Federal Advocacy & Policy Updates

14 National Organizations Call for Homeless Student Support in Disaster Supplemental

SHC joins hundreds of national and state organizations in support of a permanent Child Tax Credit. View the letter here..

SchoolHouse Connection, Convenant House, and the National Network for Youth offered policy recommendations to Congress to consider during the reauthorization of the Farm Bill in the 118th Congress. It is essential that community-based organizations serving children and youth are supported by reimbursement of meals and streamlining access to key SNAP benefits authorized in the Farm Bill.

On April 24, 2022, SchoolHouse Connection, along with Education Law Center, John Burton Advocates for Youth, The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, and The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) Youth Law Center, submitted final comments specific to homeless and foster youth provisions on the 2023-2024 FAFSA to the U.S. Department of Education urging them to implement the provisions as soon as possible.

On November 30, 2021, SchoolHouse Connection submitted recommendations to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’ (USICH) for the new Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. Our recommendations are based on our daily direct interaction with our network, as well as decades of experience witnessing the many ways that previous federal strategic plans have fallen short, or failed outright. It is our hope that in light of the persistent — and often generational — crisis of homelessness, the Biden-Harris Administration will pursue fresh perspectives and new ideas.

Students experiencing homelessness are disciplined in schools at disproportionate rates in comparison to their housed peers, with disproportionalities further exacerbated by race, disability, and sexual identity/orientation. On July 23, 2021, SchoolHouse Connection submitted comments to the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline, highlighting these inequities, and providing recommendations for positive school discipline practices.