At this year’s training Helping Homeless Students: McKinney-Vento 101, we learned the basics for eligibility, had a Q&A with a local McKinney-Vento Liaison, shared lots of resources, and had a resource fair with presenters from various service providers supporting youth across the state.
What is McKinney-Vento?
The McKinney-Vento Assistance Act ensures certain rights for students in public schools experiencing homelessness. The program addresses the problems that homeless youth face in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school.
Under McKinney-Vento, a student experiencing homelessness has the right to:
- immediate enrollment
- attend their “school of origin”
- transportation to and from their school of origin
- free/reduced lunch
- participate in the same activities as other students
- participate in the same programs and other services provided to other students
- access to a dispute resolution process
A student’s “school of origin” is the school they attended when permanently housed or the school they were last enrolled in, including a preschool.
Immediate enrollment means the student can attend classes (in person, online, and hybrid) even if they have missed application and enrollment deadlines, have outstanding fees, or do not have the following documents:
- Previous academic records
- Immunization or otherwise required health records
- Proof of residency
- Proof of guardianship
- Birth certificate
McKinney-Vento Eligibility
To be eligible for support under the McKinney-Vento Assistance Act, a youth must lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. This includes unaccompanied youth and youth living with a relative or family friend, which is known as living “doubled up.”
For more information on unaccompanied youth, click here.
How McKinney-Vento Works
If you are trying to secure benefits for a student eligible for support under the McKinney-Vento Assistance Act, reach out to the McKinney-Vento Liaison in the youth’s school district.
For a current list of McKinney-Vento Liaisons in King County, click here.
During our training, we were joined by Seattle Public School’s McKinney-Vento Liaison for an informative Q&A session. To view this visit, go to 00:32:28 in the recording.
While there is usually only one McKinney-Vento liaison per school district, each district has a team of family support specialists, each school has a building point contact, and some schools have family support workers. Family support specialists support multiple schools with accessing McKinney-Vento rights. Family support workers further engage with the intricate needs of families experiencing homelessness.
Depending on the available resources and the level of need, some schools provide additional support, such as gift card support, tutoring support, or support around the holidays.
More Resources for Youth Experiencing Homelessness
During the remaining of our training this year, we hosted a virtual Resource Fair with five service providers that work specifically with youth and families experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
Our presenters were:
- Lutheran Community Services NW
- BrightSpark
- TeamChild
- Olive Crest
- Legal Counsel for Youth and Children (LCYC)
Lutheran Community Services NW is an organization with some reach statewide with a focus on Snohomish, King, Pierce, and Kitsap counties. They offer housing services and refugee and immigrant services. To learn more detailed information on these services, jump to 00:56:04 of the training video or download their slide deck here.
BrightSpark is a statewide organization that serves families and childcare providers. For families, they offer early childhood mental health services, financial assistance for childcare, and help finding licensed childcare providers. For childcare providers, BrightSpark offers professional development and coaching.
BrightSpark also helps families experiencing homelessness access their Homeless Grace Period, which is a 12-month childcare subsidy through the Department of Children, Youth, and Families under the McKinney-Vento Assistance Act.
For more detailed information, jump to 01:08:23 of the training video or download their slide deck here.
Contact BrightSpark online or through their statewide call center at 1-800-446-1114 or their intake/referrals line at 206-329-5544.
TeamChild provides legal services to low-income incarcerated youth statewide and youth ages 12-24 years old in King, Pierce, Yakima, and Spokane counties. Some of the common barriers TeamChild helps youth overcome are not being in school, feeling unsafe at home, being bullied at school, trouble getting health care, being locked up in detention, being incarcerated, or finding a job or housing.
TeamChild also has a policy advocacy team and offers professional training and consulting on education rights, the juvenile legal system, representing youth clients, record sealing, and restitution legal financial obligations.
To request services from TeamChild, call their toll-free number at 877-294-2714 or fill out an online application. To request services for incarcerated youth, call 509-392-5498 or email jrinfo [at] teamchild [.] org. For more detailed information, jump to 01:21:10 of the training video or download their slide deck here.
Olive Crest is a foster licensing organization that offers a fully voluntary foster care prevention program. This program serves families experiencing homelessness, hospitalization, substance abuse, domestic violence, incarceration, and overwhelm. To request services from Olive Crest, call 877-341-7332 or fill out an online application. For more detailed information, jump to 01:34:18 of the training video or download their slide deck here.
LCYC provides free civil legal services to youth and young adults aged 12-24 experiencing homelessness or housing instability in Washington state. Civil legal issues include issues with public benefits, child protective services, education, emancipation, evictions, court fees, gender marker changes, minor guardianship, identity theft, and more. LCYC makes Legal Literacy Videos that are a great resource to share with clients. To request services from LCYC, call 206-494-0323 or fill out an application online. For more detailed information, jump to 01:44:59 of the training video or download their slide deck here.
That’s a wrap for our 2024 Helping Homeless Students: McKinney-Vento 101 training!
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