Project ACCESS
Fresno Unified School District
-enroll
-attend
-succeed
Every child has a right to an appropriate, free public education. And Project ACCESS helps make surehomelesschildren in the Fresno unified school district are: enrolled, attending, and succeeding in school.
Fresno Unified School District
2,300 = enrolled in Project ACCESS
73,000 = total students
Laura Tanner-McBrien is the coordinator of Project ACCESS. She says the program helps children preschool age and up. It is a big undertaking. “Right now, the numbers are about 23-hundred in our school district. Out of the 73-thousand students that we have. And we’re the fourth largest school district in California.”
McKinney-Vento Act
Project ACCESS serves families in transition, meaning they are homeless according to the federal definition of the McKinney-Vento Act. “So, they are families that don’t have a fixed, regular and adequate night time residence. They could be living in a motel, they could be in a shelter, doubled up with other people temporarily.”
Child’s records
Project ACCESS can help parents become better advocates for their children by informing them of their rights. “Homeless children do not have to have all the documents regularly needed to enroll in school. So, if they are missing their shot records or their birth certificate they can not be held out of school.”
In addition,a parent can petition to keep the child in school of original enrollment. “And the district provides bus tickets so that the parent and the child can ride on the bus and get back to that original school. So that every time they move housing, they are not moving schools. So, keeping schools stable really benefits in the long run.”
Laura points outonce the child is in school it can be achallenge to focus their energies on academics because they are distracted. “You know a lot of our families are concerned every day with having food and having shelter having clothing. And they are expected to go to school and function when some of their basic needs aren’t even met.”
Shelter, food, clothing and referrals for other resources
The services provided by project access go well beyond the classroom. It also helps with: shelter, food, clothing and referrals for other resources in the community. “Sometimes we have families come in that literally have no place to go that night. And we tap into resources that we know of in the community for maybe a motel stay for a couple of days or maybe one of the shelters in town.”
Follow-up visits
Two social workers and three outreach workers with Project ACCESS try to stay connected with families enrolled. They make follow-up visits with the families at emergency housing facilities such as the Plaza Terrace Apartments to make sure they are getting the information and services they need.
Project ACCESS aims to help the whole family and as a result it benefits the children. “Sometimes there are mental health needs in the family. Sometimes there may be some sort of addiction. And we’ve had families within that case plan, the social worker has worked with the family to complete programs and actually graduate from programs. And so in that way, the social workers really do work with the parent intensely and that benefits the children.”
Laura is proud to sayProject ACCESS adds up tosuccess for many Fresno families.“Our test scores have gone up every year for our homeless students and part of it is being able to stay at their original school of enrollment and not having to move. And that piece of security is really important for the children because once they feel secure with knowing they can stay, they are available to learn.”
More info for parents
Preparing Career Ready Graduates
Laura Tanner-McBrien
Coordinator, Project ACCESS
Department of Prevention and Intervention
Homeless and Foster Care Liaison
Fresno Unified School District
1350 M. St., Building B
Fresno, CA 93721
457-3359
