Homeless Youth Awareness Workshop

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Homeless Youth Awareness Workshop

• Welcome
• Dr. Glenn Pelecky,
• Mississippi Bend AEA, Chief Administrator
• Cindy Swanson, MSW, MA
• Mississippi Bend AEA, Head of Professional
  Development
• Ellen Reilly, MA
• Davenport Community Schools, Homeless Education
  Liaison

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Homeless Youth Simulation

• A day in the life of a homeless teenager.
• Can YOU do it?

3
Goals for Today

• Gain insight into the day-to-day realities faced
  by homeless teenagers
• Become advocates for homeless youth in our
  schools and community

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Introduction

• You will be a homeless teen for a day
• The simulation will last for 45 minutes.each 5
  minutes is an hour.
• You will be asked to complete a list of tasks by
  the end of the 9 hours.
• You will be prompted every 5 minutes that the
  hour is over, and another one has begun to move
  you through the day.

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Housekeeping

• Review your simulation materials (bio and map) to
  see what tasks you must complete during the
  simulation and what documents you have. Both are
  listed on your bio.
• Maintain your role as much as possible
• Help us out with clean-up after the simulation.
  It is much appreciated!!!

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Transportation

• If you dont have transportation, you must ride
  the bus. You cannot move from your location
  until the bus goes by. You can get on and off at
  any stop but must wait for the bus to travel to
  another location.
• If you have transportation (friend, family
  member) you can travel from location to location
  at any time.
• This info is indicated ON YOUR BIO.

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Shelter

• Keep in mind that finding shelter may not be
  something at an actual shelter. You may be able
  to find another place to stay for example, a
  friends house.

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Good Luck!

• Try to be realistic about your role
• Take your circumstances seriously
• Imagine the fears and frustrations faced by
  teenagers in this situation

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LETS GET STARTED

• Figure out your plan for the day based on what
  tasks you need to complete.
• Begin your day.when the bell rings.
• Every hour (5 minutes) the bell will ring,
  signifying an hour is over and another has begun.
  The bell will ring a total of 9 times, once to
  begin the day, and then 8 more times. Watch the
  screens to keep track of the day.
• You must have a bus pass to ride the bus. Check
  at various locations to get a pass.

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BELL ONE 700am

• Begin your day
• Make sure you are working towards accomplishing
  your tasks.

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BELL TWO 800am
12
BELL THREE 900am
13
BELL FOUR 1000am
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BELL FIVE 1100am
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BELL SIX NOON
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BELL SEVEN 1pm
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BELL EIGHT 200pm
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BELL NINE 300pm
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BELL TEN 400pmTHE DAY IS OVERPLEASE RETURN
TO YOUR SEATS
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HOORAY YOU MADE IT
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de-briefing

• Take a few moments to discuss the following with
  your tablemates
• How did you feel while participating in this
  simulation?
• What thoughts did you have while trying to
  accomplish your tasks by the end of the day?
• Did your participation change your ideas or
  perceptions about homeless youth?

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Recognition of organizations that work with
homeless youth locally

• Ben Cleaveland, Bethany for Children and Families
• Molli Nickerson, Project Now
• Penny Kellenberger, The Center
• Adela Martinez, The Place2B
• Chantell Lamont, ELEVATE
• Marty McLaughlin, Foster Care Parent
  Association
• Kelly Thompson, Humility of Mary Shelter
• Jill Green, United Way 211 Referrals

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National Data onHomeless Youth2009 statistics
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Did you know

• 1.37 million (or 39) of the total homeless
  population are children under the age of 18.
  (2009 statistic)
• 57 of homeless kids spend at least one day every
  month without food.

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Did you know..

• 50 of adolescents aging out of foster care and
  juvenile justice systems will be homeless within
  six months because they are unprepared to live
  independently, have limited education and no
  social support.
• Over 25 of former foster children become
  homeless within two to four years of leaving the
  system.

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• According to a study of youth in shelters, nearly
  50 reported intense conflict or physical harm by
  a family member as a major contributing factor to
  their homelessness.
• In the United States, as many as 20,000 children
  and youth are forced into prostitution by human
  trafficking networks every year.

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How do you measure homelessness?

• Measuring homelessness is difficult because of
  the fluidity of the homeless population.
• Part of the difficulty stems from varying
  methodologies used to measure homelessness.
• Some researchers attempt to count all the people
  who are literally homeless on a given day or
  during a given week, called a "point-in-time"
  count.
• Critics say this method is likely to overestimate
  the number of chronically homeless and
  underestimate the number of people who experience
  temporary homelessness.

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Quad Cities Homeless Youth Needs Assessment
Summary(A copy of the summary is in your folder
on the right side)

• Thank you to the following organizations for
  their successful partnership in completing this
  work
• Catholic Charities
• YWCA of Rock Island
• St. Ambrose University School of Social Work
• Community Foundation of the Greater River Bend
• Presented by Adam McCormick, St. Ambrose

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Details of Data Collection

• Summer of 2009, Catholic Charities, the YWCA of
  Rock Island, St. Ambrose University School of
  Social Work, and the Community Foundation of the
  Greater River Bend partnered to conduct a
  community wide assessment of the needs of
  homeless youth in the Quad City area.
• 16 focus groups were conducted with over 160
  at-risk youth to address the experiences,
  challenges, and needs of homeless youth.
• In addition to the focus group data investigators
  collected survey data assessing numerous issues
  including types of living experiences and
  prevalence of homelessness.
• Participants were recruited from 10 social
  service agencies across the Quad City area.

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Why they are homeless

• Based on the discussions that took place, most of
  the youth felt that what happens at home is
  fundamental to whether or not a youth leaves
  home.
• Incidences of physical and verbal abuse were
  widely reported among the youth. Many youth noted
  that these were major contributing factors to the
  reasons young people leave home.
• Lack of communication with parents, including
  parents being physically and/or emotionally
  unavailable to them influenced their leaving
  home.

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Challenges

• Just under 10 of youth identified finding
  shelter as their most significant challenge. The
  same percentage identified finding food as a
  significant challenge.
• As one youth pointed out, even when they try to
  get help, they cant. Ive been homeless
  multiple times. Ive called many different places
  and half the time they dont ever call you back
  when they say theyre going to or they dont even
  help you

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Challenges cont

• In addition, depression and anxiety (16), and
  transportation (16) were consistently identified
  as the greatest challenge facing youth.

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What Homeless Youth Want

• When it came to determining what services should
  be offered in the shelter, counselors and
  therapists were mentioned quite frequently.
• Several youth also noted that it should made
  clear right away that where they are (agency) is
  offering help and has someone there that youth
  can go to for help.
• Youth mentioned things such as listings for jobs
  and affordable housing options as well as
  listings of other available community resources.
• Other suggestions included having circle
  sessions where the youth would be able to get to
  know one another.

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Questions?
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The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act

• Effective Education for Homeless Children and
  Youth
• Homeless Youth Awareness Workshop
• March 2011
• Presented by Ellen Reilly
• Homeless Education Liaison for Davenport
  Community Schools
• PowerPoint adapted from the State of Vermont and
  modified for this presentation

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What is the definition of a Homeless Student?

• A homeless student is an individual who lacks a
  fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.

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What is the definition of an Unaccompanied Youth?

• A homeless Unaccompanied Youth is
• an adolescent who is not in the physical custody
  of a parent or guardian and
• who meets the criteria for homelessness in the
  definition
• Students are still considered homeless even if
  their parents say that they can return home.
  (Often times older students are trying to escape
  from an abusive situation)

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How/why does a student become homeless?

• A student may be homeless as a result of
  eviction,
• economic hardship, divorce, illness, natural
  disaster,
• domestic violence or other reasons and may be
  living in
• Shared housing (doubled up)
• Motels, hotels, camp grounds
• Shelters or emergency housing
• Cars, parks, or other public places that are not
  designed for or ordinarily used as regular
  sleeping accommodations

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Educational Impacts

• Every time a child has to change schools, his or
  her education is disrupted. According to some
  estimates, 3-6 months of education are lost with
  every move.
• Homeless children are at high risk for falling
  behind in school due to their mobility. Without
  an opportunity to receive an education, homeless
  children are much less likely to acquire the
  skills they need to escape poverty as adults.

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What The McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act
Does for Homeless Youth

• Maintains educational continuity for students and
  families during a time of transition
• Requires schools to identify and enroll students
  who meet the definition of homeless
• Supported under the No Child Left Behind Act

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How do we identify and enroll homeless students?

• This is not a perfect process. It is a difficult
  issue for some to talk
• about and ask for help. For others, they are in
  dire need and seek out
• assistance or ask for a referral. There are a
  variety of ways that the
• schools may find out a student is experiencing
  homelessness.
• Regardless, once a student is identified as
  homeless
• Ensure the guidance counselor who is the assigned
  homeless point of contact in the building is
  notified immediately of the situation.
• Document in district student information system.
• Maintain the student and family's privacy and
  dignity.
• Families/Students cannot be forced to accept
  services. It is important to respect their
  decisions as a family even if you do not agree
  with them.

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How do we identify and enroll homeless students?

• You can try to collect housing information at
• registration, but remember to use discretion and
  respect the family and their privacy.
• Ensure Homeless Information Posters for parents
  and youth are prominently displayed. They should
  be located in your main office where parents can
  see them. They are also available in Spanish.

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Posters with information for homeless youth and
families
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How are schools required to serve homeless
students?

• Every school district in Iowa must designate a
  homeless education liaison.
• Identify and immediately enroll homeless students
  based on the best interest of the child and the
  preference of the parent or unaccompanied youth
• Schools may not deny a homeless student
  enrollment, even if they are missing medical or
  educational records (proof of homelessness may be
  requested by homeless liaison for the district)
• Provide transportation options for students to
  continue attending school of origin (if
  appropriate)

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What are Homeless Education Liaisons required to
do?

• Facilitate identification and enrollment by
  knowing the law, train school staff and display
  parent/youth posters in each school
• Make sure that homeless students receive
  transportation (if appropriate), free meals,
  Title I and early education servicesand all
  other services available to non-homeless students
• Link homeless students to appropriate services in
  both the school and the community

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Meals for Homeless Youth

• Once a student is identified as homeless,
  school food service may not
• Single that student out in any way
• Serve them meals that are not equivalent to what
  other students are receiving
• Make them stand in a separate line for lunch
• Indicate in any way to others, including other
  food service employees, that the student is
  homeless or receiving free meals.
• Send home or mark the student in any way if their
  meal account is showing a negative balance.

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Data Collection in your District

• Districts should identify students in their
  student information system and ensure appropriate
  services are offered to students and their
  families.
• Data is required to be reported to state entities
  on an annual basis
• Districts should review homeless data on a
  regular basis to be in tune with current trends

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Resources to support your work with homeless
students

• http//www.terrifictransitions.org/nche/
• If you have questions, please dont hesitate to
  contact Ellen Reilly at 563-336-3832 or by email
  at reillye_at_davenportschools.org

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Lunch till 1230pm

• A 20/20 (YouTube version) clip on homeless
  students will be shown starting at 1215pm.
• Maggie Tinsman will start promptly at 1230pm.
• Music played today Homeless, Ladysmith Black
  Mambazo Long Walk to Freedom, Heads Up Africa
  Series, Gallo Music International, 2006
• The cardboard cutouts represent lost children
  who age out of the foster care system and fall
  through the cracks. They were specially
  delivered through the efforts of Marty McLaughlin
  from the Foster Care and Adoptive Parents
  Association and CASA in Waterloo, IA. Thanks
  Marty!!!!