McKinney-Vento 101:The Education of Homeless

Children and Youth Program

Patricia A. Popp, Ph.D.

State Coordinator

Project HOPE – Virginia

The College of William & Mary

Presented by Arnecia Moody

Goals• Highlight key McKinney-Vento Homeless

Education Act requirements

• Virginia’s M-V implementation

•

• Your questions

McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act

 Title X, Part C2001 Reauthorization of the Elementary

and Secondary Education Act

The child’s classroom may be the only place where the child can experience

quiet, interact with children his/her age, and experience success…

School is the most normal activity that most children experience collectively…For homeless children it is much more

than a learning environment. It is a place of safety, personal space, friendships, and

support.Oakley & King, 2000

Who is homeless?• An individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate

nighttime residence, including children and youth :

– sharing housing due to loss of housing or economic hardship

– living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate housing

– living in emergency or

transitional housing

Who is homeless? (cont’d)Including children and youth : abandoned in hospitals awaiting foster care having a primary nighttime residence that is a public

or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, regular sleeping accommodations

living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations

migratory students meeting the description unaccompanied youth meeting the

description

McKinney-Vento Act

• Reauthorizes the Stewart B. McKinney Act, originally enacted in 1987

• Provides states with funding to support local grants and statewide initiatives

• Requires educational access, attendance, and success for homeless children and youth

• Outlines responsibilities for local liaisons

McKinney-Vento EHCY Requirements

• Appoint a local homeless education liaison in every LEA• Provide outreach and coordination to identify students• Enroll students immediately in local school OR• Maintain student enrollment in the school of origin when

feasible and in the student’s best interest– Includes transportation

– Even across school division lines

Get the student enrolled and

keep the student enrolled!

Ensuring Access to Educational Services

• Free and reduced price breakfast and lunch programs

• Title I

• Special education• Gifted programs

• Transportation

• After school and summer programs

• Head Start and (Even Start), VPI

McKinney-Vento EHCY

• National 2008 & 09 Allocation: $64 million– Virginia: $1,059,872 (2009: $1,015,099)

• National ARRA Allocation: $70 million– Virginia: $1,100,421

• 32 LEAs received funding– 15/38 eligible nonsubgrants

– 17/30 current subgrants

Numbers• 2 million people experience homelessness annually• Approximately half are children• USED 2008-09 data (NCHE) : 956,914 students

experiencing homelessness enrolled (41% increase over 2 years)

• Virginia 2008-09• PreK-12 – 12,768 (29% increase since 2006-07)• PreK – 408• Elementary – 6,998• Middle – 2,646• High –2,716

Young Children Experiencing Homelessness

• 45% of children living in homeless shelters in Virginia are under the age of five.

• 2500 children under five were reported by VDHCD in emergency, domestic violence and transitional programs for FY 2008

Initial Primary Nighttime Residence Category

Children and youth living in abandoned buildings, campgrounds and vehicles, space not meant for habitation, trailers or FEMA trailers, cars, bus and train stations, and abandoned in the hospital. Substandard or inadequate housing does not easily fit into any category as it is not governed by a specific definition and is judged on a case-by-case basis. An inadequate dwelling may shelter but it is not adequate housing.

Unsheltered

Children and youth living in shelters and transitional housing programs (homeless and domestic violence programs). Children and youth awaiting foster care placement.

Shelter

Children and youth (including runaway youth or unaccompanied youth) who live with relatives or friends due to being homeless.

Doubled-Up

Children and youth living in hotels/motels due to a lack of alternative adequate accommodations.

Hotel/Motel

New for 2009-10 in VA: Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Flag

Primary Nighttime Residence Virginia 2008-09

Thanks for all you do!

• HMSE_PICS.mpg

Resources• NAEHCY – www.naehcy.org

• NCHE - www.serve.org/nche

• NLCHP - www.nlchp.org

• NLIHC – www.nlihc.org

• Project HOPE-VA: www.wm.edu/hope

• USDE - www.ed.gov/programs/homeless/index.html

Contact Information

Project HOPE-VirginiaThe College of William & Mary

P. O. Box 8795Williamsburg, VA 23187

757-221-7776 877-455-3412 (toll free)757-221-5300 (fax)homlss@wm.edu

www.wm.edu/hope

Context

• Poverty Tour VIDEO_TS.IFO– http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour.htm

• National Low Income Housing Coalition– http://www.nlihc.org

• VDSS Self Sufficiency Standards– http://www.dss.state.va.us/geninfo/reports/

agency_wide/self_sufficiency.cgi

Causes and Impact of Homelessness• Causes

– Poverty– Substance Abuse– Domestic Violence– Mental Illness– Affordable Housing– Physical Illness– Economic crises

• Impact Absenteeism is greater Developmental delays occur

at 4 times the rate reported for other children

Learning disabilities identified at double the rate

Twice as likely to repeat a grade