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Understanding the Critical Link between Homeless Service Providers and the Educational System

Understanding the Critical Link between Homeless Service Providers and the Educational System. Cloudburst Consulting Group – Landover, MD & Project Community Connections – Atlanta, GA . Session Objectives.

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Understanding the Critical Link between Homeless Service Providers and the Educational System

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  1. Understanding the Critical Link between Homeless Service Providers and the Educational System Cloudburst Consulting Group – Landover, MD & Project Community Connections – Atlanta, GA

  2. Session Objectives • Understand new HEARTH requirements and their impact on McKinney-Vento Ed programs and practitioners • Understand the barriers and facilitative factors in accessing preschool for families in homelessness and how homeless service providers and educators can help in addressing these issues • Explore strategies for helping to strengthen the connection between homeless services and LEAs in supporting early childhood education and enrollment

  3. Self-Introductions – Session Presenters • Chuck Kieffer, Director Cloudburst Consulting Group Ann Arbor, MI • Kate Hurd, Analyst Cloudburst Consulting Group Atlanta, GA • Margaret Schuelke, Executive Director Project Community Connections, Inc. Atlanta, GA

  4. The HEARTH Act

  5. HEARTH Act: Overview and History

  6. HEARTH Act: How It Impacts You It impacts you because HUD Homeless Assistance Programs provide important services to help stabilize homeless children, youth, and families, thereby contributing to educational success. The final rule on the Definition of Homeless establishes four categories under which an individual or family may qualify as homeless.  • Literally Homeless • Imminent Risk of Homelessness. • Homeless under other Federal Statutes • Fleeing/Attempting to Flee DV http://www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/changes-in-the-hud-definition-of-homeless

  7. HEARTH Act: How It Impacts You Statutory Requirements

  8. How You Can Help Strengthen the Connection • HUD grantees can: • Connect with state coordinator and education liaisons • Learn local and state education laws and services including Title I, special education and early childhood education in their LEAs • ED grantees can: • Connect with CoC lead agency and providers • Learn about the various housing resources offered in your community (e.g. CoC, ESG, SC2, HOME, FUP, PHAs) • Engage with HUD to assist with your plan to collaborate with federal housing programs

  9. How You Can Help Strengthen the Connection

  10. Understand the Barriers to Connecting Housing and Education • Positive outcomes require that we are all partners in child and youth services. Housing Stability Education

  11. New Opportunities Linked to Interim ESG & CoC Rules

  12. Homeless Families, Preschool Enrollment, and Housing Summary Overview of a Project in Process: HUD/PDR-funded Research Study

  13. Background • Small Grants Linked to Large Scale National Study of Family Housing Options (funded by HUD Office of PDR) • National random selection study on The Impact of Housing and Services Interventions on Homeless Families (over 2,400 households) • Small grants intended to explore related issues impacting children and families • Impetus for Research Question • Children comprise major portion of persons in homeless households -- and more than half are pre-school age or younger • Fewer than 16% of eligible pre-school aged children are enrolled • Little evidence that national policies have helped address the barriers that homeless families face in enrolling children in early education programs

  14. Background • Significance of Approach • Little prior examination of the specific issues and challenges that must be addressed to support increased participation of children from homeless or recently homeless families in preschool opportunities • Qualitative approach helps get “inside” the experience of homeless families who are pursuing preschool needs • Findings will be broadly disseminated to key community and systems leaders to help advance policy and practice that more effectively promotes both preschool participation and housing stability

  15. Research Design

  16. Data Collection & Analysis

  17. Overview of Research Process

  18. Round 1 Insights: Emerging Themes

  19. Emerging Themes: Situational Barriers • Transportation & Scheduling • Parents’ work schedules vs. children’s school schedules • Need for full-day care • Absence of access to transportation • Location of housing & employment vs. siting of preschool options • Slots & Supports • Few slots available • Shortage of tuition subsidies • Poor access to information on available slots • Poor access to information on tuition supports • Other Situational Concerns • Parental focus on search for housing & reality of housing instability • Parental focus on search for employment & reality of need for jobs

  20. Emerging Themes: Parental Commitment • High level of parental investment in access to preschool (vs. child care) • High level of recognition of value of early childhood education • Clear capacity to distinguish between early learning and child care • High level of parental investment in “quality” educational experience • High level of parental recognition of characteristics of quality care

  21. Emerging Themes: Homeless Service System Supports • Homeless Service Providers frequently fail to provide needed supports to parents and families • Lack of attention to children’s needs • Lack of knowledge of preschool & child care systems, or related systems for financial support • Lack of commitment to providing parental supports • Lack of investment in engaging with broader early childhood system – including McKinney-Vento Liasons • Lack of support in helping homeless parents bridge the gaps exacerbated by housing instability

  22. Emerging Themes: Preschool Systems Outreach • Preschool system falls short in providing active outreach and supports for homeless households • Poor outreach to homeless subpopulations • Apparent lack of commitment to addressing challenges faced by homeless households

  23. DeKalb Kids Home Collaborative

  24. Overview of Kids Home Collaborative • Key elements of initiative • (See http://www.pccihome.org/) • Strategies for building partnerships • Key themes in strengthening connections between schools and the homeless provider system

  25. Group Discussion

  26. Group Discussion

  27. Contact Information • Cloudburst Consulting Group • Chuck Kieffer chuck.kieffer@cloudburstgroup.com 734-645-0810 • Kate Hurd kate.hurd@cloudburstgroup.com 678-812-0284 • Project Community Connections, Inc. • Margaret Schuelke margaretschuelke@pccihome.org 404-371-1230 ext 213

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