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Homeless and Education System Collaboration
for Education Stakeholders
December 14, 2015
John McGah
National Center on Family Homelessness at
American Institutes for Research (AIR)
Meet Your Presenters
John McGah, Senior Associate, National Center on Family Homelessness at the American Institutes for Research (AIR)
John McLaughlin, Federal Program Coordinator, Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program, U.S. Department of Education (ED)
Kevin Solarte, Special Assistant, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Beth McCullough, Homeless Education Liaison, Adrian Public Schools (MI)
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Welcoming Remarks
John McLaughlin, Federal Program Coordinator, EHCY Program, U.S. Department of Education (ED)
Kevin Solarte, Special Assistant, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
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Overview
Who we are Who commissioned this
– Overview of webinar
– Describe learning objectives
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Learning Objectives
Understand the challenges facing homeless youth
Understand the benefits and challenges of collaboration
Understand the goals of the Continuum of Care (CoC)
Understand practices that promote cross-system collaboration
Apply examples in collaborating across education and homeless systems to local communities
Access tools to help with cross-system collaboration
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Framework
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The Need for Collaboration
History
Needs of students
Needs of families
Needs of providers
Regulatory requirements
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Stages of Systems Collaboration
(Adapted from Burt & Anderson, 2006; Burt et al., 2000; Burt & Spellman, 2007)
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Ginzler, et al, 2007; The National Center on Family Homelessness, 1999, 2009; United States Department of Education, 2000.
Education
Only 15% attend preschool (vs. 57% of low-income peers).
41% attend two schools each year.
26% repeat a grade.
50% perform below grade level.
16% less proficient in reading and math.
Almost 10% have learning disabilities (compared with 6.6% of nonhomeless students).
86% of homeless youth have a psychiatric disorder
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Challenges of Serving Students Across Systems (cont’d)
Places communities get stuck
– Lack of common vision
– Different incentives/drivers Example drivers:
• CoC – to keep children and families from living on the streets or in emergency shelters
• LEAS – Ensuring access to equal education for students experiencing homelessness
– Lack of understanding culture (language)
– Lack of boundary spanners
– Different mental models
– Lack of time allowed to address the above
– Integration at one level of systems perhaps, but not at leadership
– Different regulatory requirements
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A Brief Introduction of Terms
Collaboration
Mental models
Vision
Boundary spanners
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Education and the Continuum of Care
Overview of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program
Requirements of homeless liaisons
Requirements of the Continuum of Care (CoC) and providers within the CoC
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Goals of the Continuum of Care Program
The main goal of the CoC is to support the Opening Doors goal to prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in 2020. It does this by helping families, youth, and children move as quickly as possible into permanent housing and preventing a recurrence of their homelessness. CoC Goals as stated in The McKinney -Vento Homeless Assistance Act: Promote community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness Provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, States, and local governments to re-house homeless individuals and families rapidly while minimizing the trauma and dislocationPromote access to and effective use of mainstream programsOptimize self-sufficiency
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Other Aspects of the Education System
Goals of the education system
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
System performance measures
U.S. Dept. of Education definition of homelessness
Education culture
Usual partners in a community
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Key CoC Concepts
The Continuum of Care (CoC) and it’s goals
Application Process for CoC Funds
System performance measures
Continuum of care culture
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Community Perspective
Beth McCullough
Beth McCullough is the homeless education liaison for Adrian Public Schools and homeless education coordinator for Lenawee County.
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Question?
What do you see as the greatest obstacles to better collaboration
between the education and homeless service
systems?
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Viewing the Problem Through a Systemic Lens
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What Keeps Us Separated?
Hard Factors:– Rules/laws
– MOUs*
– Data
– Firewalls
– Funding
*Memos of Understanding
Soft Factors:
– Assumptions
– Perspective
– Beliefs
– Values
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Approaches for Promoting Collaboration
Recognizing our own mental models
Stakeholder analysis
Identifying boundary spanners
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The Power of Mental Models
Deeply held beliefs and assumptions about ourselves and the world
Determine how and what we perceive
Guide how we act, which in turn influences our results
A critical part of system structure
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Question
What are some “mental models” that you bring to your work?
1. The most important goals for youth and families you work with are…
2. What other people/systems should do better to serve homeless youth and their families…
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A CoC Meeting
Role Primary Priorities Other Priorities
McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaison
I need to ensure that all homeless children are identified within the CoC and that everyone is aware of the rights of homeless students in the community.
I have high caseloads with many homeless students who need housing stability in order to achieve academically and have a bright future. We must do more to reduce the amount of children facing homelessness, including families living doubled-up.
School District Official
Homeless Parent
Homeless Services Case Worker
CoC Lead Agency
Elected Official
Business Leader
Affordable Housing Advocate
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Changing Mental Models
Surface current beliefs
Ask, “Do our mental models help us achieve what we want?”
Encourage learning across stakeholders
Seek disconfirming data
Consider alternative interpretations
Develop shared vision and supportive mental models
Conduct experiments
Build on small successes and learn from failures
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Boundary Spanners
Boundary-spanners “are individuals who can “move freely and flexibly within and between organizations and communities” (Peter Miller)
Are there boundary spanners in your CoC or community that could be helpful to collaboration?
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List of Examples From the Field
Sharing data (real time and for evaluation) Dedicated boundary spanner role Cross-training staff and
leadership Homeless (or MH)
service providers working closely with homeless liaisons
Building buy-in from key stakeholders early on
Working across subsystems at the front line, midlevel management, and leadership levels
System mapping—shared, discussed, refined, revisited
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In Summary
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• Challenges facing homeless youth
• Benefits and challenges of collaboration
• Goals of the Continuum of Care (CoC)
• Practices that promote cross-system collaboration
• Examples in collaborating across education and homeless systems to local communities
• Tools to help with cross-system collaboration
What Stage Are You?
Resources
Homelessness & Education Cross-System Collaboration: Applied Research Summary & Tools (2015)
CoC information on HUDExchange:https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/
HUD CoC Program Interim Rule: https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/CoCProgramInterimRule_FormattedVersion.pdf
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Resources (cont’d)
HUD Ask A Questionhttps://www.hudexchange.info/get-assistance/my-question/
Your Local HUD Regional TA Team National Center on Family
Homelessness/ American Institutes for Research (AIR)www.familyhomelessness.org
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Presenter contact information
31
Look for a follow-up e-mail with a link to the handouts webpage and a webinar evaluation
Presenter contact information
John McGah (NCFH), [email protected]
John McLaughlin (ED), [email protected]
Kevin Solarte (HUD), [email protected]
Beth McCullough (MI), [email protected]
