Philly Homeless Ed Advocates Testify At Budget Hearing
Our last plea?
On April 30, we made yet again our plea to the Philadelphia City Council for $4.5 million over three years to sustain supports for students experiencing homelessness.
Four programs were created by the American Rescue Plan, but those funds are expiring. Eddie’s House, HopePHL, Valley Youth House, and the City’s homeless housing office were awarded funds to provide community-based supports like case management, housing system navigation, coordination of services, transportation, and much more. These are services that support a school counselor’s ability to help students stay in school.
Recent national evidence shows that programs like these result in reducing truancy and improving student academic achievement.
We advocates have been pleading to the City for the past eighteen months. We’ve met with Council members and their staff numerous times, sharing data and personal stories. We’ve organized forums, twitter campaigns, got a Council hearing, recruited a terrific champion in Councilperson Isaiah Thomas, published numerous policy briefs, and much more. So many meetings!
We should know sometime late May. Council will make their decision, then negotiate with the Mayor and the School District. As mentioned to a member of our team, we are in the seventh inning of a ball game, we’re up a run with people on base, but it ain’t over until its over. That’s right, baseball as public policy.
Shoutout to testifiers Melissa Tsuei of HopePHL, and Erice Breitbarth and Madison Kearny of Temple University’s Education Master’s program, and to our allies at Eddie’s House and Valley Youth House.
Check out some photos from the hearing:
We advocates:
City Council Chambers:
Melissa Tsuei:
Madison Kearny:
Erica Breitbarth:
