Urban Program Spotlight on Serving McKinney-Vento–eligible Families

Urban Program Spotlight on Serving McKinney-Vento–eligible Families

Glenna Davis: Hello, and welcome, everyone, to the Spotlighting Urban Programs Serving McKinney - Vento Eligible Families webcast. It is now my pleasure to start the prerecorded portion of our event today. 

Kiersten Beigel: Hello, Head Start. Welcome. My name is Kiersten Beigel, and I work at the Office of Head Start, where I am the parent, family and community engagement lead for the office. Today, I'm here with three special guests, and we are really glad you're here as a group because we are excited to have a conversation about how we are prioritizing families who are McKinney - Vento eligible for Head Start. 

We are having this conversation because there are 1.2 million children under the age of 6 who are homeless or experiencing homelessness and because we have these wonderful comprehensive services and Head Start that you all are providing. We feel like it's important to hear from you. How are you doing this work? How are you engaging and enrolling families who are McKinney - Vento eligible? Now, I want to say a couple of things about McKinney - Vento eligibility because if you are new to Head Start or new to this work in general, there are a few things to keep in mind before we get into our panel discussion.

First of all, families in Head Start who meet the McKinney - Vento definition in the ACT are eligible for Head Start in a ... We say, "Categorically eligible," and that means essentially that it's not necessary to look at family income when enrolling families. The other thing to note about this McKinney - Vento definition is it's very broad, and that's an important thing because over 70% of our families experiencing homelessness are living with other families based on a situation where there's been an emergency or a loss of housing or an economic situation that led to that loss of housing and that needing to live with other folks. 

The reason I bring those things up is because, as we're talking today, this is kind of the first thing we all need to know in Head Start when we're enrolling families. Although we're not going to focus on this area, which is typically an area where programs have a lot of questions, we are going to drop some resources in chat for you, and we are going to share some resources at the end that can answer these kinds of questions and hopefully be helpful to you. I also want to share some recent data from the PIR. Since the Head Start Act was reauthorized in 2007, we have been kind of inching our way up in serving more and more families experiencing homelessness. 

This past year, however, we had quite a bump, and that's for a lot of reasons, but I think one of the main reasons is that programs are really sharpening their focus and intention on enrolling more families who are McKinney - Vento eligible. I think that's great news, and I think, as our director said to me the other day, we need to keep our foot on the gas, our foot on the pedal, yeah, our pedal on the gas. That's it. Today, we're going to be talking with staff from three programs in urban areas: Los Angeles, San Antonio, Texas and Boston, Massachusetts. 

We're going to be covering four areas. We're going to talk about enrollment and recruitment. We're going to be talking about relationship building and services. We are going to talk about community partnerships as well as staff professional development and supports. Before we get into the enrollment discussion, the outreach and recruitment, I want to first introduce you to these wonderful folks. I'd love to start with you, Kate. Tell us your whole name, your role in - program, just a few things about your program and then kind of what gets you up in the morning about your job, something that you really love about your work. 

Katelyn Pace: Hi, everyone. My name is Kate Pace. I am the deputy director of Program Design and Evaluation here at ABCD Head Start and Children's Services in Boston, Massachusetts. We also serve the streetcar suburbs of Everett, Malden and Medford. We serve 1,902 families, 20%  of which are experiencing homelessness annually. The thing that gets me excited to come to work and that I am eternally grateful for is just the opportunity to learn always from my peers, my colleagues, community partners and our children and families. 

Kiersten: Welcome, Kate. Thanks so much for being here today. OK, Jessica. Over to you. 

Jessica Manyseng: Thank you. Hello. My name is Jessica Manyseng. I am the mental health coordinator for the City of San Antonio Department of Human Services Head Start program in San Antonio, Texas. Our funded enrollment is 2,970 children in Head Start. We have two partnerships with San Antonio Independent School District, which has 24 campuses, and Edgewood Independent School District, which has five campuses. 

Now, what excites me is we have a very strong community partnerships that support the continuum of care for our marginalized and most vulnerable populations. Something that really motivates me to continue to do the work that I do and pursue social work in general is to be the person I wish I had when I was younger. That's something that keeps me grounded. 

Kiersten: I love that. Thank you for sharing that. And, OK, Sam, your turn. 

Sam Joo: Thank you, Kirsten. I'm Sam Joo, vice president of Student and Community Services for Para Los Ninos, a nonprofit in Los Angeles. We are entering our 45th year this year of service to the Los Angeles community. I think some of the services that we do, we do operate seven Head Start sites, approximately 347 children, and as of the most current data 41% of our families are experiencing housing insecurity. 

I think what makes our organization unique is although we are a provider of Head Start services, we also operate charter schools from transition to kindergarten to middle school as well as in way of children, youth and family support programs. As families need to connect, whether it be mental health or parenting or housing or food insecurity, we have the capacity within the organization to support those families, and I think that's what really excites me the most. I'm very excited to be here. Thank you. 

Kiersten: It's great when you have such direct access to the kinds of things that that families who are enrolled are looking for. OK. Well, let's talk. All three of your organizations really do serve high percentages. 41% is really high, 20%, 18%. Let's talk a little bit about how your program is finding families, enrolling families. Tell us a little bit about how you can do your programs that are serving higher percentages of families. Kate, why don't we start with you?

Katelyn: Sure. For context, in the Greater Boston area, the rise in homelessness is really driven by two factors, one of which is the astronomical cost of living and housing as well as an increasing number of newcomer families who are migrating to the United States for safety and opportunity. These families are ... There are many families in our emergency shelter system in the State. 

Massachusetts is a Right to Shelter state, which is rare, but for the first time since the 1980s has really hit the capacity. There are many families completely unhoused on a nightly basis, and we also, as Kirsten mentioned earlier, have an increase in the number of families who are doubled up. They're living with other family members but really do not have the fixed, adequate, regular nighttime housing and thus are McKinney - Vento eligible.

There's no one way to find these families. There's a lot of different factors that go into this rising issue, so we conduct outreach in many different ways. The first way is that we partner with Horizons for Homeless Children. They're one of our childcare partners whose sole focus is serving children and families who are experiencing homelessness. Their partnership, it's a long - standing partnership, and we're grateful for them and their focus on these families and really bridging that gap and helping us do outreach, serve families in a way that's very intentional. 

In addition to this partnership, though, we also actively engage families by meeting them where they are. It's not enough to just put out fliers and talk to community members, but we have to actively visit shelters, find families, whether that's a formal state - run shelter, an emergency overflow site. Sometimes it's hotels and motels where families are being temporarily placed.

At any given time, our RC specialists are out in the community conducting outreach and doing applications in many different languages in these places where these children and families are spending their time. We are blessed to have multilingual staff, which is imperative to conducting good outreach to this particularly vulnerable population, and we've done a lot of work to train and support our staff so that they're able ... they're skilled and comfortable asking questions in a compassionate way about housing status, and this is really important when you're asking questions of doubled - up families to establish whether or not a family is McKinney - Vento eligible. Our staff are really trained to ask questions in a way that opens the door for the families to share their experience so we can truly determine their eligibility based on that definition. Sam, would you like to jump in next?

Sam: Sure. We were founded 45 years ago on Skid Row. For those of you, Skid Row community in Los Angeles is kind of the epicenter of the unhoused crisis that we're experiencing in Los Angeles. We work, of course, with only one shelter that actually accepts families in Skid Row, and we are the only Head Start provider in Skid Row. Our challenge is that we're over capacity. We just don't have enough slots to serve all the needs of families that are coming in, and very much like the last year and a half, we are also seeing tremendous uptick of migrant families that are being bussed from Texas to Los Angeles, and they're landing in Skid Row, and, again, through that pipeline. 

I think our greatest challenge is ... in serving this population of families is that the homeless service delivery system was really designed for adults. It was never designed for families. Families are definitely falling through the cracks, and we really rely on our network partners that are colocated in the Skid Row community that really have relationships, really have connections to families that may not be in the shelters, that are living out of cars, and more and more we're seeing families actually enter the encampments and that we haven't seen in our 45 years.

This requires, I think, priority and intentionality around relationship building with those partners, and it's really about increasing touch points for families. If there is a need that we have those relationships to be able to expedite that referral to our center. If our centers have full capacity, by looking at alternative sites and arranging transportation so families could get to those centers. Those are where we often find ourselves navigating. The Center to Skid Row, we really don't have a problem. We have a waiting list of over 60 kids and families trying to get in, enrollment is not the challenge. It is really about capacity. 

Kiersten: Yeah, I hear that. But it's really interesting, too. We often are ... We're not only reminding other service providers about family homelessness, but we are often wanting to raise the needs of young children in those circumstances because that isn't always the first thought, either, is that there are young children involved in the situation. 

I think that's why an organization like Horizons for Homelessness, which is a very specific organization, there's not a ton of organizations like that in the country, but they're really helpful in promoting the needs of children in adult shelter systems and places like that and raising up the early care and education focus in places that are just not very early - education - focused. I need to stop talking because this is more about you. But it's very hard because I really do want to ... There's many things you're making me think of. Jessica, talk a little bit about enrollment, outreach or recruitment from in your program.

Jessica: Absolutely. I want to echo what Kate and Sam were mentioning about the influx of migrant families coming in. We have seen an increase in that, as well, in San Antonio. Part of our RC team, we have dedicated recruitment staff who go out into the community to do recruitment events with various community partners. 

One of our major partners is going to be Haven for Hope, which is one of the largest shelters in San Antonio, TX. Haven for Hope is actually a 22-acre campus for people who are experiencing homelessness. One of their values and missions is radical compassion. It has been in full operation since 2010, on average, they support about 1,600 families a year. A lot of our families from Head Start are housed there. The great thing about Haven for Hope is that they offer not only a safe place for clients to be able to sleep indoors and hot meals, shower, laundry, all that other stuff, but they also have access to numerous community resources. 

Part of that is having a dedicated office space for our Head Start staff to be there to be able to connect with families who are having those barriers of transportation. San Antonio is pretty large, so having to travel to our offices or us going back and forth, it's just, sometimes those are the barriers that we experience. We want to kind of decrease those barriers and meet the families where they're at. 

That has been very helpful to be able to recruit families there. They do, at Haven for Hope, have a partnership with YMCA, so they are able to provide childcare services with some certain circumstances for families that are housed there currently. But our goal is to be able to get those that are eligible for Head Start into our schools. We offer lots of different recruitment events there on the campus. We have fliers set up and everything else like that. Other community partners that we have, as well, is going to be other shelters such as the Salvation Army.

We have Catholic Charities. The San Antonio Food Bank has been very helpful as well because in ... within the San Antonio Food Bank, we have the Texas Department of Family and Health and Human Services, they are also providing very immediate services such as applications for SNAP benefits that are actually on - site that have been very helpful for families and also the Alamo Area Community Network. Our participation in various community events just ... It has expanded. There are many partners to be able to engage with families and meeting them where they're at and especially to see if we are able to have them in our program, and then our other teams are able to support them in other ways that they are needing. 

Kiersten: Yeah, all of you are reliant on your partners for outreach and recruitment, and of course, Sam, your program is literally colocated in the community where you're providing those services. I think this is probably a good segue to talk a little bit about ... and you've mentioned this idea of meeting families where they're at, which is very much part of the relationship - building process. 

But let's talk a little bit about, it's one thing to enroll families, and it's another that they actually feel this is a place ... this is ... We call it a home at Head Start. You can see that my Zoom background is that ... How do families who are unhoused or living in uncertain living situations feel like Head Start is a home to them? And what are the services that we provide and the ways we interact that help to meet that goal, if you will? Who would like to start? How about ... Jessica, you were talking a little bit about services. Do you want to keep going with that and take that question? 

Jessica: Absolutely, sure. Part of our division, we have a family wellness team. It is comprised of qualified and trained mental health professionals with degrees in either social work or counseling with the working title of a Senior Family Support Worker. These particular ... This particular team is the family wellness team. Licensure is not required, but it is encouraged, of course, and supported. 

Our senior family support workers are an extension of the family community support team, they provide targeted case management based on an internal referral process that we have called the Request for Assistance, which is primarily completed by the family support workers. The Family Wellness Team is a team of five, and they provide support to Head Start families and staff based off of a consultative model through a trauma - informed lens, strength - based and a person - centered approach. 

When we receive these referrals, because our family community support team has about 50 staff members, and we are an extension to that. All of our internal referrals come from our family support workers, and again, we are person - centered. Typically, when we receive referrals, it's families that are experiencing high needs or may be in crisis, so there's crisis prevention or intervention. 

Oftentimes, it's parenting curriculum because our team is also accredited in the Evidence - Based Parenting curriculum, Triple - P, which is a Positive Parenting Program. But again, with our collaboration with Haven for Hope, our team is able to be housed at the shelter a minimum of twice a month and have a dedicated office space. Also, that's an extension for the Family Community Support Team because when they're out into the community, as well, or in the campuses, they're able to meet the families there at the shelter, as well.

This is when we're able to help them with ... when we're supporting them for any family goals, or mainly, of course, is going to be housing stability or ensuring that they're McKinney - Vento - status - eligible, connecting with the districts to ensure that they're able to get that connection and also the transportation support and all that good stuff that comes with it. 

Our team really does work collaboratively with the Family Community Support Team, and it's been a really great thing to see because I've been with this program for about 5 years now, I've been able to see the growth and how the partnerships and all the relationship building has definitely increased since then. 

Kiersten: Thank you. Your family services model is really interesting, and I'm guessing that we'll come back to it, but programs might have some questions about how you all landed there. Kate, how about your service provision and the way that ABCD approaches support services and relationship building? 

Katelyn: Sure. Our Family Advocates and Family Service Staff in general really recognize that no two families are alike, and every situation is unique and different. There is obviously a group, Opportunities for Family Engagement. We utilize Parenting Journey, which is our parenting education curriculum, to engage families, connect them with each other. But we also work deeply ... Family Advocates work deeply with families to identify all of the different needs and goals that they have and recognize that that may be meeting basic needs, might be connecting with other collaborative staff collaboratively. We offer mental health services for children directly through our licensed mental health clinicians, which we ... is a position we were able to fund using QI funds a few years ago and develop.

That's been really impactful to making sure that children who are experiencing homelessness have the intensive support that they really deserve in the classrooms and in the program. We also have a wide variety of community partnerships, both city agencies, state agencies, that we rely upon to assist us in connecting families to the resources that they can access. 

One of the ones that are ... all families experiencing homelessness really often are inquiring about is health access. In Massachusetts, we have many resources related to health insurance, but actually accessing care on a routine and regular basis can be a need for families who have unstable housing or are experiencing moving from place to place. That's a large need that our family advocates are meeting on a regular basis. 

Kiersten: Well, I ... Both ... You ... All three of you have talked about folks who are migrant or folks who are new to the country, seeking asylum. We should get into that a little bit. Sam, I would love to hear from you a little bit about how your program approaches the service provision. And then if you wouldn't mind talking, too, a little bit about how you support folks who are brand - new and coming from other countries in your area. 

Sam: Sure, and I think our approach and framework is not too different from what Jessica and Kate just shared. But I think I want to go back to touch points and when a family enters and that first point of engagement that we have. We spend a greater time with our staff about how to ensure that we have a human - centered focus in that engagement process. Although we hire staff that are from the community that have lived experience, I think we want to ensure that we're leading with culturally affirming practices and approaches and engaging families. 

We know for many of our families that are living in shelter or have temporary housing situations that there are basic things that they need like diapers and clothing and other essentials. We just want to make sure that those items are readily available. They don't necessarily have to ask for them, and we don't want to single them out, so it's available to any of our families that enter our center or are receiving services from us. I think that, first and foremost, that we want to make that accessibility easy and then making sure that we really focus on the relationship, because we know that it starts with the basic needs, and then it eventually leads to other things like mental health services.

Maybe there is some trauma there due to violence. But we don't lead it with that. We want to make sure, again, we provide them with immediately what's on their mind, what's the needs, but also eventually get to some of the other maybe more sensitive concerns that they may have. In regards to the recent migrant families, historically we've always worked with immigrant communities that are new to this country, and a lot of it is not only helping them enroll in school or Head Start programs or accessing services but also helping them kind of get familiar with how things work here in the United States, because it is quite different. 

The migrant families I spoke about that are being bussed into Los Angeles that are coming from Venezuela, Colombia ... We actually even have one very unique story of a Chinese family that actually from China went through Central America and actually made it to Texas and now in Los Angeles, which is, I know, very rare, but ... and we internally didn't have the capacity to really serve that family, so we partner with another organization that does direct support for Chinese immigrants. 

Again, those external partnerships are incredibly valuable, but it is something that we know that is very important. For families that are entering this country, living in a shelter, again, that experience is very unique, and it's very daunting. You can just imagine you leave your country, and then ... Now, you're living in a shelter. A lot of it is providing a high - touch, high - frequency level of support we find very important. 

Jessica: Just reassuring, and you may be their only link to what's happening for them. I just want to clarify that, because a lot of our programs do sometimes wonder, but when families leave their countries and come to this country because they're fleeing circumstances that were unsafe for them in any way, they are definitely automatically eligible for Head Start. Just to clarify that, Kate, I know you've had a lot of newcomers to your community in Boston. Do you want to talk a little bit about this, as well?

Katelyn: Yes. I'd love to. Much like Sam, I find the Home at Head Start a really appropriate motto because truly for many of these newcomer resident families, Head Start has been ... Our Head Start centers has become their home and their main way to learn about the systems and resources and bureaucracy that exist in the United States. Families are really relying on our staff and our family advocates to help guide them through the process of accessing services and understand what the landscape looks like. Like Sam mentioned, no two families are alike. For our families in shelters, motels, hotels, it's really about meeting basic needs, making sure they have food, diapers, things of that nature, hygiene products, starting there. 

We can't help families move to prosperity without meeting those basic needs first. But other families who have been in the system for a while are receiving work authorizations. For those families, many of our family advocates are working on helping them access ESOL programs, helping them access job training opportunities, job opportunities. They're sitting down with these families and helping them write a resume and understand what a cover letter looks like, helping them practice their interview skills and talk about what to expect in an interview, because it might be a process that doesn't look like it looked like in their home country.

Our family advocates are really learning to meet each family where they are and meet their needs in a way that it fits them best. The other piece that I think is very unique to this particular population is that, as we've all talked about, they have faced significant trauma and hardship in their journeys to where they are. The mental health needs, the actual counseling needs of children and families, are great, and we make those connections. 

But the other piece that our staff have been working so diligently on and doing in such a compassionate manner is connecting these families with each other and building community of parents and caregivers who have this shared lived experience that is deeply unique. They're building community amongst these parents within our centers but also helping to facilitate their entry into the larger community by taking them to community events, making sure they understand where the library is and how they can access the library and things like that. That is very unique to this particular population that our staff are working really hard on.

Kiersten: Really appreciate that about ... I think Head Start connects parents to each other in such beautiful ways every day, and I really ... the point you put on that, just how critical that is when you are in an environment that's very foreign, how that is an important part of those, the basic needs that ... Sam, that you mentioned earlier. That is a basic need, to be able to connect with people that you feel like you can trust. Jessica, do you want to add anything on this point we're talking about?

Jessica: Sure, yeah, absolutely. Very similar to Sam and Kate, one of the things that we really try to focus on as well aside from cultural competency is cultural humility, just being able to recognize our own limitations and our biases when it comes to these partnerships and these relationships that we're building with our migrant families.

I know a lot of our collaboration is with the Office of Refugee Resettlements. We've had an influx of families coming from all over the place: Venezuela, as well, Honduras, El Salvador. We have Afghan families, as well. What we've done is been able to have a partnership with Language Line to ensure that we're able to communicate with them as well in a way that they're most comfortable. It has been very helpful. 

Just like Kate was sharing about the relationship building within the families, something that was really impactful this program year is that we were doing a presentation on adjusting to a new school year. We have families from all over. We always ... We call it the "Boohoo Yahoo." Even if you're sad that they're coming to school for the first time or you're excited, it's OK.

We're going to respect it. We had some families come together, and they were asking about, "What type of communities can we create together?" We were able to see it just flourish before our eyes, families just exchanging phone numbers or talking about what works for them, what doesn't work for them and, hey, learning that they live down the street from each other or they live in the same building. Partnerships within themselves and relationships have been very helpful because, again, it's just about advocating for them and empowering them to build that ... the strong community within where they live as well and what they're comfortable with. 

Jessica: That's fantastic. Why don't we shift over? We've been talking about community partnerships because it's kind of hard to talk about what you do in Head Start without talking about that and kind of weaving it into everything. Are there other things that you would want to mention about community partnerships that ... I think one of the things that's unique about being in an urban location is that you tend to have partners who are very expert at doing some of this work, whereas in rural areas you may not have those partners, but ... those types of partners. 

You have lots of expertise around you in different ways. But do you have other things that you would want to share about your partnerships and how they work or how they're beneficial to families? And, Sam, why don't we start with you? Because I know that you have a huge background in community partnerships and community organizing and thinking about systems in cities. We'd love for you to talk a little bit about your thoughts on that. 

Sam: Sure. Yeah, we have been convening a network of partner organizations in Skid Row called the Skid Row Collaborative. Initially, we had small funding to be able to kind of start this network. But for the last 3 - plus years, we've met voluntarily because the need was still there. I think what really aligned us as an organization was that the system was not working for our families. It was difficult for case managers and family specialists to navigate the system that we often find our families entering. 

Collectively, we would come together to figure out, how do we identify an alternative system, so families don't have to face these barriers in not only accessing services but getting to the place of stability that we all want them to be at? We meet on a monthly basis, and we currently have a membership of over 15 organizations that do a variety of different things from focusing on housing to providing academic support to recreational mental health. 

We recognize that we need a comprehensive network because our families are not single - issue families. They have multiple needs. We want to ensure that ... as a network that we're able to provide that. Skid Row is not like ... is unlike any other healthy neighborhood. It's ... We don't have parks accessible to families. We don't have libraries that are near, and it really does require a different model. 

That's what we've been really focusing on, is how do we ensure that for however long families are in Skid Row that we mitigate trauma and that we help them access the much - needed services like Head Start? Oftentimes, the participant Head Starts have older siblings. We have to be think beyond just what Head Start can do and bringing other resources and other organizations that have not only the capacity but the expertise. 

Kiersten: Absolutely. Head Start first, though: That's my bias. Did you want to add anything, Jessica, on the community partnerships? I know you talked quite a bit about your partnerships already. 

Jessica: Sure. One of the things I do want to share is that with the city of San Antonio, we have a network of departments that are ... have been very resourceful. We have a Department for Homeless Services. We have neighborhood services and just so many more. It has been a citywide initiative to mitigate the increase that we've seen with persons experiencing homelessness. 

I know that has been a very big focus for the City of San Antonio. But also, one of the greatest things I've come across, as well, it is something called Homelink that has been very helpful for us. It's a San Antonio and Bear County ... a local coordinated entry system. It's very uniform. It's a community - wide approach and really does to connect persons who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness to housing resources. It has been very helpful whenever we're connecting our families. We make sure that we're doing Homelink as one of the first things, as well. It has been a great thing to kind of see and see it kind of strengthen over the years as it's become more popular. That has been really nice. 

Kiersten: That's great. Well, I do feel that I wish we could talk for a lot longer. I realize that we ... I'm going to move us to our last topic. Our last topic is about staff support and professional development. We've talked a little bit about it. We've talked about what staff are doing. But it would be great to hear from each of you about how ... What kinds of training supports do you provide staff and also mental health supports, too, for the work? Kate, would you get us started on that?

Katelyn: Sure. I briefly mentioned at the top about the training that we provide specific to our RC enrollment specialists around conducting intakes in a manner that is compassionate linguistically and linguistically appropriate. We've also trained on how to use motivational interviewing techniques in that intake process so that families engage with us in a way that they'll become familiar with, because that's the kind of approach that our family advocates are taking as well. But we have begun to shift our professional development approach to be a little more individualized to each individual staff's interests, goals, things of that nature. 

We're ensuring that they have the skills and comfort to serve families in the way that they need to be served, deserve to be served, and are our staff feel confident in doing so. To that end, PB and staff support kind of go hand in hand, and supporting the mental health of staff go hand in hand. It's actually one of our five-year goals for our current project period, and that looks a lot of different ways. It's making sure that staff have the ability to share their individual circumstances with their supervisor in a way so we're utilizing reflective supervision techniques. We have also begun, over the past few years, instituting communities of practice where staff actually are coming together to share their experiences and learn from each other.

They're able to say, "I'm working with this specific family with this specific need, and perhaps there's a family advocate 5 miles away in a totally different part of town who's dealing with a really similar experience and has resources that they are then sharing with the other family advocate." We're trying to facilitate more cross - departmental collaboration as well so we can really all learn from each other. 

What we've found in that process is staff feel much more supported and heard and are more confident in doing their job, which has a positive impact on their mental health, their job satisfaction because they're coming to work feeling prepared and supported not only by their supervisor, by their center of directors but by their peers and colleagues as well. 

Kiersten: That sounds like a great place to work. That peer support is really big. Jessica, how about you? What are you all ... How are you focusing on staff?

Jessica: We have implemented a staff wellness initiative. We have a Staff Wellness Committee that we have gathered from other content areas, other aspects of projects where they can provide feedback on because what my stress level might be very different from a family support worker's stress level and what our fiscal team's stress level may be. It's really focusing on a person - centered approach also with our staff when it comes to mental wellness, as well. 

We will facilitate and host wellness workshops every other month and provide opportunities for staff to learn various strategies, healthy coping skills and strategies for managing stress. We really focus on the eight dimensions of wellness. It's not just your mental wellness. It's your physical wellness. It's your financial wellness because we often ... We have lots of families who are also ... our staff who are also Head Start parents or former Head Start parents.

They're very aware of the stressors that our current families are expressing, feeling as well. That has been something that we focused on as well. Then also implementing reflective supervision, as well, that has been one of our big projects. Staff wellness is part of ... just like you mentioned, is part of our 5-year strategic plan, as well. Just kind of shifting what that looks like and just ensuring that, yes, we are always going to support the families. 

We want to make sure that we're supporting staff, as well, providing different opportunities for them to feel comfortable, confident, to be able to support the families because secondary trauma is a real thing. We want to make sure that we're supporting our staff. We have also various professional development opportunities, a lot of it focusing on cultural competency and cultural humility as well but really focusing on other aspects that can be helpful for staff. 

Sam: I would jump in, just add a few others and ...

Kiersten: Please do.

Sam: We also ... Again, I'm just excited to hear that both Kate and Jessica mentioned reflective practice and supervision. We are a true believers in that. But I think more importantly with our staff, really focusing on making sure that they feel a part of the organization. We do monthly Zoom calls only because we have 14 different locations overwhelmed with staff. In those calls we highlight various programs. 

I know oftentimes for our Head Start staff, they don't really get to leave facilities, they don't really know what goes on beyond the four walls of their center. We just want to make sure that they are tremendous contributors to the organizational mission. We highlight staff birthdays, anniversaries. We do cultural celebrations, and I think all of this is really to ensure that staff feel really connected to the organization, that ... and how important their work is and truly improving quality of life for our families.

In our messaging and what we offer, we want to always lead with that, and we're a very relationship - centered organization. Even the executive team and leadership, we try to make it out to all the sites whenever there is any kind of organizational change or direction that we're speaking or wanting to do. 

We want to make sure that staff hear it directly from us and making sure that they have an opportunity to give us feedback. We do an annual survey where we ask them how they feel. Do they feel connected to our mission, to their work? What stresses them out? What makes them feel motivated and engaged? Then we report back on the results of that survey and saying, "These are the things that we're going to work on for the year because this is what you elevated as important." Those are just some of the things that we try to do to make sure that ... because we know that retention of early childhood professionals is really difficult. 

Kiersten: Mm - hmm. Yeah, and I think that we're all just learning in this process and trying to improve. I can ... I really appreciate the fact that you have 5-year goals around mental health. That might not have happened before COVID, but it really has. I know Skid Row is a different kind of ... There's been so much trauma and in that community. But I really do appreciate the attention to wellness and connectivity with staff and the opportunity to have ... be able to give meaningful feedback, have meaningful exchanges and create environments where staff feel valued, because this is very hard work and very sensitive work. 

It's been an absolute pleasure to meet you all, and I just feel really grateful that I got to spend some time with you. I feel grateful that our audience and participants have been able to hear from you as well. I hope that you've all ... that you've shared has sparked something. But the good news is we're going to be hanging out with you all for the next several minutes, 10 minutes or so, and would love to take any questions that staff have for these wonderful panelists. Love to just share a bit about our resources, and then we will go from there. 

What I have here to share is that McKinney - Vento definition I talked about earlier. Feel free to take a scan here, and we do have these slides available for you. We have a lot of frequently asked questions. That's Head Start guidance related to this, so definitely check those out. Get some of your policy - type questions answered there. Then we also have some resources that really relate to some of the things we talked about today. Of course, we have our Director Garvin video series where he talks about Home at Head Start, thinking about reserving slots, thinking about the language that we use when we talk about homelessness and maybe ways to ... We talked about that a little bit today.

What are those conversations we're having with families about their living circumstances? We have a resource called Caring Conversations about McKinney - Vento eligibility, which is really just that. It's about how to have those conversations. Then we have a set of modules that staff can take to just really learn every aspect of the work related to homelessness and Head Start. it really kind of connects into a lot of the things that we've talked about today.

Kiersten: Hello. Hello. Aren't they fabulous? This is us in real life now, folks. We've been tracking on your questions, and we're very excited to tackle a couple of them. First question goes over to you, Sam. Let's see. It was very specific for you. OK, [Indistinct] Valentino, just in case it's not covered, what specifically does Para Los Ninos do to help with transportation? Most of our program's areas have private transportation only and no other options for children, particularly without diagnosed disabilities. 

Now, this is a question that was for you, but transportation is one of those really challenging questions we're seeing a lot of you ask about it. I do want to start with Sam but love to hear any creative solutions. You're in urban areas, you might have some resources going in this regard, as well. Your programs might offer it. There could be some different things. Let me open it up. Sam, over to you. 

Sam: I think on a case - by - case basis, and thank you for the question, we've been able to provide Lyft or Uber vouchers for families to get to our centers. I think the larger issue is just navigating in the Skid Row community and neighborhood. One initiative that we're working on is trying to work with LA Metro Transportation to figure out if there could be a shuttle system that's customized for families who are in Skid Row so not only can they get to our Head Start Center but also some of the other social service organizations that are colocated in that neighborhood. 

Kiersten: Jessica, how about you? You want to ... I know you talked a little bit about transportation. What else would you add? 

Jessica: We recognize that transportation is a big barrier. Here in San Antonio, we have mass transit, called VIA, but we also do acknowledge that there are barriers with that as well. Not a lot of bus lines go through every single area that our families are housed. But strategically I will say that the campuses that our districts are at, there is a bus line. It might not be as close as it could be. But there are bus lines through there. 

Now, when it comes to transportation for families experiencing homelessness, we do also partner with our districts. They also provide bus vouchers, as well. I know with VIA they also provide reduced bus fares just depending on eligibility. Sometimes if you have ... are living with a disability, seniors, students and things of that nature, there are reduced bus fares. Then through the McKinney - Vento programs, of course, they ... with the eligibility, they provide transportation through the districts that we're co - enrolled in. Kate, do you want to chime in on this one? 

Katelyn: Sure. It sounds like we do a lot of the same things that both Sam and Jessica do. It's really a case - by - case basis, but we have learned to maximize our braided and other funding sources to support transportation for families. We don't offer typical transportation the way we think of it: buses, things of that nature. 

We're in urban settings, so we do have public transportation available, but at times we're able ... If a family is also enrolled in one of our state subsidy seats, we're able to use a transportation add - on that's included in Massachusetts State funding to support vouchers for cabs, rideshare, things of that nature. ABCD also is one of the state administrators for the new MBTA Low - Income Reduced Fare program. We're always looking to partner with other nonprofits, agencies, state funding sources to try to braid funding in ways to support families on a case - by - case basis so they can access our services. 

Kiersten: I really want to encourage our participants to drop some of their strategies into the webinar chat to everyone so that folks can see. This is something that all of you are trying to figure out in some way, shape or form, please share your own ... what your program is, what your programs had success with, if you can. That would be great. We have a question about transitions, thinking about when kids are leaving your program and going into kindergarten. Do you have any thoughts about what that transition is like for them when they're experiencing homelessness? Is there anything that you have done to help facilitate or extra supports as families are leaving, anything about transitions on this topic that comes to mind? Anyone can jump in here ... 

Katelyn: At ABCD, our family advocates work really closely with all families transitioning, but especially those experiencing homelessness, making sure that they are able to get to the LEA to register, that they understand school choice. They're supporting them by collecting whatever documentation they need and really taking an active role in helping them through that registration process and then also understanding how they can support their child's school readiness, too, right, in ways that are responsive to their living environment, whether that be a doubled - up situation, a hotel, a motel and really kind of individualizing that support that they offer parents. They are also supporting their child's school readiness. 

Jessica: I want to echo what Kate just mentioned. At the City of San Antonio, we have something very similar. We have children, of course, that are co - enrolled in the classrooms already with our district, our schools and our districts. We have a very close relationship with the administrative staff at the campuses and our coordinators for each district, as well, so our liaisons or point of contacts. But our family support workers definitely have a really strong relationship and work really closely with the families to ensure that, just like what Kate mentioned, ensuring that they have what they need so they can transition smoothly, working with the teachers, working with the administrative staff on the campuses that they're at. 

Kiersten: Do you all feel like ... Well, when it comes ... We use the word ... We talk about transitions to kindergarten. But what about when children in your program are leaving your area and going into other areas that aren't part of your service area? Are there particular practices that you have used to help facilitate continuity for those kids and families? Anyone want to chime in on that one? Sam? 

Sam: Sure.

Kiersten: I saw Jessica nodding, too, but go ahead, Sam. 

Sam: Yeah. In honesty, it is incredibly difficult because we don't know exactly where their families would be going in Los Angeles, and I'm sure, across the country. There is such a lack of multifamily housing for the families that are transitioning out of Skid Row, and so there within the LA community we can reach out to partners that we may have relationships in that region to better provide support. 

If they're officially part of our mental health program and actively enrolled, we can follow that family as long as it's within LA County, that does help. But that's one of our biggest challenges, is that often our families are going into neighborhoods and communities that they're not familiar with or they don't really have a connection to. Those are things that I think we're constantly striving to address, but it is very difficult. 

Kiersten: Jessica, we have time for ... to hear your final thoughts here. 

Jessica: Oh, OK, perfect. With the city, we ensure for continuity of care. Granted, like Sam mentioned, sometimes we don't know where the family is going, or the family doesn't know themselves where they're going, too. Oftentimes it's from one day to the next where they're making the changes to not be in the program, and they're leading. In the event that we do know where they're going, we make sure that we connect with the district or the area, the agency that they're going to, to let them know what options are available to them. 

This includes giving them websites, paper packets. We also give them information such as transitioning to a different school. I know that can be very stressful for the kiddos and the families in general, just making sure they have all the information needed for the resources of the city that they're going to be in or the county that they will be in. Granted, of course, like Sam mentioned, if we don't know where they're going, we try to give them just general, basic information in Texas or at least in the city that we know that they're going to head to. But we will try to prepare them as much as possible and give them as many tools in their toolbox as possible for their success. 

Kiersten: Well, I want to thank you all very much. I'm pleased that everyone is dropping their ideas into the chat in terms of how they help facilitate those connections through MOUs with other programs and through those relationships, and I really love that you all are sharing. These panelists, Sam, Jessica, Kate, you have been wonderful. Thank you for sharing your time, your expertise. Thank you for the services that you're providing, and I really appreciate everyone joining us today. Thank you.