SAFEH Portal

Background:

In 2007, Congress recognized November as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month (NHYAM) to raise awareness of youth homelessness. This month is a time to recommit to meeting the needs of children and youth experiencing homelessness and acknowledge the important role education can play in preventing and ending homelessness among young people. Please review the resources below to support your school’s efforts to bring this important issue to attention.

Things Schools Can Do During NHYAM:

1. Distribute the housing survey: If your school has not distributed the survey this year, this is a great opportunity. 
2. Promote resources to students and families: Connect students and families to community resources and emergency shelters or access points.
3. Build Your Expertise:  Use your 18 paid professional development hours to watch recorded trainings on the McKinney-Vento Act and review the SAFEH website and SAFEH Portal to learn about district efforts.
4. Promote McKinney-Vento Act Rights to students and families: Use the email below to request copies of SFUSD’s McKinney-Vento Act posters to post in main offices and hallways or print the copies listed in the next section.
5. Request the SAFEH team visit your school’s coordinated care team (CCT) for technical assistance and consultation. 

Ways All Staff Can Promote NHYAM:

• Sample Calendar of Activities
• November 14th is #GoGreenDay Wear green in support of Youth Hope Month
• Social Media Messages to Share
• Social Media Templates (.zip file)
• Zoom backgrounds (.zip file)
• Know Your Rights Posters (also available in Spanish)
• Sharing a list of books & movies:
  • (Movie) The Homestretch 
  • (Movie) Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County
  • (Book) Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by: Matthew Desmond
  • (Book) Journeys out of Homelessness: The Voices of Lived Experience by: Jamie Rife & Donald W. Burnes
• Sharing Awareness Videos: 
  • SchoolHouse Connection: The Value of Education and Educators for Students Experiencing Homelessness
  • 16:49 Sixteen Hours, Forty-Nine Minutes
  • Education Week: Homeless Students in Their Own Words

Additional Resources to Explore:

• The Homeless Education Technical Assistance Center (HETAC) National Homeless Youth Awareness Month Resource webpage: https://www.hetac.org/hetac-resources/youth-awareness

• School House Connection - https://schoolhouseconnection.org/

Dear SFUSD Student Support Staff,

On January 31, 2024, all District-provided AT&T and Verizon hotspots will be deactivated. These hotspots will not be reactivated. These hotspots were issued as part of SFUSD’s COVID-19 pandemic technology response. 

SFUSD is transitioning to Project 10 million and will begin the process of providing new T-Mobile hotspots to eligible students starting in January 2024. The SFUSD Department of Technology (DoT) will work with each school’s designated site device manager to determine eligible students upon return from Winter Recess. Hotspots and specific deployment instructions will be provided to schools prior to the end of January. 

District-issued, Project 10 million hotspots are intended solely for remote learning and have a limit of 100GB of data per year. Streaming sites such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, etc. are blocked. 

New Hotspot Eligibility Requirements

• SFUSD Students Identified as  Experiencing Homelessness (SAFEH) or are in Foster Care
• Students in Grades 4-12 who are eligible for free or reduced school eligibility benefits. The Direct Certification or MFIF results letter can be accessed by Families online by logging in to SchoolCafe.com

Families of students who do not meet the above hotspot eligibility requirements may qualify for home Internet plans at free or reduced costs through the Affordable Connectivity Plan. 

Communication to Families

In the coming weeks, SFUSD will notify via SchoolMessenger, families currently with district-issued hotspots about the upcoming deactivation. Families will be directed to sfusd.edu/internet for more information on affordable at-home Internet options and Project 10Million. SFUSD Family Resource Link agents will also be able to answer specific questions and inquiries. Prior to being issued a new hotspot, families must review and sign the SFUSD Student and Family Hotspot Agreement (translated forms available), and return it to the school site. 

For any questions and/or concerns regarding supporting focal students through this, please contact the following:

• Students and Families Experiencing Homelessness (SAFEH) - Jaymie Frazier, SAFEH Lead Counselor frazierj@sfusd.edu 

• Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program (FYSCP) - Ling Busche, FYSCP Lead Counselor buschel@sfusd.edu

Dear Staff,

We are reaching out to provide an important update regarding the transition from paper tickets to Clipper cards for our homeless students who rely on BART for their daily commute to and from school.

Effective November 30, 2023, BART will no longer accept paper tickets for entry. Since we were notified in late September, the SAFEH team has worked diligently to secure additional Clipper cards for students to continue using BART for school-of-origin transportation.

However, the procurement of Clipper cards is taking longer than we hoped. As a result, we are putting an interim distribution plan in place for the limited number of Clipper cards currently on hand. This means for:

• Homeless students commuting to school from outside of San Francisco: They will be prioritized for Clipper card distribution. We aim to provide these students with Clipper cards as soon as possible to ensure uninterrupted access to BART.
• Homeless students commuting within San Francisco: We recommend students use MUNI for transportation and will continue to provide transitional support to parents/caregivers accompanying students to/from school while they apply for the SFMTA Access Pass. 
• Parents/caregivers that accompany students on BART to/from school: The distribution of Clipper cards will be handled on a case-by-case basis, and depend on the availability of Clipper Cards after distribution to students. We understand the importance of parent/caregiver transportation support to/from school and must prioritize Clipper Cards for students as mandated by McKinney-Vento.

In the meantime, we appreciate your understanding and patience as we navigate this transition. We are committed to ensuring that every homeless student in our district has access to the available transportation support to attend school. 

If you come across any specific cases that require immediate attention or have any questions related to this transition, please do not hesitate to reach out to the SAFEH team for further assistance.

Thank you for your continued dedication to supporting our homeless students and their families. Together, we will make a difference in their lives and ensure their educational success.

Thank you!

SAFEH team

safeh@sfusd.edu 

Synergy's U-PGM413 Homeless and Foster Students Main Report will help you to identify all students within the school who have been reported as being in a foster care program or homeless and therefore eligible for support through the FYSCP program or SAFEH. 

The report provides demographic information, attendance data for daily absences and tardies as well as period tardies and absences and student GPA at a glance (if accessible).

Instructions on how to generate this report can be found:

• Slide Deck (embedded below)
• Written instructions
• Video (embedded below)

Instructions on how to identify a student as homeless on Synergy (add record) or update (i.e. edit/close) an existing homeless record can be found:

• Written instructions: identify a student as homeless or update an existing homeless record
• Video (embedded below)