Welcome

The Anchor Community Initiative Resource Hub is a collection of resources, tools and case studies to help you use data to end youth and young adult homelessness in your community.

CROSS SYSTEM COORDINATION: SCHOOLS

This page provides resources and guidance around By Name List Scorecard questions 2B and 3B:

2B) Does your homelessness system partner with, and have specific protocols for coordinating with other key systems to quickly and accurately identify young people within those systems who are experiencing homelessness including: Local school districts

3B) Does your homelessness system partner with, and have specific protocols in place for coordinating with other key systems to ensure that young people in those systems experiencing homelessness are added to your by-name list, including: Local school districts

Student Homelessness Resources:

  • 1 pager on Student Homelessness can be used to introduce local school stakeholders to your ACI work and get them involved. Let your coach know if you would like assistance with creating a local 1 pager for your Anchor Community.

  • Student Stability Resource Bank contains actionable resources and tools to inspire your local work to end student homelessness.

Example Protocols and MOUs:


Questions to Consider: 

  • Are young people experiencing homelessness and/or housing instability in the public school system quickly identified as such? 

  • How would they be identified and by who? 

    • Once identified, what process does your local school system follow to stabilize housing? 

    • How would the homelessness system be utilized? What would the impact on data collection on the YBNL be? 

  • What protocols or policies already exist between local partners in the school system and homelessness system? 

    • How could this partnership be formalized? What would need to happen and who would need to be involved? 

  • How does your school system define homelessness and does it align with the definition above? What is the impact on what is known/unknown in the homelessness system?

  • How does your school system collect information about students experiencing homelessness and/or housing instability? What are the possibilities for data sharing and/or data collaboration?

  • Does your community have clear protocols in place to coordinate with your local school system to identify YYA who are experiencing homelessness and connect them to resources? 

  • Who has the most influence over this being a yes? 

  • What things are already happening to turn this into a yes?


Actions to Consider: 

  • Meet with the McKinney-Vento Liaisons in your county to discuss this question and action plan as needed. 

  • Meet with your local superintendents and ESD to discuss this question and action plan as needed. 

  • Do a system mapping exercise of how a student in ____ local high school experiencing housing instability would access services. Draw out all the pathways, identify barriers, and work with school staff and students to complete.

Community Bright Spots:

1. Spokane developed a tool to link McKinney-Vento Liaisons with families and independent youth that are accessing services through CE.

Spokane developed a tool that links McKinney-Vento Liaisons with the families and independent youth that are accessing services through their Coordinated Entry system and other HMIS participating agencies.

  • Based on customizations made to baseline education assessments, contact information for the family/independent youth, and service needs, will be sent to the specific liaison assigned to their assigned school district.

  • The initial build will also include hyperlinks to school resource sites and informational pages.

  • McKinney-Vento Liaisons will be able to enter the results of the specific services that have been provided to the family/independent youth.

  • Long-term, Spokane’s HMIS team are looking at API options that could allow for data sharing across platforms, working through data sharing challenges that FERPA presents, better using existing data, and exploring what other data they need to more effectively house YYA.

CROSS SYSTEM COORDINATION: JUVENILE JUSTICE

ACI Quality Demographic Data Standard