There were nearly 3,200 unaccompanied minor students in Oregon schools in the 2012-13 school year, according to the Department of Education. But those numbers only represent the children reported to the department by their school district’s homeless liaison. And like most figures associated with a population encouraged to hide, the actual number is expected to be much higher.
That’s an appalling figure in the land of milk and honey, where resources run rich for some, and wither for others.
One example is the Host Home Project, featured in this edition. Host Home is a partnership between the North Clackamas School District and the nonprofit homeless program called The Inn. Together, they have networked to secure housing for unaccompanied homeless students in the district. It’s a very small operation on a shoestring budget, able to serve only a small fraction of the nearly 70 known unaccompanied youths in the district.
Just at a time when The Inn was ready to serve more, to help more young students get into a home, the state rescinded its pledge of a five-year grant of $75,000 per year, citing an error in the scoring process. The state will continue funding The Inn through October, but the nonprofit missed the window for reapplying for the nominal county grant that had previously supported the project.
These homeless youths, living without a guardian, will be left out in the cold. The odds will remain stacked against them in completing their education to graduation and escaping the trauma of the streets and social isolation. But apparently the state is willing to take that gamble with its money.
What it should be doing is tapping resources to support innovative, low-cost programs that have a direct impact on the survival and success of young students.
And the Host Home Project is only one example.
The Beaverton School District has the most reported unaccompanied students in the state, nearly twice as many as the runner-up, Eugene. The district’s homeless liaison, the city and the faith-based community there formed a partnership to house an average of 10 to 12 students each year — all for only $20,000 a year and none of it from the school district’s coffers. It’s a model program that places students in the homes of host families. It means not only housing, but also a secure family environment. It means help with homework and dealing with peer pressure. It means learning how to be a good student, and aspiring to be much more.
That’s where Oregon in all its bureaucratic forms — housing education and human services — should put its money to see real returns.