1. Telling the Story of Youth Homelessness Through Data: Innovative Practices at the State and County Level 1

2. Educating CA’s Youth Nearly 270,000 students experienced homelessness in 2012-13, 4% of CA’s student body We have the largest share of homeless students in the country (21%) with rates double that of the national average Increase of 39% since the 2009-10 school year 2

3. Methods Data on student homelessness broken down by county and state legislative district School district address used to organize data into state Senate & Assembly district using “Find Your State Legislator” website School zip code used to organize by county 3

4. Key Findings Over 1/2 of homeless students are in Pre-K – 5 th grade, 1/5 th in middle school, and 1/3 rd high school Percentage of homeless students by nighttime residence 4

5. Key Findings Homeless students attend schools in urban, suburban, and rural areas Though Los Angeles Unified School District identified the highest overall numbers of homeless students (14,323), rural Trinity County had the highest percentage of homeless students (13.3%). Suburban Assembly Districts such as AD40 (San Bernardino County) and AD7 (Sacramento) were among the top six in overall numbers of homeless students, indicating the geographic diversity of the problem. 5

6. Outcomes Big media splash!  20+ articles up and down the state, interest from national publications Uncovered policy issues we hadn’t previously considered Collaborating with legislators Increased awareness  action 6

7. We Count! California Statewide technical assistance project helping CA communities conduct more youth-inclusive homeless counts California Homeless Youth Project and the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, and funded by the California Wellness Foundation Sharing resources & funding with low resource & rural communities 7

8. Santa Cruz, CA 8

9. Increasing Visibility Multiple Data Sources COC PIT Counts 9

10. Increasing Visibility COE/LEA data show extremely high number of homeless children and youth HMIS (shelter) data show high numbers and proportions of homeless children and families Family support services show growing needs of families with children Yet, headline PIT count data in California show a small number of homeless families and an even smaller number of unaccompanied children 10

11. Developing One Narrative Coordinating and partnering to improve local and national understanding Showing how data interact Keeping it simple Working together to improve outcomes 11 KnowledgeOutreach COE HMISPIT SchoolsCOC Family Support Headlines Partnerships

12. Working Together – Santa Cruz, CA 2009 COE was involved in PIT Count coordination and planning 2011 COE and McKinney Vento youth participated in supplemental youth count 2013 COE involved in PIT Count Coordination and planning Conducted validated count of McKinney Vento students 2015 COE involved in PIT Count coordination and planning Conduct validated count of McKinney Vento students Expanded survey for families experiencing homelessness 12

13. Using the Data for Action – Santa Cruz, CA Updating the County’s strategic plan to end homelessness  Focusing in on homeless youth and families  Developing partnerships with COC, COE, county staff, community stakeholders and ASR  Teasing out what we know about homeless youth and families, where they are headed without local change efforts and how everyone can work together to end homelessness in Santa Cruz County 13

14. Lessons Learned There is a need to explicitly focus on homeless students using research & data or their unique needs will be missed Multiple data sources help us tell the story of youth homelessness Collaborative work drives action 14

15. Q&A If you have any questions, feel free to email Shahera Hyatt at shahera.hyatt@library.ca.gov, Samantha Green at samantha@appliedsurveyresearch.org, or Nohemi Macias at nmacias@santacruz.k12.ca.usshahera.hyatt@library.ca.govsamantha@appliedsurveyresearch.orgnmacias@santacruz.k12.ca.us Join our Google Group to learn more: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/w e-count-california https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/w e-count-california 15