School District of Philadelphia Renews Thrive, Valley Youth House, and Eddie's House Funding

10/30/2024

On Tuesday, October 29 in the Mayor's Reception Room at City Hall, Isaiah Thomas, Councilmember At-Large and Chair of City Council’s Education Committee, joined Dr. Tony B. Watlington, Sr. the School District of Philadelphia’s superintendent, with HopePHL, Valley Youth House, Eddie’s House, and other advocates, and announced an additional $2.3 million in funding to support programs that work in schools to identify and serve students experiencing homelessness. This support will allow all three partners to continue services for the duration of this school year. According to School District of Philadelphia data, there are 10,000 students experiencing homelessness in the district.

The School District initially awarded HopePHL a contract for Thrive, a program to help identify and support students experiencing homelessness enrolled in the School District of Philadelphia, and their families, over an 18 month period, which ended in September 2024. Funding helped to pay for program staff, supplies and other costs associated with identifying students as McKinney-Vento eligible, and providing services and resources such as security deposits, rent arrears, temporary hotel stays, utility assistance, transportation costs, gift cards for basic needs, and school supplies.

We reached 235 students and 315 of their siblings. This critical support furnished resources that helped families stay in their homes and avoid eviction or foreclosure, find housing, connect to employment, receive healthcare and access referrals within our network of social services providers to meet other essential needs for students to remain fully engaged in school. The program also works within schools and neighborhoods to fight stigma and build awareness, building up the supportive ecosystem around children and youth in Philadelphia.

It is important to note that while the number of students appears to be higher than in prior years, one of the impacts of this program is the improvement in identifying families experiencing homelessness with children in district schools.

Thanks to the renewal funding from School District of Philadelphia, with the support of City Council, we are now able to continue services until June 30, 2025. And, we will continue to work together with Valley Youth House and Eddie’s House to secure funding beyond this school year to support the collaboration. Questions about supporting HopePHL programs can be directed to Jacqui Flynn, VP of Resource and Business Development at [email protected].

The buttons below will take you to some of the press coverage of the event, including a feature taped at HopePHL from NBC-10.