Homeless in Decatur

November 12, 2009 | 2:44 pm

Andrea Berry at Decatur edTV hits one out of the park with two portraits of families who were recently homeless and send their kids to the City Schools of Decatur.

View the video here.  Quite a moving segment.

There’s an awful lot of good that goes on in this city that we don’t hear about nearly enough.

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6 Responses to “Homeless in Decatur”

  1. CGL Resident says:
    November 12, 2009 at 10:02 pm

    This was certainly an emotional piece and quite interesting.

    Besides the transportation issue and miscellaneous donations, are there other, specific ways CSD helps homeless families?

    And would someone be able to elaborate on the transportation assistance that CSD offers?

    • Andrea Berry says:
      November 13, 2009 at 11:33 am

      The best way to find out what transportion services CSD provides for homeless families is to contact Joan Fisher or Karen Koonce at the CSD District office: 404.370.4400. They can give you all the details as they work on this on a daily basis.

  2. etudiante says:
    November 14, 2009 at 12:53 am

    I don’t mean to say that DPS isn’t doing a fine job accommodating the homeless families in our neighborhoods, but I do just want to point out that a federal law requires them to do most, if not all, of the things they are doing: provide transportation, enroll students in a school, etc. The McKinney-Vento Act is a conditional spending law applicable to states in exchange for federal funds to carry out these obligations.

    • karass says:
      November 14, 2009 at 12:57 pm

      I agree that CSD is not heroic for doing what the law requires it to do but I do think that they do it in a way that is respectful of the students and their families. I don’t think that most families in CSD are even aware that there’s as many as 150 homeless kids per year in the schools. And I thought the Decatur EdTV piece was beautifully done by interviewing two mothers who have been homeless in CSD and want to talk about it so others will understand. I would not have enjoyed the piece if it was just an interview of top CSD officials talking about what a wonderful job they do for the populace.

      • Andrea Berry says:
        November 15, 2009 at 12:09 am

        Thanks so much, karass, for your feedback on our piece. We wanted to tell the stories from the point of view of those living it rather than lots of facts and figures. You and etudiante are absolutely right about what the federal McKinney-Vento Act requires the school district to do for homeless families. Joan and Karen at CSD work very hard to make sure that homeless students’ experiences in CSD is a seamless one as they access services.