Explores the cycle of family violence and its impact on homeless families. Once family violence sends families into homelessness, community violence prevents them from escaping. Re-envisioning shelters as centers of learning rather than emergency facilities can begin to break the cycle of violence. (SLD)

Covenant House Texas (CHT) is a nonprofit corporation that provides emergency shelter and related services for children and youth in crisis situations. The Texas Education Agency requires an annual evaluation of all programs receiving state compensatory education funds, and the On-Site School program of CHT was evaluated under this provision. The…

In the early part of 1999, the Institute for Children and Poverty surveyed almost 2,000 families with more than 4,000 children in 24 locations to assess the state of homeless children across the United States. This report tells their story. Families account for almost 40% of U.S. homeless people, and in some cities that percentage is even higher.…

This guide contains suggestions for those seeking to establish library services for homeless children, help for computerizing a homeless shelter, and a discussion of the problems and rewards of establishing library services in a shelter. Steps to establishing services include: (1) clarifying the purpose of the effort; (2) doing the homework to…

This study explored the academic and physical barriers that homeless children in Utah encountered on a daily basis in a structured educational setting. The project was conducted in a shelter and resource center in Salt Lake City. Data were collected from 1 male and 14 female adults and 15 children, representing 15 families. A perceived barriers…

Describes the Book Club of Reading Connection, a nonprofit organization in Virginia, that gives books to children in homeless shelters and for up to one year after they leave the shelter. The key to the book club's effectiveness and its longevity is communication between the Reading Connection and the families. (SLD)

This essay with photographs describes the experiences of two runaways, examining why they left home and how they found help. Although runaways have a reputation for being irresponsible, they usually have good reasons for leaving home. The nun who ran Noah's Ark, where both the runaways featured found shelter and help, estimated that only about two…

A survey of 102 urban school districts in large cities indicates that school districts have responded to the requirements of the Stewart B. McKinney Act for the education of homeless children to varying degrees. However, 69 percent of districts described the problem of homeless students as nonexistent or small. (SLD)

In response to the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act and its amendments, most urban schools have created special programs for homeless students to help them succeed academically and to offer them access to social services and a safe and stress-free environment. Recruitment, enrollment, and service coordination policies are adapted to the…

This report to Congress on the Federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Program summarizes the work of the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FSYB) and its grantees during fiscal years (FY) 1993 and 1994. In FY 1994, the FSYB celebrated its twentieth anniversary. During the first 20 years of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program, the FSYB conducted a…

Research on homeless children and families carried out by the Institute for Children and Poverty over the last 6 years is compiled in this document. The contents range from programmatic solutions and policy recommendations to simple "snapshots" of homeless families. Much of the research is based on the experiences of Homes for the…

An evaluation was done of New York City Public Schools' program ADVANCE (Adolescents Developing Valuable and Necessary Channels of Esteem), a U.S. Department of Education funded project that provided support to adolescents in Tier II transitional housing in Brooklyn (New York). Tier II housing provides temporary living space and on-site social…

This book is a study of the impact that changes in living environments (i.e. from homelessness in a shelter to a family's own dwelling unit) have on the academic achievement of school-age children. The study samples seven cases of public school children in grades 5 through 8 during the years 1988 to 1991. The children lived in the same shelter and…

The 12 chapters of this volume offer a comprehensive portrait of today's children and their challenging urban environments. The opportunities and obstacles that confront children are examined in detail, and key social problems are discussed in the following contributions: (1) "Growing Up in the Urban Environment: Opportunities and Obstacles for…

In 1997, the Institute for Children and Poverty of Homes for the Homeless joined with more than 58 organizations from 10 cities across the country to develop a national snapshot of family homelessness in the United States. Nearly 800 families were surveyed. This report presents the results of this research. The typical homeless family in the…