Family
Resources for Assistance
Due
to the high rate of low income families in my school’s attendance area, the
school I teach at has a part-time family advocate to help families in poverty. The rural school district I work in qualifies
for Title I funding and allots funding for an hour each school day toward this position. Since the need at my school is so great, a
portion of our school’s Title I funds go to cover the cost of some of our
family advocate’s additional hours. Her
job is to help families navigate through the various forms of assistance available
to them, especially when it comes to their children and school life. For example, our family advocate helps to coordinate
our school’s monthly food drives, runs a clothes closet for our needy students, collects
donations of school supplies from various organizations in our community, and
handles those students covered under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act.
The
goal for a family resource coordinator or a family advocate at a Title I school
should be to improve families’ ability to find and secure economic security. According to Smith and DeBord (2005), “Families living in poverty must focus on ways to maximize their resources to sustain themselves
when there are resource gaps or their resources are unstable” ("Family Resource Practices," para.1). Although every school with students from low
income families may not be a designated Title I school, school personnel, including
teachers, can help these families.
As teachers, we are obligated to look out for the well-being of the students
entrusted to us daily. With that in
mind, we cannot control the type of economic situation our students go home to
when the dismissal bell rings. Even so,
it is in our nature as educators to want to help and do all that we can. If you feel this way, you have come to the
right place. Below you will find links
to resources for those in poverty or suffering through a time of financial need
in the state of Oregon.
Links for Families
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