{"id":392,"date":"2015-05-19T09:20:19","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T09:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/homeless-in-high-school\/?p=392"},"modified":"2015-06-22T19:09:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-22T19:09:00","slug":"in-this-dallas-school-a-safe-space-for-homeless-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/homeless-in-high-school\/2015\/05\/19\/in-this-dallas-school-a-safe-space-for-homeless-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"In This Dallas School, A Safe Space For Homeless Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Dallas High School has the most homeless students in the Dallas Independent School District — one out of eight is without a home. Many see North Dallas High as a center of innovation, thanks to its homeless outreach efforts.
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\"Desmond

Desmond Davis, far left, and other students considered homeless or transitional, eat food provided to them by volunteers from the Church of the Incarnation at a drop-in center at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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160.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That was the number of homeless kids this past year in North Dallas High School.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Students

Students help themselves to drinks provided by volunteers from the Church of the Incarnation at the North Dallas High School drop-in center. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

Homeless students are four times more likely to drop out, the National Coalition for the Homeless says. So, to try to change those odds, North Dallas High opened the Dallas school district\u2019s first drop-in center three years ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got breakfast tacos, we\u2019ve got fruit, we\u2019ve got juice, we\u2019ve got cookies,\u201d said Jim Rain, a drop-in center volunteer from The Church of the Incarnation, which is across the street from the high school. \u201cKids who\u2019ve been identified by the school as homeless are free to drop in and get some breakfast, get some toothpaste, toothbrushes, sanitary stuff. We also have a clothing closet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drop-in center helps turn the \u201chomeless student\u201d label into a real person.<\/p>\n

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\"Dianne

Dianne LaRoe, far right, and Elliott Carpenter, far left, who are volunteers from the Church of the Incarnation, help a student try on a suit provided by the church for his upcoming graduation. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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‘Very Good Motivators’<\/h3>\n

Kymberly Jackson was in the drop-in center on a recent Friday morning for food and friends. The 16-year-old homeless student, who just wrapped up her sophomore year, lives in a shelter with her mom and two younger sisters.<\/p>\n

She used to be pinned down by her bad behavior. But now she\u2019s wrestling. It\u2019s helped change her life.<\/p>\n

\"Kymberly

Kymberly Jackson, who is homeless, has earned a national wrestling title. Photo\/Bill Zeeble<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cGave me something do to besides fighting,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I just turned that fighting into something positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kymberly took a Texas wrestling title this year, which was a first for the district and the North Dallas High Bulldogs. Last month, she earned a national title.<\/p>\n

Next month, she goes international for a shot at the Junior Olympics.<\/p>\n

For all that, she’s grateful to the folks back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s like there are a lot of people here that motivate me,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re very good motivators and they have good spirits. [There are] some people from church, so if I need to be prayed for, if I need to talk to someone about something, they\u2019re always there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Church of the Incarnation helped fill out Mark Pierce\u2019s vision of this drop-in center. Pierce, the homeless education director for the Dallas school district, borrowed ideas from across the country, but most of those centers weren’t in schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur primary objective is to get these kids to school every single day,\u201d Pierce says. \u201cAnd to get them to their school of origin so they will graduate. Because they\u2019re much more likely to graduate from the school they started at once they\u2019re in high school. That\u2019s where friends are, that\u2019s where activities are. That\u2019s where the teachers are that know them and the counselors that know them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Mark

Mark Pierce, who runs DISD’s homeless education program, helps a student with computer skills at the drop-in center at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

‘Showing Positive Results’<\/h3>\n

Pierce has since launched drop-in centers at other Dallas schools because he says the one at North Dallas works. He says in the last couple of years, students who visit the drop-in center had a 95 percent attendance rate. Those who don\u2019t show up had an 82 percent attendance rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re showing positive results,\u201d Pierce said.<\/p>\n

Good results keep church volunteers, like Paul Gonzalez, coming back, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is a class of 400 freshmen, the statistic is that only half of them will make it to graduation,\u201d Gonzalez says. \u201cWe have several kids that have been with us through the beginning of the program. All of the seniors that come here are actually graduating. So that\u2019s something we\u2019re really proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the drop-in center, North Dallas High also has a social services director. The school also uses psychologists and psychiatrists who work for the district.<\/p>\n

\"North

North Dallas High School Social Services Advisor Sherrie Cleaver, right, and Nedah Rose, a volunteer from the Church of the Incarnation, give each other a hug on the last day of the drop-in program for the 2014-15 school year at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

Thankful for the help<\/h3>\n

Then there\u2019s the\u00a0Action Team, a club that gives students a chance to do community service. Charles Johnson, who\u2019s taken in several homeless kids from North Dallas High, created the group.<\/p>\n

Action Team\u00a0helps kids earn credits to graduate, but also serves the homeless in nearby shelters.<\/p>\n

\"Charles

Charles ‘CJ’ Johnson, left, and Desmond Davis, a student who is currently living with him, talk to other Action Team volunteers during an Action Team meeting at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

Sophomore Jeannette Ruiz says she joined to give something back. Talking about it makes her choke up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were homeless for a long time,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd all the shelters that helped out, it was mostly the community here.\u201d<\/p>\n

She got food, too, Jeanette says, fighting through tears. But she insists on finishing her story.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did Angel Tree with Church of the Incarnation, and one year I was about 10 and they gave us Christmas presents, which is really cool because we\u00a0didn\u2019t feel the Christmas spirit. But through, like Angel Tree,\u00a0that really helped us out. We really felt like people were trying to help us and we actually mattered. That just made us feel really great.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says the Action Team\u2019s great, too. Members urge each other to do well in school and to graduate.<\/p>\n

Next year, things change at the school.<\/p>\n

There will be a new principal. Johnson, the Action Team founder, has left for a new job. One staff member who helped homeless kids every day won\u2019t be back either.<\/p>\n

Pierce isn\u2019t worried. He says the community liaison remains, and so does the drop-in center with its team of church volunteers.<\/p>\n

Schools live through changes all the time. As long as there are people who care, he says, this one will be a refuge for kids who are homeless in high school.<\/p>\n

SLIDESHOW: Go Inside North Dallas High<\/h3>\n\n
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    North Dallas High School Social Services Advisor Sherrie Cleaver gives a student a hug at the drop-in center at North Dallas High School Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    North Dallas High School Social Services Advisor Sherrie Cleaver wipes away tears while listening to a student say her goodbyes to the group on the last day of the drop-in program for the 2014-15 school year at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    North Dallas High School Social Services Advisor Sherrie Cleaver, right, and Nedah Rose, a volunteer from the Church of the Incarnation, give each other a hug on the last day of the drop-in program for the 2014-15 school year at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Laura Fredericks, a volunteer from the Church of the Incarnation, cuts the cake for a graduation party for the transitional and homeless students at the drop-in center. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Mark Pierce, who runs DISD's homeless education program, helps a student with computer skills at the drop-in center at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Mark Lloret, right, a volunteer from the Church of the Incarnation, helps a student tie a tie for a suit provided by the church for graduation. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Volunteers from the Church of the Incarnation help one of the transitional and homeless students try on a suit provided by the church for his upcoming graduation. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Transitional and homeless students eat food provided to them by volunteers from the Church of the Incarnation at the drop-in program. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Students help themselves to drinks provided by volunteers from the Church of the Incarnation at the North Dallas High School drop-in center. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Volunteers from the Church of the Incarnation serve food to transitional and homeless students. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Desmond Davis, far left, and other students considered homeless or transitional, eat food provided to them by volunteers from the Church of the Incarnation at drop-in center at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Charles 'CJ' Johnson, left, and Desmond Davis, a student who is currently living with him, talk to other Action Team volunteers during an Action Team meeting at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Charles 'CJ' Johnson listens to a student tell a story about why they are on the Action Team that he started during an Action Team meeting at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Students listen to Charles 'CJ' Johnson during an Action Team meeting at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Desmond Davis attends an Action Team meeting at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n