The following describes the findings for our project. They are divided based on our research methods. Our interviews indicate our four major findings that we discovered in our qualitative research. Our surveys show the conclusions from the 40 responses we received from Capital Community College students.
Interviews
After coding and analyzing our 5 interviews we were able to come up with 3 major findings that addressed 3 out the 4 of our research questions (our fourth question is addressed in the survey section ) :
Research Questions Addressed:
Who are the existing school personnel in the Hartford public school system that is aiding homeless youth? What are they doing right now to help with homeless youth?
What are the available resources (knowledge of rights, transportation, accessibility to McKinney-Vento) for homeless youth when looking at McKinney Ventos and school personnel in Hartford?
How do we build relationships with the Hartford Public School personnel and get them to work with CCEH?
The following are the findings that emerged from our research:
Finding 1: Interviewees Want more Training and School Personnel to aid Homeless Youth at the School Level
An important aspect of our project is uncovering the needs of schools. Every person that we spoke to had clear needs specific to their school. One common need across schools was increased training for mental health services for school personnel similar to that of social workers. Another common recommendation was an increase of personnel whose specific job is to work with homeless students at the school level, not just the district level.
The following quotes are categorized by common recommendations. They are all from different individuals who want to help homeless youth but are lacking the necessary resources to help them.
Similar Training to that of Social Workers:
“We have asked to be included in the social worker professional developments” – Amanda 1 (Guidance Counselor)
“But we got into it a few weeks ago about the fact that we really need to have the same training.” – Juliana (Guidance Counselor)
Mental Health Training and Services:
“I guess mental health and counseling, but very often, especially in our school. I have like really amazing social workers that I work with. So we like not just overlap, but we work like really well together. And so we like as school counselors we’ve just been talking about the fact that we wish that we had a little bit more like the mental health training.” – Juliana (Guidance Counselor)
“more funding for mental health. And also, you know, mental health screening and different things at early age starting with the elementary.” – Mark (McKinney-Vento Liaison)
Personnel at the School Level for Homeless Youth:
“I guess it is it’s supposed to be like finding resources for building community or for like an academic focus or for helping families get something to help families to know what kind of resources are available in their town to like is there a way that is there is a presentation or a kind of event that encompasses all of that” – Alice (Assistant Principal)
“But the reality is you can’t just fill out a form and find these kids. And they. I mean, I understand they’re not going to just go hunting all around the city for these kids. But I will, so I kind of wish that. A person like that existed. And I mean, the person that I guess the role existed.” – Juliana (Guidance Counselor)
“We need more and more advocates to speak up for these teens [and] more groups that will get these teens together and let them know… where to go, what to do, and how their experience will be useful to help other other kids and teens going through the same situation” – Violeta (McKinney-Vento Liaison)
All of these quotes indicate that there is still so much left to do to help homeless youth in the Hartford area. Anyone that works in a school can instantly state a resource that their school or district lacks.
Finding 2: Bureaucracy in Education limits how School Personnel Identify and Serve Homeless Youth
When we initially reached out to interview those who have potentially worked with homeless youth, we received replies that implied that some school personnel did not think it was their job to work with homeless youth. While it is the job of the McKinney-Vento Liaison to aid homeless youth, it takes a village of principals, guidance counselors, and other faculty and staff to bring them to the attention to the McKinney-Vento Liaison. However, some personnel have found frustration in the educational bureaucratic system and have taken it upon themselves to give personal aid to homeless students.
The following quotes are from an assistant principal, 2 guidance counselors, and a McKinney-Vento Liaison. They are describing their relationships with homeless students and their next steps in getting them help. The assistant principal stated that they are usually looped in by a social worker. One of the guidance counselors states that they do not like the chain of command in getting help but understands that it is a process, and if a student needs immediate help, the guidance counselor will give personal help. The other guidance counselor states that they usually refer them to a social worker because it is protocol. The Mckinney-Vento Liaison reflected on how families will directly go to the Welcome Center in Hartford, but there are still limitations in trying to get the services.
Identifying and Providing Sources for Homeless Youth
“if they have a relationship with the social worker, the social worker would be like their first approach and then the social worker will bring it [to] administration attention.” – Alice (Assistant Principal)
“I have not. Personally, no. I know my colleague has. And then we typically will refer them to social workers. And then there are programs through Hartford that get referred to them” – Amanda (Guidance Counselor)
“We also recieve, alot of the family… they feel embarassed putting [it] oublic that they’re homeless. So they also come here directly to the Welcome Center and they just disclose that they don’t want to the information to be shared with the school” – Violeta (McKinney-Vento Liaison)
Issues in Obtaining Access to Services
“And I get that there’s a chain of command and they have these protocols in place for a reason. I feel like the protocol takes more time and like something like that, is it really a time-sensitive issue… If it happens will be something that I personally do because I love the thought that if I have food and shelter and I have a little extra help, I’ll do it. But it’s more of the Band-Aid.” – Juliana (Guidance Counselor)
“because back in the day, we’ve had to act directly with the shelters, we call the shelters , we ask them if they have space…and we definitely we refer the families directly, but ever since that 211 assessment came about, we no longer have that wonderful tool that we used to have” – Violeta (McKinney-Vento Liaison)
Some school personnel may aid homeless youth by just directing them to the proper person while others are frustrated with some of the bureaucratic processes that they take it into their own hands. The valid frustration is rooted in the want and needs to help students but the navigation of that process can be seen by some as hard to manage. The school personnel who works closer to the students, like teachers or coaches, are often the ones who find homeless students easier, and then bring them to the attention of the administration. This makes it so school personnel have to rely on higher up administration to help homeless youth fully.
Finding 3: There is a Disconnect between School Level Personnel and District Level Personnel
Throughout our interview process, we learned that various school personnel have different attitudes about contacting McKinney-Vento liaisons and their administrators in seeking resources for their homeless students. Some school personnel at different levels at administration find seeking the proper resources easier than others.
The following quotes describe how specific school personnel would get in contact with the individual at the district level to aid homeless youth. The Guidance Counselor expresses frustration while the Assistant Principal stated it was easy to get in contact with the McKinney-Vento Liaison.
“but there’s someone that, you know, works on the board of Ed that if you think that a kid is homeless, you submit all this paperwork to this person and they are kind of responsible for figuring out A, if they actually are [homeless]and B, if they are [homeless] what sort of resources [do] they have to help that kid… How am I going to have demographic information for them? I can tell like their name and birthdate, but if I don’t know where they’re living, how am I going to help them? If I have to submit this form to get them help.” – Juliana (Guidance Counselor )
“Typically I just correspond with her, either by phone or email. And when we’ve needed it in the past, we’ve been able to reach her pretty easily. And she’s been able to work with me or the social workers to help provide resources to the students.” – Alice (Assistant Principal)
“I have no issue just picking up the phone and saying I have this issue with this kid. What do we do to find them and support them? And I get that there’s a chain of command and they have these protocols in place for a reason. I feel like the protocol takes more time and like something like that, is it really a time-sensitive issue.”– Juliana (Guidance Counselor)
These quotes describe the variations in responses to getting in contact with the McKinney-Vento liaison. Based on these responses one can conclude that because the Assistant Principal is higher up in the administration process they have easier contact with the district versus a guidance counselor who does not have direct contact with the district.
Our third research question, how do we build relationships with the Hartford Public School personnel and get them to work with CCEH, can be answered through the act of contacting and interviewing our research subjects. By reaching out to school personnel about our project, regardless of if they replied or not, we were able to build a connection and relationship with that school. Of course, our relationship is stronger if given the chance to interview a person, and even stronger if we were able to present to students at the school (See our Action page). After each interview, we made sure to send a list of resources and the contact of our community partner. In addition to sending this information to individuals we interviewed, we also sent the same information to the individuals we did not interview. We hope that even if they did not get a chance to answer us they would get a chance to open an email with helpful resources for their students as well as information about the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness and their Youth Count.
Surveys
The purpose of our survey was to uncover what Capital Community College students in Hartford know about the McKinney-Vento Act. We conducted a total of 40 surveys at Capital Community College. This component of our research answers the fourth research question:
How knowledgeable are Capital Community College students of the rights of Homeless Youth?
A Narrative Tale of our Findings:
To understand the relevance of this research, our first question was whether people know others that were or are homeless. Based on this research we learned that more than half (65%) of the people surveyed knew someone who had experienced homelessness and 15% of the people interviewed have experienced homelessness themselves. This shows that homelessness is very much prevalent in the lives of community college students in the Hartford area.
The following chart indicates 40 Capital Community College student’s responses to if they have heard about these 4 rights that homeless students have in terms of their education, protected by the McKinney Vento act. They were given a scale between have and have not, with maybe in the middle.
As noted in the chart the majority of respondents indicated that they ‘may have’ heard of the right or ‘not at all’. It is interesting to point out that when looking at the response to our last question “Do you know what the McKinney Vento Act is?” we received a 100% response to the answer “no.” Regardless, none of the 40 Capital Community College students that we spoke to knew what the act was but about 30% of our sample answered “yes” to knowing about any of the rights individually.
When it came to whether students had seen the public notices about resources for homeless youth in their community, about 73% of students said “no.” This leads to the conclusion that students that need to know about these vital resources are not given the chance to learn about them.
It is clearly shown that the lives of many Hartford youth would have and can be changed based on the simple act of knowledge of resources and rights. Nearly all of the students indicated that this information could have been vital to their own or others’ lives.