David,

     We operate a classroom for people experiencing homelessness which
addresses basic reading skills.  It has been, and I suspect will continue to
be, a challenge to recruit and retain this particular group of individuals.
Most suffer from a significant mental illness in addition to undiagnosed LD
(or often MR), long term substance abuse, and the related physical health
challenges (diabetes, hepatitis infection, HIV, dental infections, TB,
etc.).  For new readers experiencing homelessness, we have learned to set
reasonable timelines.  It takes approximately 90 days to engage, assess, and
place the learner.  From there, 90 to 120 days to stabilize participation
rates.  After that, we can expect 12 to 18 months before we are able to find
placement in permanent housing.
     Along the way, we have to act to find a way to support them through
hospitalization, substance abuse treatment (and relapse), food emergencies,
and transportation barriers, to name but a few.  There is no rule book.
Each individual has a personalized situation that requires a custom set of
referrals, approaches, and schedules.  We had, in the past, required some
level of stabilization prior to entry.  Like many homeless services, we
required a certain length of sobriety, medication compliance, some form of
stable transitional housing.  However, we did some vision searching and
determined that under those conditions, the learner could probably access
mainstream adult education services, such as at the community college.  If
we wanted to serve people experiencing the homeless, we needed to be
prepared to meet their needs when first contact is made.  Since then, our
enrollment has more than doubled.
     I am not suggesting that what we have done is easy or even possible in
most situations.  We happen to be located in a multi-service homeless agency
with a wide array of resources.  We also have a case manager dedicated to
addressing barriers for the adult education learners.  We have clinicians
(primary care, mental health, and dental) on site, showers, soup kitchen,
food pantry, clothing room, a co-located one stop employment center, and
provide transportation subsidies.  In addition, all our faculty are provided
additional training in mental health, substance abuse, HIV, LD, first aid,
crisis management, and other relevant issues, in addition to their standard
PD for education.
     I guess the short answer is that to serve extremely high need
populations, you need a system wide approach, a clear mission and vision,
and the right people in place.  It has been my experience that the most
challenging populations are most often served by the agencies with the
fewest resources.  Larger, more established agencies tend to look at high
need populations as performance killers and attempt to relegate them to
volunteer organizations with more heart than cash.  But to paraphrase Kurt
Vonnegut, of course throwing money at problems helps, that's what money is
for.  It's not the only factor, certainly.  Our faculty are approached
constantly by other agencies regularly with better pay and less strenuous
working conditions.  They won't go.  Their pride in what we are able to
accomplish means more to them than a small salary increase.  However, so
much of what we do comes from the multiplying effects of the partner systems
with whom we work so closely.  We can be the best educators in the world,
but it is important to identify those domains of life which are outside our
skill set and create long-term meaningful relationships with the individuals
who provide that service, not simply another MOU left to yellow in a file
cabinet.

Hope this helps,

Josh

Joshua Hayes
Instructional Coordinator
SEARCH Homeless Project
2505 Fannin St
Houston, TX 77002
713-739-7752 ext 135
jhayes at searchproject.org
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