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Identification

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Determining Eligibility for Rights and Services Under the McKinney-Vento Act

This brief, part of NCHE's Best Practices in Homeless Education series, offers step-by-step guidance on determining homelessness among children and youth whose living arrangements vary from the examples given in the McKinney-Vento definition of "homeless".
Download the brief. (578 K)

Program Contacts
Program: Abilene Independent School District
Location: Abilene, TX
Contact: Mike Murphy
Phone: (325) 671-4751
E-mail: mike.murphy@abileneisd.org
Program Description: Abilene ISD's "One School, One Year, One Child" is a district-wide outreach program to identify, enroll, and assure a quality education for homeless children. During the first week of the school year every child in the district completes a residency questionnaire aimed at identifying families and youth with living arrangements that may be considered homeless. Additionally, each time a student enrolls, attempts to transfers within the district, or withdraws, the district advises the parent and/or youth of their right to choose between the school of origin and the local attendance area school if they qualify for services under the McKinney-Vento Act.

Program: Clark County School District
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Contact: Myra Berkovits, Coordinator - Title I Hope
Phone: (702) 855-6682
URL: http://interact.ccsd.net/Homeless%20Education/
Program Description: Title I HOPE has assigned a Project Facilitator to each of the five regions in the Clark County School District. This person provides:

Training on compliance with the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act for administrators, teachers, and office staff.
Backpacks, school supplies, bus tokens and/or bus passes, and gift cards to homeless students.
Materials for enrollment and identification of homeless students.
Information on community resources relevant to homeless students and their families.
Awareness training to Student Councils and classrooms.
Extensive outreach to the local community, including the distribution of brochures and pamphlets to shelters, hotels, motels, and transient corridors.

Each school within the district also assigns a Homeless School Advocate to work directly with Title I HOPE in its efforts to identify and serve children and youth experiencing homelessness.

Program: Milwaukee Public Schools
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Contact: Carolyn Parkinson, Homeless Coordinator
Phone: (414) 475-8531
E-mail: peldocr@mail.milwaukee.k12.wi.us
Program Description: This program is staffed by three homeless coordinators. Each school within the district also has a designated homeless contact, who is responsible for the identification of homeless children in the school and coordinating school-level services such as providing school supplies and ensuring waiver of school fees. The homeless coordinators conduct annual trainings for district staff, including, but not limited to, homeless contacts, school administrators, and secretarial staff. The homeless coordinators also present to staff of many community, social services and government agencies. The main strengths of this program are its collaborative approach, the knowledge of the staff, and the support of the district administration.

The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. This website was produced with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, on contract no. ED-01-CO-0092/0001.