Although it’s far from being a large item in Baltimore city school’s just-passed budget, the money for the district’s unit for homeless students could mean the difference between a student being in class or on the street.
There’s Tambria Taylor, for example. She, her three-year-old daughter, Heaven Elliott, and her sons, ages six and seven, are staying at Sarah’s Hope, a Mount Street shelter for women and children.
They’ve been there, sharing a large room with other families, since February. They had been living with Taylor’s mother and grandmother, but after the grandmother died, Taylor’s mother lost the house and the family had no place else to go. Taylor says the shelter and the school district helped her get her sons in a city charter school and provided the basics they needed to stay there. “Once we got here, they helped my kids with transportation, book bags and coats,” Taylor said. “They gave me referrals to certain places. They really helped out a lot.”
The shelter also worked with school officials to help her get a voucher to cover the cost of allergy medication for one son. “It was $100 and I was truly blessed because I didn’t know what I was going to do because my medical assistance was cut,” she said.
But Taylor and her children are far from alone. Last year, there were about 2,700 homeless students in city schools. That number is expected to increase this year, yet Shayna Robinson, the district’s homeless liaison, says her program gets less than $300,000, with the bulk of that coming from the federal government. “Last year we received about $85,000 from the state and that grant, when you think about the number of homeless children we have, $85,000 is not a lot of money to provide the services to all those children,” Robinson said. “We got another $200,000 from Title 1, another federal program. That’s our pot.”
And it probably won’t get any bigger. The budget the school board recently approved for next year contains the same amount as this year. The federal money goes to after-school tutoring, summer camp and other programs for homeless students.
Some services the homeless unit coordinates, such as transportation and free school meals, are included in other departments’ budgets. Still, Robinson said they need more money to address the larger needs of homeless students and their families. “The needs of every family are going to be different. It could be things from housing to jobs, a meal, clothing or uniforms for kids. It runs the gamut,” Robinson said. “And the reasons for homelessness are different. You have folks fleeing domestic violence, folks that have been evicted, you have people with mental health issues or substance abuse issues. I hear it all, I do.”
Because their budget is small, Lara Ohanian, who oversees the homeless unit, said they must form partnerships with state and city agencies and community organizations. That’s where Sarah’s Hope comes in. “That is an important part of our mission and our work because we can provide educational services and supports to students. But unless we support the whole family as well, that terrible problem of homelessness will never be solved and that can’t be done without partnerships,” Ohanian said.
The homeless unit officials are working closely with the mayor’s office and have established partnerships with agencies such as the United Way and nonprofits like St. Vincent de Paul, which runs Sarah’s Hope.
Although most of the district’s homeless students live doubled up with family and friends, others live in shelters. About 30 stay at Sarah’s Hope where four classrooms have been turned into dormitory-style living with several families in each room. Mary Rode, St. Vincent de Paul’s senior vice president of program services, said they plan to remodel the building to expand services. “We’re hoping to break ground on the renovations in the fall of this year,” she said. “Right now we’re only on this first floor and we’re going to remodel all three floors, so we can serve more families of men, women and children.”
The families at Sara’s Hope receive meals there and counseling if they need it. Danielle Rankin, the shelter’s assistant director, said the partnership with city schools also provides tutors for the students who stay there. “Monday through Thursday, they have to do homework with volunteers and teachers from the Baltimore City Public Schools come out to the shelter to provide tutoring on site two to three days a week,” Rankin said. “When they finish, they have to read a book or do a learning activity to practice math skills. We do know homeless children are further behind and we try to bridge that gap.”
The shelter has a coordinator who visits students’ schools to observe them in their classes. And because nearly 45 percent of homeless students are chronically absent—missing 20 or more days of school a year—other volunteers and staff keep tabs on them to make sure they are in class. “The kids have to be in school every day. We mandate it, so they don’t have an option, as much as they might try, especially teenagers,” Rankin said.
With summer almost here and schools closing soon, Robinson, the homeless liaison, said the schools turn to organizations like St. Vincent de Paul and the Y of Central Maryland, both of which operate all-day summer camps for homeless students. The Y provides meals, jobs and workshops for homeless teenagers. Rode said St. Vincent de Paul’s program serves younger homeless children. “We have bus service that goes to all the shelters and all the transitional housing sites in the city and county,” she said. “The morning is focused on summer learning loss, on math and reading skills and science and in the evening, we focus on fun and enrichment. We take them to the theatre, field trips and things like that.”
Both Ohanian and Robinson said they hope to form more partnerships to meet the needs of the district’s homeless families. “We are always optimistic about the opportunities that are out there for us to partner with other agencies, more with the shelters than we do, partner with the city and state to move that work and resources to the families that need them,” Ohanian said. “We of course always want more funding, but for us, the big push is making sure services can be accessed from other agencies.
Robinson added, “Some of our foundation partners have reached out and asked how they can support us, so it’s really about us making those connections and putting together proposals.”
The two said district officials are getting better at identifying homeless students and that because the number is increasing, it is important to continue forming partnerships.