National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth Conference 2014 “What you talking about Willis: The Different Strokes of data sharing agreements” The District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education and The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness 1

ROLE OF THE OSSE The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has the statutory responsibility to assure that all school- aged children, residing in the District of Columbia, receive an appropriate education.

ROLE OF TCP The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP) serves as the District of Columbia Continuum of Care (CoC) Collaborative Applicant for Federal funding, CoC Lead Agency for the administration of District funded homeless services, and the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Lead Agency.

Identification of Homeless Students in DC 4,500 homeless and housing insecure students identified Most identified homeless students in DC are doubling up, making them ineligible for some forms of CoC funding support.

Identification of Homeless Students in DC A recent study conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Sasha Bruce Foundation, only 1.9% of homeless youth aged in Washington, DC notified a school counselor of their living situation. However, 9.3% notified a social service agency and 76% actually received shelter from an emergency shelter or Transitional Living Program.

Homeless Education Agencies Reporting Transitory Services (HEARTS) Project OSSE has a Memorandum of Understanding to share data with:  All Public Schools, including Charter Schools  Child and Family Services (Foster Youth)  The Department of Health (TANF, SNAP, Mental Health, etc.)  The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, DC’s Continuum of Care (HMIS, Housing Services, etc.) All these agencies feed into our student data system

What are we doing in the District? OSSE Homeless Referral System for Public Schools Homeless Liaisons complete the OSSE online referral form for newly identified students. The application feeds into our overall student data system This application automatically qualifies a homeless student for free school meals Removes all enrollment barriers, including missing documentation Meets all criteria for federal and local reporting

Child and Family Services information allows OSSE to: Tracks foster students movement between schools Identifies homeless youth who came out of the foster system Connects foster students with educational resources What are we doing in the District?

The Department of Health information allows OSSE to: Connect youth with free health services Connect youth with health related programs and services such as teen parenting support, food stamps, substance abuse treatment, and mental health services What are we doing in the District?

The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (COC) and OSSE: Receive data from all shelters, including youth shelters and transitional programs Identify youth on day one of entering programs, and provide educational support Operate a centralized homeless intake center: Youth and families don’t have to keep completing the same intake paperwork Track students movement between schools in an effort to offer stability 10

What are we doing in the District? DC State Collaborative Community Outreach: On a weekly basis; OSSE, DHS, DOH, DMS, CFSA and other agencies come together at the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center to provide a one stop resource and intake opportunity for homeless students and their families. The DC Inter-Agency Coordinating Council (DCICC): The DC ICC assists the Mayor and OSSE’s Division of Specialized Education (DSE) in its role as lead agency in the development of a District-wide comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, family centered, culturally competent, interagency and community -based network to provide early intervention services to infants and toddlers through age four with developmental delays and disabilities.

What are we doing in the District? Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH), a group of cabinet- level leaders, providers of homeless services, advocates, homeless and formerly homeless leaders that come together to inform and guide the District’s strategies and policies for meeting the needs of individuals and families who are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless in the District of Columbia.

How is Data Shared 13 TCP entered into an agreement with the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) for the purposes of sharing data between the two agencies. Each month, TCP exports HMIS data for programs serving homeless families with and children and programs serving homeless youth. These data are uploaded to OSSE’s SLED database on a monthly basis. OSSE in turn has provided TCP with access to the SLED database.

Improved Service Delivery 14 Through their data sharing agreement TCP and the homeless services providers it funds are able to access real time education data about the children and youth they are serving and the DC school system is able to access homeless services information for homeless children and youth. This has improved service delivery in three key ways: – Quickly Establishing Residency – Provision of Direct Services – System Planning

Quickly Establishing Residency Families making applications at the CoC’s Central Intake Facility for Families must meet residency requirements. This can be difficult for families who are homeless or housing insecure. Staff at Central Intake have access to the SLED database this has eased the process of determining residency, and allowed Intake staff to work more quickly to match families with services. 15

Provision of Direct Services Case management staff at CoC’s homeless services programs for families and youth have access to SLED and use it to inform case planning. A limitation of the HMIS is that educational information provided is self-reported; access to the SLED database has provided case managers at frontline shelter with the most accurate education information possible for the children living in shelter which helps them target services appropriately to families. 16

System Planning TCP has seen the median age among adults in families drop over the last several years – there is a growing population of adults in families aged 18 to 24 years. Having SLED data on this population has impacted service delivery for the individual families as well as the CoC’s system level work. Overlaying HMIS data which shows a trend in younger adults in families with SLED data about education has helped TCP retool existing program models and explore new models to better address the needs of a younger population and work toward better long term outcomes around housing stability, education, and employment & income. 17

Presenter Contact Information Sheryl Hamilton Director Community Learning Ja’Sent Brown Director Youth Re-engagement Center William Henderson Project Director Jose Lucio Senior Program Officer ext