For more information, visit: https://sites.google.com/view/region-7-ecyeh-website/home
ECYEH Mission and History
On July 22, 1987, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act became public law. This was the first comprehensive federal law dealing with the problems of homelessness. The McKinney-Vento Act was recently reauthorized under the Every Student Succeeds Act in December 2015.
The main objective of PA’s Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness (ECYEH) program is to make sure homeless youth have access to appropriate education while removing barriers that homeless children face. Its goal is have the educational process continue as uninterrupted as possible while the children are in homeless situations. Some of the other objectives of our program are to inform school districts of their responsibilities to homeless children and youth, increase awareness about the needs of homeless children, explain current legislation and policies and provide practical tips for working with homeless children.
ECYEH serves the following counties:Click on county for local resources |
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This includes 78 school districts, five public charter schools and three full-time career and technical schools. The Regional Coordinator for Pennsylvania’s Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program is located in the Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18 in Kingston, PA (Luzerne County).
The Region 7 staff targets the needs of homeless children, youth and their families. We are committed to ensuring all students experiencing homelessness have the opportunity to succeed in school. The goal is to provide as much stability as possible, educational assistance and support to children living in transitional situations such as homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and other temporary housing situations.
The coordinators work in collaboration with the school districts and shelter/transitional housing providers to ensure continuity, while the children are in homeless situations.
Areas of service provided include:
- Training school district liaisons and shelter providers
- Technical assistance
- Personal visits to sites
- Distribution of literature
- School enrollment and placement issues
- Referrals for clothing, food, shelter, transportation and other related services
We provide training on the following topics:
- McKinney-Vento 101
- School Staff and Faculty McKinney-Vento Overview
- New McKinney-Vento Liaison Training
- Pre and Post PDE monitoring support
- Foster Care
For additional information on the services provided and/or technical assistance, please contact:
Jeff Zimmerman
ECYEH/Foster Region 7 Coordinator
368 Tioga Avenue
Kingston, PA 18704
570-718-4613
jzimmerman@liu18.org
Darci Berti
Program Specialist
570-718-4697
dberti@liu18.org
Andy Kuhl
Program Consultant
570-718-4646
akuhl@liu18.org
For more information on Educational Stability for Foster Youth in Pennsylvania, go to:
https://www.liu18.org/index.php/esfcy
Resources
Additional Links:
- Pennsylvania’s Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program
- Pennsylvania Liaison/Shelter Directory
- National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY)
- National Center for Homeless Education
- Schoolhouse Connection
- Access to Higher Education
- Neighborly PA
- Credit Recovery (Edmentum)
- Sesame Street in Communities
- Eviction Moratorium Legal Services
- PDE Family Resource Page