This reading list offers actionable resources and information about efforts to combat student homelessness within Washington state and beyond. Use this list to learn more about the work being done and to inspire your work to end student homelessness in your community.
McKinney Vento Act
McKinney Vento One-Pager - Summary of the McKinney-Vento Act
Help stakeholders understand the Act and its requirements.
Help teams take inventory of how the Act is being implemented within a specific district/HL system geography.
School Reopening and Recovery: Considerations for Serving Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness - This checklist offers important considerations to help state and local educational agencies ensure equitable access to education for students experiencing homelessness as they prepare for the new school year.
Lack of engagement in distance learning after school buildings closed in 2020 may be a warning sign of homelessness. Incorporate information about the McKinney-Vento Act in efforts to re engage those students in schools.
Create opportunities to strengthen the relationship between the school- and YYA homelessness systems by identifying specific recommendations that would serve youth even better should the schools system have access to lists of housing resources available according to a student’s category of homelessness.
Efforts in Washington State
Schoolhouse Washington Menu of Strategies - Working collection of research-based practices and recommendations to help schools and districts support students and families experiencing homelessness.
Inspiration for improvement projects and change ideas.
SchoolHouse WA: How Schools Can Help Students Beat the Odds - This report identifies the common practices of schools and school districts with higher and lower than predicted outcomes for students experiencing homelessness.
Learn from the efforts of schools in Washington state.
Review the examples of specific practices and strategies associated with better outcomes for students experiencing homelessness for inspiration about change ideas to test.
Efforts Across the Nation
Stabilizing Families Through a School-Centered Housing Response - This model connects the housing production work of Baltimore’s Department of Housing and Community Development with Baltimore City School’s deep familiarity of the children and families in their community.
Executive Summary - The Site Selection process outlined on page 3 can be adjusted to help your teams decide which school(s) in your community would benefit most from a test.
White Paper - Indulge in the details of the planning, finance, governing, program and scaling structures of Baltimore’s School-Centered Housing Response Model
Navigating the American Rescue Plan Act’s Relief for Children, Youth, and Families Experiencing Homelessness- This tool outlines all of the funding streams that support young people through ARPA, including a description of what they do, who is eligible and the administrators of the funds in communities.
Geelong Project
Geelong Project Interim Report 2016-2017 - The Geelong project resulted in a reduction of students entering the homeless system by 40%. Read this 2018 Interim Report to learn more about the methods and findings of this project.
Consider how your community can take on a ‘Collective Impact’ model in addressing unaccompanied student homelessness (see page 27)
Importing the Geelong Project Article 1 - The Seattle Times answers readers’ questions about the Geelong Project, focusing on the structure of the program and the local context of homelessness in Geelong.
Learn more about a promising approach of reducing student homelessness in Australia.
Importing the Geelong Project Article 2 - This article outlines [at the time upcoming] plans to study what it would take for Seattle to host one of the first U.S. expansions of the Geelong Project. Included in the article is a process flow used in the Geelong project to identify students experiencing homelessness used in the program that resulted in a 40% reduction of inflow into the local youth homelessness system.
A process flow for identifying homeless students is outlined in this article. Consider what it might take to try a universal identification process in one school.
Boston Public Schools Homeless Education Resource Network
BPS Quick Reference Guide - List of resources, services and activities available to support students experiencing homelessness.
An outline when creating your community’s resource lists.
Consider duplicating this structure when building your community’s centralized resource lists.
BPS HERN Toolkit for Schools - Google Drive of resources, services, activities available to students experiencing homelessness and information for staff.
A reference of what a centralized resource/information portal serving students experiencing homelessness could look like.
Look for inspiration when brainstorming improvement projects
Unaccompanied Student Emergency Safety Plan - This Emergency Safety Plan can help you identify and connect students and families with immediate and long-term supports.
Adopt its use within schools to support students in identifying resources.
Adapt the “Youth Program Eligibility” section to your local landscape and try distributing to schools in one school district to see if leads to an increase of referrals to appropriate services.
Studies and Reports
Chapin Hall: The Role of Cash in Empowering Young People Who Experience Homelessness - Can direct financial assistance with supports provide young people with what they need? Learn more about Chapin Hall and Point Source Youth’s collaborative efforts to pursue an answer of, “Yes!”
Chapin Hall: Homeless and Education Systems Can Work Together to Improve Youth Outcomes - Homelessness and housing instability interfere with young people’s abilities and opportunities to stay in school and achieve their educational aspirations. This brief highlights opportunities for the education and homelessness systems to work together to ensure that youth are supported in their living situations, their educational experiences, and their career pursuits.
The Five Major Findings can offer inspiration for choosing improvement project and change ideas. Bring them to a working meeting to discover what small things you can test quickly!