Mark Hanna
Research Mentor: Michelle Parker
Mentor Department: Detroit Public Schools Community District OHFC, NonUM
Author(s): Mark Hanna, Mary Kovari, Michelle Parker
Session: Session 3 (11:00 AM – 11:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 9
Abstract
According to guidelines established by the McKinney-Vento Homeless and Foster Care Assistance Act, The Detroit Public Schools Community District(DPSCD) should be identifying at least 10% of their students as homeless. Currently DPSCD school enrollment for the 25-26 school year is approximately 49,000 students but only 7.5% of students are identified as homeless. Consequently, students and families experiencing housing instability do not receive the services needed to succeed in school. This includes transportation and basic needs items. In order to increase the number of students identified as homeless, a revamping of the website and the creation of a new Public Service Announcement was undertaken. By surveying o?ce sta?, crucial information was gathered on what families and unaccompanied youth need to understand about the organization. We also met with various stakeholders to ascertain their needs and updated our findings for PSA and website development. These ?ndings were then implemented into a Public Service Announcement and OHFC website renovations. We are also meeting with DPSCD staff to finalize both the PSA and website redeployments. By making information about the OHFC easier to follow and more accessible, we hope that homeless student identi?cation numbers will rise in Detroit. We will monitor enrollment ?gures and website activity to determine the success of this project. If it is successful, more students will be knowledgeable on the OHFC’s resources and their rights under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. This should both increase the e?ectiveness of the OHFC, by increasing the number of students who are identified as homeless.
