Housing High School = Success: Successful Host Home Programs

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Housing High School SuccessSuccessful Host
Home Programs
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NAEHCY

• National membership association dedicated to
  educational excellence for children and youth
  experiencing homelessness, from early childhood
  through higher education.
• Local Youth Task Forces, State Higher Ed
  Networks, Early Childhood Committee
• Technical assistance on policy implementation.
• Bringing your voices to Congress and state
  legislatures.
• Youth leadership and support.

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House-Keeping Asking Questions

• Well only be taking written questions via the
  Chat box.
• Type questions into the Chat box at any time
  during the presentation.
• Be sure to send your question To All (public).
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  Chat box, or will answer your question over the
  phone when we break for questions.

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Host Homes for Unaccompanied Youth

• A model for community collaboration

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HYI

• Kathi Sheffel
• Homeless Liaison Fairfax County Public Schools
• Judith Dittman
• Executive Director Alternative House

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Homeless Youth Initiative

• Young people who attend high school, are homeless
  and do not have the support of a parent or
  guardian are in a precarious situation. Without
  stable housing concentrating on education is
  difficult. Finding a place to study, sufficient
  food to eat and medical care are all issues.
  Adult homeless shelters are not a good option for
  young people who are 18 to 21 and still in
  school.

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Understanding the need

• Homeless Adult Shelters are by design, not for
  high school students. In order for minimal
  disruption educationally in spite of
  homelessness, students need a consistent place to
  stay where they can focus on school. Adult
  shelters do not offer that regular nighttime
  residence. Frequently, they offer a night to
  night possibility of a place to sleep, requiring
  hyper vigilance on the part of the student
  regarding basic needs and personal safety. This
  housing is so very far removed from that of the
  regular student population at school, the student
  is a further risk of disengaging from peers and
  becoming isolated with homelessness.

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Identification and Referral

• FCPS Homeless office assists the School Social
  Worker in identifying HYI candidates.
• SSW assists the student with the application to
  HYI
• HYI reviews each application, interviews student,
  and
• Makes the appropriate housing placement

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Host Homes

• Involvement in the life of the teen will be
  dependent on the student and the Host Home and an
  agreement about house rules will also be defined
  by two parties. The Host Home Coordinator will
  visit with the family once a month to ensure
  things are going smoothly. The student will also
  receive support from the staff.

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Janet Lane House

• Home for Teen Girls
• A four bedroom home in Vienna is available to
  house four young women who are enrolled in FCPS.
  Supervision is provided 24 hours a day. Students
  must be screened by a therapist.

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Host Home Rental Subsidies

• A rental subsidy program to assist students at
  risk of losing their housing (renting a room) or
  provided to help secure housing requires that
  students secure employment and be able to live
  independently. As with the other programs, they
  must apply for the program and participate in a
  meeting with the therapist to determine
  eligibility. They will receive ongoing support
  from the Alternative House staff.

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Rental Subsidy

• The Alternative House Housing/Program Coordinator
  will match the young person with appropriate
  housing. In many cases this will be a room in a
  home located near the school the young person
  attends. By using this arrangement there are
  three benefits

• A family that may be stretching to make their
  mortgage payment receives that small additional
  income that keeps them in their home
• The young person has a safe, stable living
  arrangement close to the social supports he or
  she has developed and
• The school district does not incur the cost of
  transporting the young person from a remote
  shelter to their high school.

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Handling issues

• Working out barriers that arise
• Program fluidity and improvement

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School Partnership What does that really mean?

• Meetings and more meetings.why we need them
• and how they actually help our kids!
• Collaborating with County Leadership
• Awareness building
• Maintaining stamina and patience
• Common responses How to handle them.

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Last year I took in a foreign exchange student
from Palmyra

• Roadmap to Graduation

Beth McCullough M.A., L.L.P. Homeless Education
Coordinator Adrian Public Schools, Adrian, MI
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1. Identifying the problem

• Gather data tell the story
• Needs assessments
• What are the resources?
• What are the holes?
• Who is already working with this population?
• Know what committees you need to be on.

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• 2. The Homeless Youth Committee
• Department of Human Services
• Child Protective Services
• Criminal Justice
• Community Mental Health
• Runaway and Homeless Youth contractor
• Shelters
• Continuum of Care
• Faith Community
• Employment agencies
• Special education directors

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• 3. Roadmap to Graduation
• Find a community partner
• Mentor homes, mentoring 7 days a week, 24 hours a
  day.
• Seniors on track to graduate
• Power of Attorney if under 18
• Use family and friends as well as recruiting
  homes old foster care homes
• Monthly stipend

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Funding

• Service clubs Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.
• Faith based funding
• Mentoring funding
• Individual contributions
• Drop out prevention
• Suicide prevention
• LGBT groups

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Cost of Teen Pregnancy

• 1,430 The average annual cost to taxpayers
  associated with a child born to a teen mother
  aged 19 and younger.
• 4,080 The average annual cost to taxpayers
  associated with a child born to a teen mother
  aged 17 and younger.
• 8.6 billion The public costs of childbearing
  to teens aged 17 and younger.
• The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy,
  www.teenpregnancy.org/costs

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Cost of dropping out of high school

• A new report out by the Alliance for Excellent
  Education (November 18, 2009) states the nations
  economy would have benefited from almost 335
  billion in additional income if the high school
  students that dropped out of the Class of 2009
  had graduated. Over 292,000 is the cost incurred
  by taxpayers for each dropout over their lifetime
  in terms of lost earnings and therefore lower
  taxes paid and higher spending for social costs
  including incarceration, health care, and
  welfare.

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The cost of 1 student in Roadmap to Graduation

• 300 a month
• 2700 a year
• What is graduation worth?

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Success Rate

• 100 Graduation rate
• 87 attend college
• 100 employment rate

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Unaccompanied student initiative

• Strong Families Action Team

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Host Home Program

• Housed under Catholic Charities of Wyoming
• Catholic Charites provides case management to the
  youth
• Host family if needed
• Stipend is provided to youth
• Small portion is given to host family
• Youth Initiated program

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Host Home Funding

• Medicaid
• Catholic Charities is paid by Medicaid for case
  management
• Cheyenne Regional Medical Center
• Community Board Grant pays for stipend

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USI Funding

• Private Donors
• United Way of Laramie County
• Banks
• CDBG Funds
• Womens Civic League
• Foundations
• Medicaid
• Community Hospital

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USI Funding Takeaways

• Educate your community
• Informational Dinner with key stakeholders
• Regular Newsletter
• Social Media
• Talk to private donors to gain information on
  what they want to see when they donate
• Budget in marketing material
• Ownership of program
• Transparency
• List of options to give
• Skills
• Money for specific line item
• Make the ASK!!

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Questions?
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just the organizer)and click Send