For Districts

Our recent Crisis on the Coast event held earlier this March continues to bring attention to the homeless crisis in our community. The Monterey Herald mentioned Pivot Learning’s report, “Crisis on the Coast: The Bay Coastal Foster Youth and Homeless Student Populations.“ The report outlines a study we conducted in partnership with National Center for Youth Law about how the region’s soaring housing costs and lower wage jobs has contributed to the growing housing crisis. Learn more about the report and download a copy.

Excerpted from the Monterey Herald

MONTEREY — Cynthia Tiberend has posted a Go Fund Me video asking for help and explaining how the Monterey resident is facing the loss of her home of 23 years and the uncertainty that she will be able to afford a new place to live.

The short video did not explain the reason Tiberend must leave her home and an email to the Carmel resident who posted the page for Tiberend was not returned Monday.

“I’m very stressed, very frightened,” Tiberend said in the video. “I was given to May 7  to vacate my apartment. I might need movers because I may need to move farther away because I cannot secure housing in the Monterey area. I never thought I would find myself in this situation but here I am.”

She is not alone. New findings released on March 15 by an Oakland-based nonprofit called Pivot Learning highlight the role of region’s soaring housing costs and lower wage jobs has on the growing housing crisis. Pivot works with schools to tackle any number of educational challenges. It became involved with Monterey County when it found that 10 percent of students in the county were considered homeless by the state Department of Education.

On Wednesday, Monterey planning staff will present a new report to the City Council during a study session that presents both challenges and opportunities to address the crisis. The report notes both the income disparities in Monterey that contribute to the crisis and the policy measures the city can take to provide more affordable housing units.

Read the Full Story

Calcurriculum and the California Department of Education are partnering to offer free workshops this May and June to help county offices, districts, and charter management identify opportunities and strategies to improve their math program implementation.

May 20-21, Sacramento
June 18-19, Santa Ana

The workshops will be beneficial to districts needing Tier 1 math curriculum support as well as targeted support for districts designated for assistance. During the workshop, participants will:
• Investigate their instructional materials
• Consider possible adaptations or supplemental materials
• Plan for how to improve the math program in their schools

Want a preview of what will be covered in the workshop? Check out the Implementation Guide.

Register your team today. Spaces are limited and the deadline to register is May 3rd. The workshop is free and meals will be provided. Participants will need to cover their own travel, hotel, and other incidental costs.

CalCurriculum is a partnership between EdReports and Pivot Learning.

The Californian is helping spread the news about the Crisis on the Coast event we held on March 11th at the Monterey County Office of Education in Salinas, CA. The panel and forum discussed the report “Crisis on the Coast: The Bay Coastal Foster Youth and Homeless Student Populations” that outlines the findings of a study conducted by Pivot  Learning and National Center for Youth Law. Read the full report to learn more.

Excerpted from The Californian

Local education and nonprofit leaders are hoping to better identify and help homeless students in Monterey County, where about one in 10 pupils qualify as homeless, according to a November study – a number some suggest is low.

Monday, the Monterey County Office of Education and Salinas City Elementary School District co-hosted a discussion hoping to understand the state of education in communities impacted by family homelessness and recommend solutions for students.

Published by Pivot Learning and the National Center for Youth Law, the study “Crisis on the Coast: The Bay Coastal Foster Youth and Homeless Student Populations” found increases in homeless and foster students in Monterey County. The county also had far fewer services for these students compared to urban areas in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

It spoke to the community's future, said Gary Vincent, executive director of the Epicenter, a local nonprofit serving homeless and foster youth. “If you are concerned about the youth in this county at all, this should be a wake-up call for us and a call to action now.”

While Monterey County had average rates of foster youth within the Bay Area region, it far outpaced other counties in the rate and total number of students experiencing homelessness. Local homeless and foster students are more likely to be English learners and people of color.

“What it did, the bottom line, is it raised awareness in our community,” said Salinas City Elementary Homeless Liaison Cheryl Camany.

Read the Full Story

Our recent Crisis on the Coast event held on March 7th at the Community Center at Soper Field in Seaside, CA received coverage by the Monterey Herald. The panel discussion and forum was based on the report “Crisis on the Coast: The Bay Coastal Foster Youth and Homeless Student Populations“ that outlines the findings of a study conducted by Pivot Learning and National Center for Youth Law. Learn more about the report and download a copy.

Excerpted from the Monterey Herald

SEASIDE — Monterey County is in a huge crisis as the dramatic rise in family homelessness along the coast and rural areas continues to grow each day.

The National Center for Youth Law and Pivot Learning hosted a presentation for the report “Crisis on the Coast: The Bay Coastal Foster Youth and Homeless Student Populations” inside the Community Center at Soper Field on Thursday afternoon.

The event, which was co-hosted with Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, featured a panel of experts on homeless and foster youth populations and a public forum.

The panel featured Adrienne “Bing” Goldsworth, who’s the National Center for Youth Law program manager for FosterEd in Monterey County and was on hand to talk about ways to help reduce the number of homeless and foster youth students in the area.

Other panelist included Darius Brown of the Monterey County of Education, MPUSD board trustee Wendy Root Askew, MPUSD Social Emotional Support director Donnie Everett and MPUSD homeless liaison Carlos Diaz.

Brown, who’s the coordinator for McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Services, said getting all the experts, liaisons and families in the same room to talk about the subject means people are acknowledging it is an issue.

“If your district is not talking about the situation then that means you haven’t acknowledged family homelessness as an issue,” he said.

Pivot Learning CEO Arun Ramanathan and program manager Hannah Melnicoe were at the forum to present the report findings.

Read the Full Story