Nearly 680,000 children under age six are estimated to experience homelessness annually across the nation. Homelessness in the early years has potentially long-lasting, negative consequences on children’s development, physical health, and later academic success. This resource provides a quick reference and sample tools for local educational agency (LEA) homeless liaisons, LEA data personnel, and others responsible for implementing the requirements of the McKinney-Vento Act related to data collection, reporting, and referrals. 

What are the LEA homeless liaison requirements regarding children experiencing homelessness who are not-yet school aged? 

Liaisons are required to ensure that young children experiencing homelessness are identified and have access to and receive services from programs for which they are eligible, including Head Start, Early Head Start, Early Intervention (IDEA Part C), and preschool programs administered by the LEA.

What data on young children is my LEA required to collect and report?

• All LEAs, regardless of whether or not they receive an Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) subgrant, are required to collect and report data on the number of children age 3-5 identified as experiencing homelessness who are enrolled in an LEA-administered preschool program, but who are not yet in kindergarten. 
• LEAs that receive an EHCY subgrant have additional requirements for collecting and reporting data on young children (specific requirements are outlined below). Check here to see if your LEA receives an EHCY subgrant.

Requirement	EHCY Sub-grantees	Non-EHCY sub-grantees
Children 0-2 served by a program funded by a McKinney-Vento subgrant	✅
Children ages 0-5 experiencing homelessness served by a program funded by a McKinney-Vento sub-grant, even if those children are not enrolled in public school	✅
Children ages 3-5 who are experiencing homelessness who are enrolled in an LEA-administered preschool program, but who are not yet in kindergarten	✅	✅
Designate a liaison who is responsible for ensuring that all young children experiencing homelessness are identified and have access to early childhood development programs for which they are eligible, including Head Start, Early Intervention, and preschool programs administered by the LEA.	✅

Resources to Help You Meet Requirements

Meeting the requirements of identifying and referring young children to early childhood programs may seem daunting, but is an essential strategy to mitigate the impact of homelessness and help ensure that young children are set up for success. SchoolHouse Connection has compiled some sample spreadsheets, forms, and tools that can help.

• Many LEAs include questions on housing questionnaires and kindergarten enrollment forms about younger siblings in the household. This student housing questionnaire from Washington offers a good example.
• Developed in partnership with the Bureau of Indian Education, this simple spreadsheet offers a starting point for liaisons looking to build a system for tracking information about younger children experiencing homelessness.
• The Referral App for Children Experiencing Homelessness is a tool for liaisons, early childhood development programs, and homeless shelters to use when a young child experiencing homelessness has been identified and is in need of early childhood development services. Anyone can sign up to use this free app, and users are encouraged to recruit early childhood providers, LEAs, shelters, and other partners to sign up as well.