ELK GROVE, Calif. — As the school year starts, many students are facing a problem not often thought about — homelessness.
The Elk Grove Unified District says there are about 1,200 students they recognize as homeless in their schools.
Now a specially trained group of educators are watching out for homeless students and the families of adults who support them.
“When they think about homelessness in our community, they usually think about somebody who's living on the streets, or in a shelter,” said Tami Silvera, district homeless liaison.
But in education, the definition is more broad.
“We identify students who are not living in an adequate, safe, or regular nighttime residence,” said Silvera.
She says she, her team and the district identify families in need when the school year begins.
In the last two years, there’s been a 400 student increase, according to Silvera.
She says part of that increase is because of job losses and other pandemic hardships, but also improved ways of identifying families and talking with the parents or guardians about what help they may need.
“Our role is to eliminate barriers to the students' full access to their education. So we have the community based resources we're providing to the family, but then we're also doing a lot of school system advocacy,” said Silvera.
Some resources include connecting adults to the Department of Health and Human Assistance which can help connect them with job centers, hotel vouchers or shelters, food pantries, counseling and getting clothing.
“We're part of a bigger team with this whole school district and all the other providers like family and community engagement, and working with their programs. So that just builds out that safety net of supports for students,” said Silvera.
