Sus socios escolares para las personas con carencia de hogar

(En inglés)

Your Homeless Education Partners

Director Khari M. Garvin: Hi, I’m Khari Garvin, the Director of the Office of Head Start. And this is a “Home at Head Start” message. We want every young child and their family experiencing housing insecurity to have a Home at Head Start. Today, I wanted to talk to you about our homelessness education partners. Did you know we have the same mission and are required by law to use the same definition of homelessness? Did you know that every school district has a staff person dedicated to finding and serving families who might be McKinney-Vento eligible?

In fact, the Head Start Act says that you must find the person in your school district, usually referred to as a homelessness education liaison, and coordinate on behalf of children experiencing homelessness. School districts are also required to coordinate with state homelessness coordinators and community and school personnel. And this means coordinate with you, Head Start. I want you to keep in mind a few things here: local liaisons in your community may be supporting children with very young siblings that are eligible for Early Head Start and Head Start. They may be a great source of enrollment referrals. 

Homeless liaisons are also great partners to invite to serve on your Policy Councils, Head Start Health Advisory Committees, and your governing boards. Some programs have success with holding joint trainings for staff on how to understand McKinney-Vento eligibility. These trainings also serve to energize relationships and inspire coordinated planning. And never forget that your Head Start Collaboration Office Directors are a great source of knowledge and expertise in facilitating these partnerships, both in your community and across your states. Interested in learning who these folks are in your state and community? Here are some helpful links to do just that. 

Narrator: To find your local homelessness liaison, please visit https://bit.ly/4aKS5yu. To find your state McKinney-Vento coordinator, please visit https://bit.ly/3TMYfqZ. Produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.