Podcast Episode 8: Back to School for Homeless Youth-How you can help!

It's Back to School time! Whether you're getting your own kids ready to go back to school or you're going back to school yourself (as a student or an educator), you know the drill...school supply shopping, getting that new first-day-of-school outfit, and preparing for the first day.

While this is a time of excitement and new changes, for our homeless students, back to school time is one of anxiety and hardship.

In this episode l share information about the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the Federal guideline for schools to identify, enroll and support homeless students and their families. The homeless definition in the McKinney-Vento Act is a broader than being literally homeless, on the street without a roof over your head...families can qualify for services if they lack a "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence".

The term "homeless children and youths" also includes:

children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason;
are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations;
are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;
children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildin

gs, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

migratory children

In this episode I share a few ways you can help homeless youth in your school or in a school near you. I would love to know if you end up taking one of these suggestions at your own school or a school near you. And as I mention in the podcast, I'm always taking donations for the homeless youth I serve. :)

Resources from this episode: