Grant spurs work to aid kids at risk of homelessness

— For a homeless child, it’s not uncommon to attend three or more schools in a single year. As a result, it’s not uncommon for those children to face serious academic problems, making them more likely to be homeless adults.

Thanks to a $300,000 grant from a Columbus, Ohio-based foundation, Little Rock’s Our House homeless shelter and Heart of Arkansas United Way will launch a three-year initiative to help prevent homelessness for families with school aged children, with the goal of keeping children in stable education environments. The new initiative, called the Central Arkansas Family Stability Institute, was announced at a news conference Thursday.

The Siemer Family Foundation gives out grants to innovative programs geared to reduce midyear school changes and increase financial stability for families at risk of becoming homeless. The local United Way has committed to matching $100,000 for the first year and will raise funds to match the next two years.

It is the largest grant Our House has received in its 25 years. Previously, the majority of Our House’s resources have gone toward helping people after they become homeless.

“We’ll have the ability to keep homelessness from happening in the first place - that is the key contribution,” said Justin Sanders, Our House director of client services, who will lead the program.

Arkansas ranked third in the nation, behind Mississippi and the District of Columbia, with 26.9 percent of “related children” younger than 18 who were living in poverty in 2009, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

To be eligible to be a member of the institute, families must be either formerly homeless or at risk of becoming homeless and have children between the ages of 4 and 17. Parents of children participating in the Our House summer youth program will be encouraged to enroll in the program. Some of the members will come from the Our House Alumni Group, a support group aimed at avoiding a return to homelessness.

The participants will have access to a number of services through the program, including one-on-one counseling, parenting education, adult basic education, General Educational Development preparation programs, job search assistance, financial-literacy training, budgeting assistance and after-school and summer youth programs.

Over three years, the program will measure how many of its kids stay in one school throughout the period.

John Nazzaro, president of Heart of Arkansas United Way, said that kids he has worked with who have had to attend schools in multiple districts because of homelessness often have serious social problems.

“They tend to be socially introverted to the point of dysfunctionality because they lose that empathetic capacity that comes from a support system of ongoing relationships.”

LaShondra Newsome and her four children will be the first members of the program, which has a goal of helping 150 families over the next three years. Newsome has stayed at the shelter in the past and used its GED preparation programs.

Newsome wasn’t able to finish high school after giving birth to her now 11-year-old daughter, who has health problems related to her premature birth. Newsome said she’s had23 past jobs and many transient homes.

“I never saw myself as being homeless, but I had to face the reality,” she said. “[Our House] can’t change the issues that my daughter has with her health - but as far as keeping a job, continuing my education, even learning better job practices - that’s a benefit.”

Arkansas, Pages 13 on 06/29/2012

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