Homeless Services - Transition Education Program (TEP)

Key Elements of McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (2015)

• Designate Homeless Liaison in every school district
• Definition of  homeless – lack of fixed, regular & adequate nighttime residence and living in:
  • Emergency or Family shelters, and some transitional housing
  • Unsheltered or inappropriate / inadequate shelter
    • Car, tent, abandoned building, self-paying motel
  • Sharing housing due to loss of housing, economic hardship or similar reason
  • Unaccompanied or migrant youth in above situations
• Rights of homeless youth and families
  • Right to immediate enrollment, without normally required documents
  • Right to fully participate in school programming & activities
    • Provide immediate free lunch for entire school year
    • Waive all school fees
    • Provide needed supplies and support
  • Right to attend school of origin or school of residence
    • Per parent request, pending dispute resolution
    • Right to attend for the duration of homelessness
    • Right to attend for the remainder of the school year once housed
  • Right to comparable transportation to school of origin
  • Right to other comparable educational services (SPED, Title 1)
  • Right to attend school with no segregation
  • Right to community resource information & referrals 

• Public awareness and collaboration

Key Elements of McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (2015) - Spanish

Additional Resources

Potential Warning Signs of Homelessness

If you would like additional assistance please Contact Us

What You Need to Know to Help Your Child in School

Lo que necesita saber para ayudar a su hijo en la escuela

Transition Education Program Donation Requests

• FAFSA Simplification Act
• National Runaway Safeline
• Supporting the Education of Unaccompanied Students Experiencing Homelessness

Community Coordinated Childcare, Inc. (4C's)

REACH Dane/Head Start - 0-3 year early Head Start and 4 year old Head Start

FEDERAL

National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Homeless Education is a national resource center of research and information enabling communities to successfully address the needs of homeless children and youth and their families.

NATIONAL ADVOCACY

National Assn. for Education of Homeless Children & Youth (NAEHCY)
 

National Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH)
NCFH is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to developing long-term solutions to family homelessness.
 

YOUTH

National Runaway Safeline

The mission of the National Runaway Switchboard (NRS) is to help keep America’s runaway and at-risk youth safe and off the streets. The organization serves as the federally designated national communication system for runaway and homeless youth.

National Network for Youth (NN4Y)

The National Network for Youth is dedicated to ensuring that young people can be safe and lead healthy and productive lives. In doing so, young people are championed; especially those who because of life circumstance, disadvantage, past abuse or community prejudice have less opportunity to become contributing members of their communities.

The Voices in Our Community is an annual day long experience for students and their families experiencing homelessness hosted by MMSD Transition Education Program (TEP) and the Greater Madison Writing Project (GMWP).  Families are invited and provided with transportation to the UW-Madison Campus to participate in this event.  The day is grounded in writing and art and connects students and families with each other to explore where they come from and who they are. It also provides a way to share their stories with the broader community. The writing and art resulting from this experience are then made into a book by the TEP staff and printed by the Greater Madison Writing Project.  Sales from the book help to sustain this project and provide supports to families experiencing homelessness. 

 The goals of The Voices in Our Community Project include: 

• Empowering youth who have or are experiencing homelessness, find and develop their voice and make a change in their world.
• Helping all family members share experiences that are often not recognized openly in public and provide opportunities to connect with other homeless families. 

The books written by the youth and adult family members provide the MMSD TEP program with a safe way to share the authentic voices of the homeless with educators and also provides awareness and outreach to the community.

Video about Voices in Our Community Project