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We challenge you to incorporate homeless
and poverty awareness programming during the school year. Below
is a book list that may prove to be helpful in your efforts. |
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Keesha’s House by Helen Frost. This is a short engaging
book that goes through the situations of several teens that find
themselves in homeless situations for various reasons. You will
probably have to special order it, Barnes and Noble carries it
but usually only has one copy. |
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Homecoming and Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt. This
is a story of a family of children that runaway in order to stay
together after their mother becomes hospitalized. |
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A Picture of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. This
is a book about a girl that has been placed in so many foster
homes she can’t even keep track. She runs away a lot. This
book kind of touches on the issues of independently homeless
kids who may be foster care runaways. In this story things work
out for Hollis, but in real life there are not enough good foster
homes. |
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There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotolowitz. This is
a true documentary story of two boys that live in inner city
Chicago in low-income housing projects. This is not necessarily
about homelessness but gives a good view of poverty in the inner
city. This may show how people from other cities might try to
move from city to city. |
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Glory Field by Walter Myers. A story about an African
American family from slavery to the present day. Follow the family
through the generations and see how they deal with the issues
of oppression, war, poverty, and addiction. |
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Please contact the YEP Program Coordinator, Angela Lariviere
via email or
via phone at 614-280-1984 to schedule interactive learning activities
and/or a presentation to your students. |
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Integrate service learning curriculum into your courses. Require
service hours to be spent at local shelters, food kitchens or
free stores. We can provide you with local contact information. |
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Have a donation drive and donate items to local family
shelters. (Donations are good anytime of the year, and not just
September and December!) Do your homework and find out what the
service agencies actually need in your area at the time of your
drive. Target, Kroger and other store gift cards are always needed.
These are also great gift donation ideas. |
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Throw a party at your schools recreation center, (especially
colleges) or sponsor a party at the shelter and enjoy hanging
out with some really cool kids! Kids who experience homelessness
still enjoy the same things as other kids. |
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Create a fundraiser competition! See which class or school
can raise the most money through donations, bake sales, yard
sales. BE CREATIVE ON HOW TO RAISE MONEY! Donate the money to
a local program, to us or contact
us and we can help you find the perfect program that your
class wants to support. |
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VOLUNTEER! See
how many volunteer hours your class or school can give in a week,
a month or a semester. Work to make your class a continual source
of volunteers for years to come!
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Register and vote. Make sure that every
18 year old in your district votes on election day. And vote
for candidates and issues that will help youth and help solve
the housing crisis in our communities.
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Implement a letter writing campaign- handwritten letters
are still one of the most effective ways of communicating with
politicians. Stay alert to our COHHIO
Action Alerts and get your class to write letters to a
political leader who can create the change.
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Register people to vote- Many people don’t vote because
they believe one vote will not make a difference, so get 100
people registered to vote and talk about the issues of homelessness
and youth concerns. 100 votes will make a HUGE impact on elections.
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Lobby- Wait for your representatives to be in your home district
and go and talk to them. Feel free to contact
us for pointers and help in these efforts.
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Register
your project and receive recognition! |
