United Action For Youth

United Action For Youth, a tax-exempt nonprofit based in Iowa City, Iowa, receives federal grants as a prime recipient (81% of recent awards) and as a sub-recipient in youth services and victim support programs. The organization does not hold federal contracts or contract vehicles; its federal footprint is entirely grant-funded work supporting unaccompanied and pregnant or parenting youth experiencing homelessness, runaway youth at risk of exploitation, and adolescent victims of crime and abuse.

United Action For Youth's customer base is concentrated within two federal agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families accounts for twelve of sixteen total awards in the source data, anchoring the portfolio with three overlapping grant programs: the Street Outreach Program, the Maternity Group Home program, and the Transitional Living Program. The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Victims of Crime program places three awards focused on serving adolescents ages twelve to eighteen who are prior victims of dating violence, domestic abuse, stalking, sexual assault, child abuse, assault, violent crime, and homicide. A single award from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development reflects entry into the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP, CFDA 14.276).

Recent grant work spans multiple service modalities. United Action For Youth received a $1.4 million YHDP Project Grant from HUD effective March 1, 2026, through May 31, 2028, to develop and implement a coordinated community approach preventing and ending youth homelessness in Iowa City, supporting unaccompanied youth and pregnant or parenting youth ages twenty-four and younger through housing acquisition, rehabilitation, leasing, rental assistance, supportive services, and HMIS implementation. Under the Administration for Children and Families, the organization operates a Maternity Group Home serving pregnant and parenting youth ages sixteen to under twenty-two for up to twenty-one months, providing parenting skills, child development, family budgeting, and health education (award date September 30, 2024; completion May 31, 2029). United Action For Youth also runs the Street Outreach Program in Johnson, Cedar, and Washington counties, delivering crisis intervention, treatment, counseling, shelter, and basic needs services to runaway and homeless youth under age twenty-two at risk of sexual abuse, prostitution, and human trafficking (award date September 30, 2023; completion September 29, 2026). As a sub-recipient under Iowa State Department of Justice grants (most recent October 1, 2025), the organization serves adolescent victims of crime and abuse through direct victim support services.

Activity is sparse but continuous—one award per year on average over the past five years—with two awards facing completion within the next twenty-four months. Total obligated federal funds across all awards stand at $8.8 million.