Angela Graciani, ForKids

Kate: Welcome to the Project Hope Virginia Podcast. Empowering voices in Homeless Education and McKinney-Vento.

Homelessness for children and youth in the U.S. can often look very different than the stereotypical image that comes to mind. These students are rarely sleeping on the streets. In fact, students experiencing homelessness may go unnoticed if teachers and other school staff don’t know which signs to look for. Identifying students experiencing homelessness is a critical process because they have certain educational rights. The Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program, part of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, was originally passed in 1987 and ensures these students are identified and connected to the supports they need to succeed in school.

The McKinney-Vento definition of homelessness extends beyond students who are sleeping on the streets or in shelters. This federal law’s education definition of homelessness also includes students and families who are staying in motels due to the lack of other options and those who are staying with family or friends due to loss of housing or economic hardship. This broader definition of homelessness guarantees that students living in these situations can experience educational stability despite their high mobility.

McKinney-Vento requires that students experiencing homelessness are given certain educational rights, such as the right to remain enrolled at their school of origin or to immediately enroll in their local school, even without required forms and medical records. They’re also given the right to transportation, even across division lines, and the right to access free school meals and other needed resources. Every school district across the country is required to appoint a liaison to ensure that these requirements are upheld.

I’m Kate Miller, training and communication specialist with Project Hope, Virginia. The office of the State Coordinator for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. Our office assists liaisons in the work they do to support students experiencing homelessness. We also collaborate with community partners across the state who advocate for these students and their families. Since 1988, ForKids has provided emergency shelter to families and children and has expanded to serve thousands of families across Virginia as one of the largest providers of homeless services.

Today, we’re grateful to have joining us our Hope hero for this edition of the podcast, Angela Graciani, the education chief at ForKids, to share her experience creating programming aimed to connect students experiencing homelessness with the educational supports they need outside of school.

Kate:
Welcome to the podcast, Angela. Thanks so much for joining us.

Angela:
Thank you for having me.

Kate:
So we know that ForKids has been making such a significant impact on the community for years. And from your involvement in shaping these efforts, could you talk a little bit about the different solutions that ForKids provides families experiencing homelessness?

Angela: Yes, I would say from the very beginning ForKids acknowledged that a family experiencing homelessness was the result of a multitude of events, situations, challenges. It was not a one-time thing, and therefore it was not going to be a one solution that was going to solve this. So even currently now we offer wraparound services that include looking for housing, housing assistance, looking for employment if that’s needed, or looking to better their employment. And then the education services that my team provides, which we are, I like to say the long-term vision. So we know that if a child graduates from high school, if we can connect them to that education success, then we have improved the the percentage, the potential that they will be successful in life.

Kate: I think that’s really helpful for people listening to hear about those wraparound services that it’s not just, a homelessness solution or a housing solution that’s necessary, but also to, help with getting jobs or help for students getting connected to school. So you can really, help to break that cycle of homelessness later on for their children. So that’s really great to hear about.

So you mentioned your team at ForKids. Can you talk a little bit more specifically about the initiatives that you’re involved in?

Angela: Yes. So ForKids, again, I would say since the beginning has added education services to everything they provide for families experiencing homelessness. And one of the key areas or key services my team provides are through staff that we call education liaisons. The liaisons are similar to McKinney-Vento liaisons with the school system, but their goal is to be the bridge between the school and the family and to help the family navigate what do they need at this point in time. Our emergency shelter is regional, so at any point in time we could have students going to between 3 and 5 different school systems. So the education liaisons work with the family to find out what is in the best interest of the student in relation to the school system. Do they need enrollment? Have they not been in school for a week? Have they not been in school for a year? What was the educational history of the students? Have they been successful? Because sometimes they have. The school ends up being the safe place, the stable place, whether the parent or head of household or guardian can keep them there while they’re experiencing homelessness is a whole other issue. So the education liaisons really help with enrollment, registration, and then helping the head of household or the guardians connect to the school system in a positive way.

The systems are quite extensive and everyone is different, so everyone has different enrollment processes. So if a student was living in a car but they were attending a school in one city, and at this point in time it makes more sense for them to go to the school that’s zoned for the emergency shelter, then that’s a whole enrollment process, which if you don’t have a phone or you don’t have a phone that has internet or you don’t have minutes, or a lot of the enrollment processes now are online, which is a big barrier for a family that does not have access to a computer or internet. So our team really works with helping the family find that baseline. And then what do they need? And then connecting them to the schools and helping with that process.

It even goes past that. Let’s say that they’ve had a student that previously received accommodations or previously has had challenges in school. So they work with the family, and then whatever school they end up going into to determine, is this a case where the family, the family would want to ask for an evaluation? So I would say everything from enrollment to setting up McKinney-Vento transportation to identifying any challenges that the student already may have experienced in school, whether it was bullying or academic deficiencies, and seeing what resources we can pull in for them.

Kate: And that’s really, wonderful to hear about how there are these dedicated navigators that are helping families navigate these different school systems because, like you said, every system is different. And knowing what challenges and barriers our families are already facing in their experience with homelessness, I think that, that just is one burden that can be lifted for them as they try to make sure their kids are getting the resources that they need to stay in school.

Angela: I like to also speak to that idea of being trauma informed, which is much more common term at this point in time. So of all the services that families are offered through ForKids, the education services are optional so the families can opt in or out. So maybe they want our support or maybe they don’t, but everything. Then at that point, the liaisons are working with in terms of connecting with the school are due to the family saying, yes, please.

Kate: Can you talk about the number of children and families that ForKids serves every year, and the kind of challenges that you see these children facing as housing instability affects their education?

Angela: So on average, ForKids serves about 200 families a day across our housing services, our emergency shelter services and our education services. Students that are experiencing housing instability, a number of things they become more at risk for. And one of those is chronic absenteeism, which is a problem nationwide, post-COVID. But if they’re experiencing housing instability, the risk increases and then that becomes a domino effect of many other things, because if they become chronically absent, then they’re missing instruction. And then, you know, their grades could suffer, their ability to connect with their peers could suffer. So there’s also the social emotional piece that ends up being affected as well.

They also—families experiencing housing instability have a harder time connecting to health care access. Another challenge that families experiencing housing instability experience, is around health care and how that affects their attendance at school and their academic success and their long term, I would say health.

You know, a lot of times they will not have access to the health care or to a provider that will provide consistent care so that you could get to the root or the diagnosis of something that’s happening.

Kate: I think that’s so helpful for people who are listening, to hear you list all of the different barriers that students experiencing homelessness are facing outside of housing instability, that might be keeping them from being able to fully participate in their education. So I think that’s just a really great illustration that you just made for people.

I’d love to hear about some of that educational programming that ForKids is specifically offering students experiencing homelessness, as well as some of the positive results that you’ve seen from that programming.

Angela: Okay. This is a fun part for me because I love programs design, especially educational programs. So one of the programs we have for our students in our emergency shelter is called Epic Kids. And our focus there is really to provide an enriching environment after school. So the kids will come in different times because they’re coming from different schools, and we have a cafe and we partner with Healthy Chesapeake, and they provide a dinner for the students and they come in and one night they’ll be doing STEM activities. One night they’ll go to the library. We also partner with the South Norfolk Library. One night they will be doing mindfulness. And then all throughout the week, we also try to embed any social emotional skill building that that month we’re focused on. So we might focus on self-awareness one month. We might focus on self-regulation another month. We know that the best thing we can do for these students is help them be able to regulate themselves so that and when they go back out to school or back upstairs at the shelter, or they go out into the world, that they have that tool with them forever.

The other thing we’re trying to do always in every single educational program ForKids, is to ignite that spark of the around, the joy of learning. So if we can get them excited about learning, whether it’s because they’re building a rocket or they’re, you know, looking at water quality, that again, we’ll serve them throughout their life, whether it’s around school or their job or just in their relationships with other people.

Kate: That is so cool to hear about all of that programming, because it’s so clear that you’re not just trying to meet the basic needs of those students, but truly wrapping your services around them to make sure that they are leaving with tools that they can take with them. Invaluable tools that, you know, to help them navigate, social emotional issues or just to have that passion that you were talking about around learning. So it’s just really clear that the students that are a part of your programming are taking away so many positive tools that they can use beyond being part of ForKids. So that’s really lovely to hear about.

Angela: Thank you. One other program I really would love to highlight is our summer program. So the students that don’t have to go to summer school, we have a summer program that we are also trying to expand their horizons. So we want them to think beyond this moment and think beyond wherever they’re living at this point in time. And so we work on global citizenship, and it’s called Dare to Be. And each week is a different country. So they learn about the country. We try to find a person in Hampton Roads. Hampton Roads is actually amazingly diverse. So we find somebody who’s living here from India who will come and speak to the students about their country. We found someone from—oh, what were our countries? We had India, Mexico, Canada, but the kids, Healthy Chesapeake again on Wednesdays provides an international meal. So they’re trying things that most of the time they’re like, what is this? But by this point, usually we have them in a place where they will try something new. Because again, I want them to think beyond what they know right this moment. And I want them also. It’s another way to bring in diversity and acceptance. When you show how people are the same how they are different everywhere, not just here in the class sitting beside you, but across the world.

And our speakers that come in, that is usually the most phenomenal day of the week because the students are fascinated. You know, what does where you live look like? What did they speak? Tell me about the food. Tell me about your children. So I love that program.

Kate: Well, I love hearing about it and just picturing your students that are in your program, participating in it, and knowing that just because a student might be experiencing housing instability, that they should also and can also be exposed to this idea of there are endless possibilities when you’re kind of plugged into your education. And so you’re clearly, demonstrating that idea for them, which is just really tremendous.

For McKinney-Vento liaisons who are looking for ways to connect students to supports outside of school, can you share your suggestions for school divisions trying to connect with community agencies and community agencies trying to connect with school divisions most effectively?

Angela: I think one of my biggest suggestions, I would say my biggest ask would be to have yearly meetings with whoever would be the best person to be involved. School systems are similar to most agencies across the nation now, and that there’s lots of change, so we may have built our team, may have built rapport with someone at one school or one office, and then the person might change. And so reestablishing that trust in that transparency and processes and procedures is key. So a lot of times everyone is acting from this place of being the guardians of the students’ information and their confidentiality and how we can have these meetings or these face-to-face to go over the again, like the policies and the procedures, so that we can establish that trust in a relationship. We are all in support of the family and we all want their success. So any way that we could lean on each other’s strengths, we cannot be the school. We tell families many, many times, like our afterschool program cannot in any way take over what a seven-hour school day is. So we do have some families that as they’re building their trust with the schools or school systems, like they might not send their student to school and then send them to our after school program. Like, we can’t. There’s nothing our homework assistants can do in this time that will, you know, replace what the school is doing. We also don’t have the bandwidth in terms of our, our education staff to meet all the academic needs from students that are K through 12th grade. So I would say yearly meetings or some way to share processes so that it was easy to share information.

Kate: So what I’m hearing is just that importance of regularly communicating and just knowing that your processes are always changing. So it’s always important to stay in touch, and stay in communication with each other and knowing the services that community agencies provide, and then also the divisions provide as well.

Angela: Yes, I agree. And there are different conveners I would say that are super helpful and sometimes help bridge the gap in communication or understanding. So there is one school system I know that holds a monthly meeting and invites all the, you know, community-based organizations too, and that’s super helpful. And I think that helps also, each of us understand, because there isn’t one of us who is going to be able to provide everything forever. So as the family is navigating where they are, our ability to know, oh, we don’t have this here, but I was just at this meeting and this organization over here can help you. So I’m going to connect—I know the person to connect and have their information. And so that’s any type of convening that way as well. I’d say even with the community-based organizations on their own is helpful. This one happens to be led by the school system, which is amazing. I wish they all could do that.

Kate: Yeah, I love the idea of the monthly meeting. I think that’s a great—that’s a great practice for anybody listening who’s looking for ideas and ways to connect to their community partners.

I know that ForKids does an exceptional job raising awareness and as well as with fundraising for those listening who are looking to raise awareness in their own community. First, I want to ask, what do you think the biggest misconception is about homelessness?

Angela: One of the key misconceptions around families experiencing homelessness that remains to this day is that a family in this state is there because they haven’t tried hard enough, or because they don’t have employment. We have many, many families who are in emergency shelters at this point in time who are working and doing their best to not be where they are right this moment.

Kate: It’s really powerful to hear and I think really helpful for people listening to hear as well because I agree, I think a lot of people just assume that about people who are experiencing homelessness, and so oftentimes it could be farthest from the truth. So thank you for sharing that.

Angela: I did want to note as well that the housing crisis hotline ends up being this funnel place for providers from the area, from 14 cities, and on average at the moment, they’re getting 7,000 calls a month. And of those 7,000 calls, 30% are families looking for housing assistance.

Kate: Okay, so just to clarify, that number is just in the ForKids region.

Angela: Yes.

Kate: That you’re getting that.

Angela: Yes. Yes. Just within the 14 cities that we—the calls funnel into the housing crisis hotline.

Kate: Wow, that’s that’s really astonishing. And do you think that, there’s a significant percentage of people in this area that might not guess that the number was that high?

Angela: I would yes, I would imagine, many people would be surprised by that number.

Kate: Yeah, I would. Think so, too.

Kate: So thinking again about the importance of raising awareness, what do you think is that key message that helps community members get a better sense of the work that you do and the people that you serve?

Angela: Some of the key issues, I think, for everyone to keep in mind. And again, I would say this is nationwide, is the lack of affordable housing.

So a family who is making $25,000 a year, the number of units available, that would be a third of their income are really minimal. So even going up, someone who’s making $50,000 a year, again, the number of units available are minimal. And if we take into account as well the cost of childcare, you see families who are struggling because if your child is sick and you can’t go to work and you get fired and then you again, you see the snowball effect, the domino effect, that long term, or if there’s a health issue that comes into play that will could, I’d say, potentially result in them experiencing homelessness or housing instability.

Kate: So what I’m hearing you say is it’s so important that families have more access to affordable housing and childcare and that homelessness is so often not a choice, and that so many of our families experiencing homelessness are working and did not choose to be in this situation.

Angela: Exactly.

Kate: Angela, can you share a success story of a ForKids student or family that keeps you motivated in your work?

Angela: I have so many. I have so many. But as I was thinking about the question, the one that came to mind was one that I have in the summer. So one of our students, who was a McKinney-Vento eligible student, was required to go to summer school for a promotion. So for summer school, the school systems are not required to provide transportation. Again, even so, you know, is that’s part of the rights that the students are eligible for. But during summer school, not so much. So the education liaison worked between herself and Lyft. We were able to get this student to and from summer school. She passed, she was promoted. And then during that same time, the education liaison had worked with Mom and the special needs team at that point in time to finalize her evaluation, and so but before the summer school ended, she experienced some accommodations and could really see the difference in her own learning. So it was phenomenal, I would say across the board in the sense of one, the education liaison being able to help empower the mom, being able to connect her to the special education team for the student to go to summer school and be successful, and then also for the student to experience herself as being successful in academics. So it was a great positive ending.

Kate: Well, thank you for sharing that story. It’s such a great illustration of the importance of investing in our students’ education and the number of people that are involved in supporting them so that they can then feel that support. So thank you for sharing. I know there’s many more stories just like it that come out of ForKids from the hard work that you and all of the staff at ForKids are doing. So I just want to thank you again for that work and for giving us your time today to be on the podcast.

Angela: Oh, thank you and thank you to my team. In our interviews, this is one of the things we talk about. You have to have your own maintenance, your own ability to process a lot of what our families are experiencing and still come back and be the face of hope. You know, you said Hope Hero. So everything that’s happening with the family that they’re trying to navigate these systems were everywhere. They’re hitting a wall, hitting a wall, hitting a wall. And my team has to be like, no, we can do it. The next thing, no, we can do it. And that takes a lot, to maintain that and to hold that inspiration for multiple families that have so much going on. And my team is incredible in that way. As I left them today, we have tours coming through, and I just said, please do what you always do. You are compassionate leaders, and amazing beacons for our students and families, so I think I thank them so much.