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Ensuring all homeless youth have access to higher educational opportunities

Ensuring all homeless youth have access to higher educational opportunities. District School Board of Pasco County Students In Transition Erika Remsberg, L.C.S.W. Acknowledgements. Barbara Duffield, NAEHCY Policy Director http://naehcy.org Christina Dukes, SERVE Center, NCHE

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Ensuring all homeless youth have access to higher educational opportunities

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  1. Ensuring all homeless youth have access to higher educational opportunities District School Board of Pasco County Students In Transition Erika Remsberg, L.C.S.W.

  2. Acknowledgements Barbara Duffield, NAEHCY Policy Director http://naehcy.org Christina Dukes, SERVE Center, NCHE http://center.serve.org/nche/ Lorraine Allen, Florida State Liaison Dee Dee Wright, Polk County Liaison Dr. Lucy Garner, Retired Charlotte County Joanne Huber, Retired Pasco County Liaison

  3. Objectives Overview • Overview of county, district and program • Data from 2012-2013 school year • Team overview • District Vision, Team Goals • Legislative Changes • Challenges (External/Internal) • Resources • What we did/Outcomes • Data project / Survey results • Progress • Moving forward • Links

  4. Pasco County, Florida • Pasco county is Florida's 12th most populous county. • Unemployment above state average at 11%. • Serves over 67,000 students in 84 schools. • 1,992 enrolled homeless students – 6/2013. • 56% of students qualify for free lunch. • 57% of residents spend more than 30% of their income on housing. • 78% of adult residents completed High School.

  5. 2012-2013 School Year 2372 Identified homeless children and youth 1992 Enrolled homeless students 283 Unaccompanied Youth 71 High school seniors

  6. Students In Transition Team (S.I.T.) District based Director Homeless Liaison / Social Worker Social Worker Data Entry Operator / Spanish Translator Part-time intern 12 weeks Tel: 813-794-4980 Fax: 813-794-4987 Email: eremsber@pasco.k12.fl.us

  7. District School Board of Pasco County Fulfilling the promise college, career and life readiness for each and every student

  8. S.I.T. team goals

  9. Fee Waivers The state of Florida offers a fee exemption to county/state colleges/universities per section 1009.25(1)(f), Florida Statutes, for those students with homeless status.

  10. Access to higher education Students experiencing homelessness may not even think going to college is a possibilityfor them

  11. Emergency Housing • 2 domestic violence shelters • 1 runaway/unaccompanied youth shelter serving ages 11-17 • 1 shelter for women and women with children • 2 privately run shelters housing adults only • NO FAMILY SHELTERS • NO SHELTERS HOUSING MEN WITH CHILDREN

  12. External Barriers • Limited information about fee waiver exemption other than homelessness was now included • Outdated contact information for contacts at colleges/universities • Homelessness being included in statute was new for colleges/universities, no process in place, no department ownership

  13. Internal Barriers • Classroom style training more difficult, department meetings became quarterly instead of monthly. • Web-based training had been established, to reach a broader audience but fee waivers were not included in the training. • Staffing, social worker on maternity leave between Dec-April – only 1 full-time social worker

  14. Resources • District supervisors (Social Work & Guidance Counselors) worked with us to educate staff • Homeless advocates, Guidance Counselors and Career Specialists at high school level were highly motivated to assist with outreach • Community support was positive • Intern was highly motivated and made serving homeless youth primary focus of her data project.

  15. What did we do? • Examined how time was spent, made adjustments. • Ensured every school site had updated resource books for families and unaccompanied homeless youth. • Developed a complete contact list and process for all state/county colleges and universities.

  16. What did we do? • Outreached every identified homeless senior, there were 71 • Provided resource materials to the seniors • Utilized guidance counselors, social workers, administrators and front-end staff for outreach. • Followed up at least one time.

  17. Outcomes What did we learn? Front-end staff were just as key as guidance counselors were to connecting students with resources and higher education.

  18. Outcomes What did we learn? After the initial contact with the senior, ongoing communication was more likely if we were willing to text/email the students.

  19. Outcomes What did we learn? Negotiating the college system can be a confusing and frustrating process. Students were willing/able to advocate for themselves but often did not know how.

  20. Data project • How long ago did you lose housing? • Reason for losing housing? • Who is your primary support person? • Most immediate concern? • Biggest barrier to college? • How confident are you college is an option?

  21. Survey of Homeless Seniors How long ago did you lose housing?

  22. Reason for leaving home?

  23. Primary Support Person

  24. Most immediate concern

  25. If you want to go to college, biggest barrier for you?

  26. How confident you could go to college if you wanted to?

  27. Progress to date

  28. Moving forward • Update resource guides annually to include information regarding fee waivers, financial aid, scholarships and community resources • Continue to partner with administrators, career specialists, front-end and guidance staff. • Continue to train and coordinate efforts with community partners • Annually update contacts and processes for public Florida colleges and universities. • Identify staff responsible for recertification at college/university

  29. Moving forward • Outreach every identified homeless senior. • Help them to identify a primary support person to assist them with negotiating the application/aid process. • Utilize community partners, volunteers and donors to assist these students.

  30. FAFSA / ACT / SAT Free Application for Federal Student Aid - Used to access need-based federal aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act and include: Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Work Study, Perkins Loan, TEACH Grant, SMART Grant, and Academic Competitiveness Grant. http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Already solid process in place at school sites to assist with ACT/SAT waivers. http://sat.collegeboard.org/register/sat-fee-waivers and http://www.act.org/aap/pdf/feewaiver.pdf

  31. Financial Aid Resource http://www.nasfaa.org/students/State_Financial_Aid_Programs.aspx

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