Education for Homeless Children and Youth Intitiative
Who is Homeless?
The homeless are individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. This includes children and youth:
- Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason.
- Living in emergency or transitional shelters such as motel, trailer park, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative accommodations.
- Awaiting foster care placement or abandoned in hospitals.
- Living in cars, public spaces, abandon buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings.
- Who have primary nighttime residence that is public or private but not designed as regular sleeping accommodations for human beings.
- Who are migratory and living in the circumstances described above.
Homeless Children’s Initiative
The Pennsylvania Homeless Children’s Initiative ensures that homeless students experience minimum disruption to their education regardless of their living situation by:
- Assisting with school enrollment
- Coordinating transportation
- Providing agency referrals for clothing, food, shelter, and school supplies
- Educating parents, school, and shelter staff members regarding the law and their role with respect to homeless children
- Assisting school staff in developing policies and procedures that reflect the law and minimize disruption for homeless students
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, re-authorized in January 2002, ensures educational rights for children and youth experiencing homelessness. It provides grants and legal protections so children and youth in homeless situations can enroll in, attend, and succeed in school and pre-school programs.
Homeless Students’ Rights
Students who are homeless have the right to:
- Get help enrolling and succeeding in school
- Stay in the school they went to before becoming homeless or go to the local school in the area where they live
- Get transportation to their school
- Receive preschool services; free or reduced lunch; English language services; special education; Title I services; vocational/technical education; gifted, and before- and after-school services
- Go to school with children who are not homeless
Downloads/Resources
Homeless Services Information
- McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
- Educational Rights of Students in Homeless Situations
- What Teachers Can Do to Help Homeless Students Succeed in School
- What Administrators Can Do to Help Homeless Students
- National Center for Homeless Education
- 100 Most Frequently Asked Questions
- National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
- Greene County Find-Out
- Washington Knows
- Fayette County Human Service Council, Inc.
Contact Us
For more information about services available in Fayette, Greene, and Washington Counties through IU1 contact:
Michelle Voithofer, ACSW, MPA
Homeless Education Coordinator
6353 National Pike
Grindstone, PA 15442
724-785-7472 ext. 524
voithoferm@iu1.k12.pa.us
