School Partnerships that Prevent and End Homelessness Denise Riemer, LICSW-PIP Mobile County Public School System driemer@mcpss.com (251) 221-4279

Continuum of Care Program The HEARTH Act of 2009 (Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing) consolidated three separate MV homeless assistance programs into a single grant program known as the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program. The CoC Program is designed to assist individuals (including unaccompanied youth) and families experiencing homelessness to secure long term stability through transitional and permanent housing.

Continuum of Care Program The program is designed to promote community-wide planning and strategic use of resources, improve coordination between agencies serving the homeless and improve data collection. Allows each community to tailor its program to its particular needs and challenges.

Composition of a CoC The composition of each CoC is expected to be tailored to its unique community circumstances to involve all players required to further local efforts to end homelessness: Nonprofit homelessness assistance providers Businesses Faith-Based organizations Governments Victim Services Providers Advocates Public Housing Agencies SCHOOL DISTRICTS Social Service Providers Mental Health Homeless/Formerly Homeless Universities Affordable Housing developers Law Enforcement Veteran Organizations Hospitals

HUD + COC + SCHOOLS = BRIDGING THE GAP CoC determines prioritization of most vulnerable populations, ranking and monitoring of projects as well as allocation of resources HUD grantees operate the access system and the housing projects School systems have access to and information on the greatest numbers of families, children and unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness HUD requires a school district homeless liaison to be integrally involved with the CoC and HUD grantees The CoC is responsible for understanding and explaining the BIG picture of homelessness to the community and devising the BEST strategies to end homelessness

COORDINATION, CROSS TRAINING AND COLLABORATION Mutual understanding of the DEFINITION of all four categories Coordinated Assessment – ensuring all homeless (regardless of category) receive an intake Pre-Screening Tool for Intake – cross training of school liaisons & shelter personnel to increase eligible referrals Knowledge of eligibility requirements for all housing programs Knowledge of shelter beds, faith-based & alternate resources Use of Standardized Tool to determine eligibility and vulnerability Understanding of and Updates on the waiting list ROI and Case Management = successful interventions

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS/PARTNERSHIPS 2015 BB&T PARTNERSHIP: Community Reinvestment Funds Rapid Rehousing Model for Families with Children – assistance with deposit, rent, utility assistance, emergency hotel stays, etc. Employment Assistance – work clothes, exam or certification fees, training fees Transportation Assistance – gas vouchers, bus passes, car repairs, etc. As of April 2017, assisted 143 families (from all categories), including 400 children and 90% are still housed Quarterly reports due to BB&T Corporate Office detailing expenditures and basic outline of family situation Additional allocation in December 2016 from BB&T

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? Improved focus on who is literally homeless and when/where/how they got to that point = literal homelessness rarely occurs in a vacuum (individuals and families usually move between categories) Improved understanding of entire homeless population of a community = what are the available resources AND the gaps in resources/services Improved understanding GUIDES planning and allocation of resources in future funding cycles = our community asked for and received $$$ for a new project for unaccompanied youth and family homelessness due to collaboration between HUD grantee, CoC and Schools Fewer ineligible referrals = less frustration for personnel on both sides Document and Other Case Management Assistance = School systems have birth certificates, SS cards, IDs, to complete the client’s file School personnel can provide historical information to allow better understanding of client’s situation

WHAT IF?????????? CONSIDERATIONS Of 57,399 total students, our school district identified 5,690 students who were classified as homeless children and youth = 9.9% of total enrollment are homeless as defined by another federal statute (Category 3) and 10% of those (569 not including adults in the household) fit into the literal homeless category Our CoC noted in its annual report that 36% of our literally homeless population are in the age range of 0-17 and 7% were in the 18-24 range of unaccompanied youth = 42% of our community’s population under age 25 WHAT IF….even 10% more of the Category 3 homeless became Category 1, 2 or 4 tomorrow??? How would you address it??? Are you planning for it now???

LESSONS LEARNED FROM WEARING TWO HATS: Capacity Issues – Many school system homeless liaisons wear other hats and cannot commit as much time to the CoC/HUD grantee as is needed for this level of collaboration Understanding homeless definitions and restrictions of funding sources LESSENS frustration and INCREASES determination to find creative solutions to the problem of ending homelessness Understanding that we are all working toward the SAME goal encourages coming back to the table again and again to work out differences The CoC is responsible for EDUCATING the community on all the faces of homelessness and bringing everyone to the table to end homelessness School homeless liaisons ARE the voice of the children they serve BALANCING ACT = reducing and ending homelessness must take into account all homeless populations and a variety of funding sources

RESOURCES TO INCREASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE: NCHE – National Center for Homeless Education www.nche.ed.gov SCHOOLHOUSE CONNECTION www.schoolhouseconnection.org NAEHCY – National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth – www.naehcy.org NN4Y-National Network for Youth – www.nn4youth.org