Dallas ISD Will Donate Shuttered Campus to Create First-of-its-kind Shelter for Homeless HS Students

A year from now, 35 homeless Dallas ISD students will have a place to stay, thanks to a collaborative effort between Dallas ISD and nonprofits Promise House and CitySquare and philanthropist group Social Venture Partners Dallas.On Thursday, trustees approved, by an 8-0 vote, an agreement with join the collective effort, called After8ToEducate, to create a first-of-its-kind shelter and drop-in center for DISD students.“This is groundbreaking -- and significant,” superintendent Michael Hinojosa said.DISD will allow a shuttered elementary campus in Fair Park to be converted into a 35-bed shelter, giving unaccompanied 14- to 21-year-old homeless students a place to sleep. It will also provide those students with education and support services, and serve as a 24/7 drop in center for other homeless students. Hopes are that the facility will open next summer.“We can talk all day, and have every poverty report and homeless report, but until we start putting action to our words, they’re just words,” trustee Bernadette Nutall said.According to a district count, there are at least 112 high schoolers in DISD who live unaccompanied, in a car, park, campground or abandoned building.In the agreement, the district would pay no more than $135,000 per year to the After8ToEducate effort, granting the the use of the building, and paying for utilities, custodial help and security for a seven-year period, with two possible five-year extensions.The nonprofit will raise around $2 million to renovate the school, and then raise $2 million yearly for services at the shelter.Trustees universally praised the efforts of its partners, as well as Sherry West Christian, the assistant superintendent for student services who addressed trustee concerns about the agreement in a “scramble” to put it on this month’s agenda.“This is truly, in my opinion, a model for public-private partnership,” trustee Dustin Marshall said, adding that he hopes that it’s the first of many similar partnerships and that it can be replicated in other districts.Trustee Audrey Pinkerton -- who had showed some reservations about the unfinished nature of the agreement two weeks ago -- said that while she would prefer to have all the details, she understood the necessity of establishing a framework to get the project off the ground.Nutall and Pinkerton called on the city and county to join the effort.“City of Dallas and Dallas County stand to gain with this initiative,” Pinkerton said. “The school district cannot do this alone."  Continue reading...

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