Youth In Transition (YIT) Program

Youth In Transition BROCHURE

INFORMATION FOR
YOUTH & PARENTS

Learning-Support

The Youth in Transition program serves homeless families by seeking to remove barriers to enrollment, attendance, transportation, and academic success. Families who live in any of the following situations may qualify for services:

• Emergency or transitional shelter
• Hotel or motel (i.e. no fixed/regular nighttime residence due to economic hardship)
• Unsheltered (i.e. a car, park, public space, abandoned building, campground, bus or train station, substandard housing, or similar setting which may include lack of water or electricity; health or safety risks
• Temporarily with another person or relatives due to economic hardship or loss of housing (i.e. eviction, inability to pay the rent, destruction of home, illness, loss of employment, etc.)

If a family meets the above criteria, or you are an unaccompanied youth:

1. Complete the Housing Questionnaire (available in English / Spanish).
2. (Optional) If you are new to PUSD and have missing enrollment documentation, complete the Affidavit for Missing Enrollment Documentation | Spanish,  if applicable.
3. Email your form(s) to Laura Upson, YIT Coordinator, at lupson@powayusd.com. For help in completing or returning the form, call the YIT office at 1 (858) 748-0010 x 4086.

Note: the Housing Quesitonnaire is valid only for the current school year. BY LAW, families must complete a new form each school year.

Once YIT has received the completed necessary form(s), PUSD staff will reach out with program information.

School-Aged children have certain rights or protections under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act.  Those rights are:

• Go to school, no matter where they live or how long they have lived there.  Must be given access to the same public education provided to other children.

• Continue in the school attended before becoming homeless or the school last attended, if that is the choice and is feasible.  If a school sends a child to a school other than the one requested, the school must provide a written explanation and offer the right to appeal the decision.
• Receive transportation assistance to the school attended before the family became homeless, if feasible, and a parent/guardian requests such assistance.
• Attend a school and participate in school programs with children who are not homeless.  (Children cannot be separated from the regular school program because they are homeless.)
• Enroll and attend classes while the school arranges for the transfer of school and immunization records or any other documents required for enrollment.
• Enroll and attend classes while the school and family seek to resolve a dispute over enrolling the children.
• Receive the same special programs and services, if needed, as provided to all other children served in these programs.

For more information about PUSD's Youth in Transition program, download the Youth in Transition brochure (also available in Spanish) and Information for Parents and Youth-Bilingual (reference only).

If further assistance is needed, call the numbers listed below:

• California State Homeless Coordinator:  Leanne Wheeler 1 (916) 657-2871
• National Center for Homeless Education free help line:  1-800-308-2145

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