once a month, and additional involvement is optional based on your availability and interest. There’s no minimum hour requirement that would put your job or school at risk. YAAB is flexible because its members’ lives are complex — and the organization respects that. Even attending one meeting a month and staying connected to the group chat counts as meaningful participation.

Youth Homelessness in Tennessee: The Numbers That Make YAAB's Work Urgent

Understanding the scale of youth homelessness in Tennessee helps put YAAB’s mission in context — and makes clear why your participation isn’t just nice to have. It’s necessary.

What the Data Shows

Tennessee’s annual Point-in-Time (PIT) counts consistently show that transition-age youth (ages 18 to 24) make up a significant share of the state’s unhoused population. Nationally, LGBTQ+ youth are estimated to be 120% more likely to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ+ peers, according to the True Colors United research. Black and Indigenous young adults are also overrepresented in youth homelessness data at both the state and national level. These disparities are not accidental — they reflect systemic inequities in housing, foster care, and the criminal legal system that YAAB is actively working to address.

Why Lived Experience in the Room Changes Outcomes

Research from Chapin Hall and other policy institutes consistently shows that programs and policies designed with input from people who have lived experience of homelessness are more effective, more trusted, and more likely to be used by the people they’re meant to serve. YAAB exists because Tennessee’s CoC leaders recognized this truth and committed to building it into the structure of how decisions get made. Every YAAB member who shows up to a meeting is part of the evidence that this approach works.

Ready to Join? Here's Your Next Move

You’ve read about what YAAB is, who it’s for, and what members do. Now it’s time to make your move. Tennessee needs your voice — in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Jackson, and every community in between. Here’s how to take the first step.

Sign Up Today — It Takes 10 Minutes

If you’re between 17 and 25, live in Tennessee, and have any experience with housing instability, you are exactly who YAAB is looking for. The sign-up process is free, straightforward, and takes about 10 minutes. You can join YAAB Tennessee today by completing the membership form online — and once you do, a real person from your regional chapter will reach out to welcome you and get you connected.

You don’t need to have a polished story or a clear plan. You just need to be willing to show up. YAAB will meet you the rest of the way.

Spread the Word to Peers Who Qualify

Know another young adult in Tennessee who has been through housing instability and might benefit from YAAB? Share this article, share the link, or just tell them about it directly. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways YAAB grows — because young people trust other young people. If YAAB has helped you or you think it could help someone you know, passing it on is one of the most meaningful things you can do.

For a full picture of what YAAB does and how it operates statewide, visit the YAAB Tennessee homepage and explore the resources, projects, and regional chapter pages. Your community is here, and it’s waiting for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I sign up for YAAB in Tennessee?

You can sign up by completing the free online membership form at yaabtn.org/join. The form takes about 10 minutes and asks for basic information about your age, location in Tennessee, and your lived experience with housing instability. A regional coordinator will reach out within 1 to 2 weeks to welcome you and share next steps.

Do I have to currently be homeless to join YAAB?

No. YAAB welcomes young adults who have any past or current experience with homelessness or housing instability, including couch-surfing, doubling up, staying in a shelter, or aging out of foster care. Many YAAB members are now in stable housing and use their past experience to advocate for others.

What is the age range for YAAB membership in Tennessee?

YAAB membership is open to young adults ages 17 to 25 at the time of joining. This age range reflects the transition-age youth population that YAAB is specifically designed to serve and amplify.

Does YAAB pay its members?

Yes. Many YAAB activities — including attending meetings, participating in trainings, and completing advocacy work — come with stipends or other forms of compensation. The specifics vary by region and activity, but YAAB is committed to compensating members for their time and expertise.

What if I aged out of foster care? Can I still join YAAB?

Absolutely. Young adults who have aged out of the Tennessee foster care system are specifically welcomed and centered in YAAB's work. Foster care experience is considered lived experience of housing instability, and YAAB has several projects focused directly on improving outcomes for this population.

How much time does YAAB membership require each month?

Most YAAB chapters meet once a month, and additional involvement is optional based on your availability. There is no strict minimum hour requirement. YAAB is designed to be flexible so that members can participate meaningfully even while managing jobs, school, or other responsibilities.