It's back to school season, and this year some children are facing more challenges than ever, as more and more families are poor or homeless.

While figures have yet to be compiled for many communities, all indications are that as more families are affected by the foreclosure crisis, more are becoming homeless. Among those are renters, who lose their homes simply because of foreclosure on the property they are renting.

Meanwhile, along with their parents, children of these families face terrible trauma and instability. Too often, this is compounded by school instability. Once they lose their housing, these children are subject to the same barriers as all homeless children.

A bright spot is that the McKinney-Vento Education Program can help, and NLCHP has materials to help you understand and use the law.

We are working with partner groups to create more targeted resources. Please let us know if you are seeing increases in homelessness due to foreclosures-affecting either owners or renters-in your community by writing to Info@nlchp.org.

Maria Foscarinis
Executive Director

NLCHP is pleased to announce the recipients of its annual McKinney-Vento Awards. These awards recognize individuals and organizations that have advanced solutions to homelessness and poverty. These awards also pay tribute to two outstanding national leaders in the fight to end homelessness, Stewart B. McKinney and Bruce F. Vento.

The Stewart B. McKinney Award will be presented to Richard E. Schaden, founder of Quiznos Subs and America's Road Home, for the national effort he has initiated to address homelessness.

We are delighted to present U.S. Representative Judy Biggert from Illinois with the Bruce F. Vento Award. Ms. Biggert has been a major proponent of recent legislative successes on behalf of homeless children.

The Pro Bono Counsel Award goes to Hogan & Hartson for its significant pro bono work in the past year, especially for preparing the 2008 Voting Rights Report. Hogan & Hartson has demonstrated its commitment to ending homelessness in America since 1989, when the firm assisted NLCHP with its incorporation and application for tax-exempt status.

Tonya Bullock of Baltimore, MD will receive the Personal Achievement Award. After her family lost their home and moved to a shelter in Baltimore County, Ms. Bullock faced significant difficulties in attempting to keep her son in his school. She has since found stable housing for her family, has started work for the State of Maryland and has enrolled in Community College -- all while making sure that her son has been able to continue his education.

This year's reception and dinner will be held on Thursday, November 6, at the elegant Jones Day law firm in Washington, DC, overlooking the U.S. Capitol. A special thanks to Jones Day! Information on sponsoring this year's event is available on our website or by contacting Jordan Lamb at jlamb@nlchp.org.

Dozens of service providers and advocates around the country will be holding voter registration events to help ensure homeless persons' voices are heard this election year. Over 50 groups in almost 20 states will be hosting voter education and registration events during National Homeless & Low Income Voter Registration Week from September 21 through September 27.

"We are thrilled to see so many groups from across the country participating in the Voter Registration Week. These efforts are an important way to include homeless persons in the political process and ensure their concerns are addressed by our government officials," said Tulin Ozdeger, Civil Rights Director at NLCHP.

NLCHP released a report in July of this year documenting the problems that homeless persons face when registering and voting. Homeless persons face barriers with identification, mailing address, and durational residency requirements when attempting to register or vote, according to an NLCHP survey highlighted in the report. Homeless persons often find it challenging to get themselves to the polls in order to participate.

While homeless persons face some challenges in voting, the report provides recommendations on how to overcome those barriers, as well as suggested policy changes that could help homeless persons have better access to voting.

For more information about National Homeless & Low Income Voter Registration Week, contact Tulin Ozdeger at tozdeger@nlchp.org. You may also access NLCHP's 2008 Voting Rights Report on our website. You can also visit our website for information on the Five Fundamentals Campaign, a challenge to candidates for public office to address homelessness.

NLCHP is seeking submissions from homeless or low-income children and youth for its annual artwork contest!

Each year, NLCHP selects one winner and two runners-up whose artwork will be displayed at the McKinney-Vento Awards ceremony, along with other selected artwork from this and previous years' contests. The winning artwork will also be used on the four awards that will be presented to the honorees at the event, as well as other NLCHP outreach materials.

Submissions will be accepted from children who are enrolled in after-school programs or art-related organizations serving homeless and low-income children or are currently residing in shelters. Entries in the contest must meet all criteria listed in the guidelines, and must also include the entry & release form, signed by a parent or legal guardian.

The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2008. Visit the NLCHP website for more information.

We will continue accepting submissions until October 10, 2008. Visit the NLCHP website for more information.

NLCHP, along with the ACLU Women's Rights Project and the Native American Indian Housing Council, submitted a joint statement urging the newly convened Violence Against Women in Indian Country Task Force to consider the housing needs of survivors of domestic violence on tribal land. According the Department of Justice, 37.5% of American Indian and Alaska Native women and 12.4% of American Indian and Alaska Native men are raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by an intimate partner in their lifetimes.

We know that the lack of safe and affordable housing is one of the reasons that survivors choose to stay in relationships, and we know that survivors experience evictions and housing denials directly related to the violence against them. There are very few, if any, emergency shelters or safe transitional housing options for survivors who choose to flee the violence on most tribal lands. While survivors living outside of the tribal land can utilize the housing protections of the Violence Against Women Act and state law, these protections do not apply to survivors living on tribal land.

The joint statement urges the task force to make recommendations with respect to improving safe housing options and protecting the housing rights of survivors on tribal land. To view the statement, visit our website.

NLCHP thanks the Waitt Family Foundation and the Freddie Mac Foundation for support of its Domestic Violence Program.

In May's Edition of In Just Times, we shared a story about the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services of the U.S. Department of Education issuing a Question and Answer document for guidance on implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in conjunction with the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to serve homeless children with disabilities.

This document included significant language suggested by NLCHP and its partners, the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children & Youth (NAEHCY) and the National Center on Homeless Education.

NLCHP and NAEHCY felt there were a number of areas in which the Guidance could be further clarified to ensure all students receive the services to which they are entitled, including enrollment, record requests, and evaluations for highly mobile youth, and have been working with the Department of Education to promote these changes. However, with the new school year approaching, the Department widely promoted the Q&A to state homeless education coordinators, and NLCHP and NAEHCY felt it was necessary to issue a formal response to the Guidance.

NLCHP and NAEHCY will continue to work with the Department to ensure the comments are integrated in future drafts of the document, and in the meantime, we hope the comments are read together with the official guidance as school personnel interpret these laws for the benefit of homeless children with disabilities.

NLCHP thanks the Freddie Mac Foundation for support of its Children & Youth Program.

In October 2007, Lawyers for Equal Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and the law firm of Alston, Hunt, Floyd & Ing, with technical assistance from NLCHP, filed a class action lawsuit, Kaleuati v. Tonda, on behalf of all homeless children in Hawaii seeking to ensure access to education. Following class certification and a temporary injunction in February 2008, the state entered into serious settlement discussions, resulting in a settlement signed in August 2008.

Notable features of the settlement include: $185,000 in attorneys fees; Dedicated personnel in each school district and at each school to help homeless parents and train all school personnel who have contact with youth on identifying homeless youth; Requirement to inquire of all parents withdrawing or transferring children if the withdrawal is due to loss of permanent housing due to economic hardship; Community outreach including annual advertising in mainstream newspapers and multi-lingual brochures; Development of automatic prompting in computer programs to inquire as to homeless status; A dedicated bus making stops at frequently used homeless congregation areas; Compensatory education where the school fails to transport a homeless child

NLCHP has included links to the court documents on its new wiki-website, officially launching later this month, as a resource to other lawyers seeking to protect the rights of homeless students.

NLCHP will celebrate the annual UN World Habitat Day by hosting a training session about housing and human rights on October 6, from 2-3pm EDT.

The training will be a free teleconferenced introduction to human rights as they apply to housing issues. In keeping with the World Habitat Day theme, "XXX," the training will cover issues like promoting affordable housing using a human rights-based framework and combating the criminalization of homelessness with human rights.

This training will serve as an introduction for people new to the concepts and as a refresher for those already familiar with them. It will also lay the basis for more advanced discussions at NLCHP's National Forum on the Human Right to Housing, coming in early 2009.

Registration is available at NLCHP's events page.

NLCHP would like to thank the US Human Rights Fund and the Butler Family Fund for their generous support of the Human Rights program.

We are proud to report that in 2007, our pro bono partner firms contributed almost $1.9 million worth of pro bono work to NLCHP, doubling the amount of pro bono support provided in 2006. Many of our most significant victories were made possible by this support from the private bar.

Visit our website for more information our Lawyers' Executive Advisory Partners (LEAP) program.

NLCHP is a 501(c)(3) organization. Visit our website at www.nlchp.org! Contact us at (202) 638-2535 or email us at nlchp@nlchp.org