Shahera Hyatt, CHYP; Nohemi Macias, Santa Cruz County Office of Education; Samantha Green,

Applied Survey Research

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

Level

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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

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MethodsData on student homelessness broken down by

county and state legislative districtSchool 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

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Key Findings

• Over 1/2 of homeless students are in Pre-K – 5th grade, 1/5th in middle school, and 1/3rd high school

Percentage of homeless students by nighttime residence

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California Percent

Doubled Up with Friends or Relatives 86.1%

Hotel/Motel 3.9%

Temporary Shelter 7.1%

Unsheltered 2.9%

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.

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OutcomesBig media splash!

20+ articles up and down the state, interest from national publications

Uncovered policy issues we hadn’t previously considered

Collaborating with legislatorsIncreased awareness action

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We Count! CaliforniaStatewide 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

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Santa Cruz, CA

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Increasing Visibility

Multiple Data Sources

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Increasing VisibilityCOE/LEA data show extremely high number of

homeless children and youthHMIS (shelter) data show high numbers and

proportions of homeless children and familiesFamily support services show growing needs of

families with childrenYet, headline PIT count data in California show a

small number of homeless families and an even smaller number of unaccompanied children

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Developing One NarrativeCoordinating and partnering to improve local and

national understandingShowing how data interactKeeping it simpleWorking together to improve outcomes

11Knowledge Outreach

COEHMISPITSchoolsCOCFamily Support Headlines

Partnerships

Working Together – Santa Cruz, CA2009 •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

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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

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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

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Q&AIf 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.us

Join our Google Group to learn more: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/we-count-california

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