By addressing the educational needs of parents, we can encourage parental involvement and pave the way to much-needed stability. Be basic enough to help those with even the lowest literacy skills. Be flexible to accommodate the same unpredictable participation rates that plague homeless children. At the Prospect Family Inn, adult education begins with basic literacy workshops. In these, parents read, write, and talk about parenting, health and nutrition, stress management, budgeting, housing, and apartment maintenance.
Parents then attend employment workshops and qualify for internships and placement.
Yet homeless parents and children cannot be expected to make education their priority so long as they must continue to worry about where they will be sleeping the next night or when an abuser will resurface. Such attention begins by providing for basic needs. Once these basic needs are attended to, communities of learning still must attend to less visible needs, such as the effects of domestic violence and substance abuse. Housing referrals and placement are critical needs. Community and School Partnerships Communities of learning must establish lines of communication between schools and community-based organizations.