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Lewiston schools report $170,000 housing navigator grant; 15 families referred, two housed so far
Summary
District staff told the committee the school-based housing navigator position, funded through Maine Housing, has started work with Community Concepts and already taken referrals. The one-year award covers a navigator salary and discretionary funds for deposits and fees.
Lewiston Public Schools officials told the school committee on April 7 they have contracted with Community Concepts to operate a school-based housing navigator funded through an award from Maine Housing, and that the district has referred 15 families (34 students) to the program; two families have already secured housing.
"The current amount received is about a hundred and $70,000," District Federal Programs Coordinator Jenny Darigan said, describing the award as a competitive allocation distributed by Maine Housing to school districts. She said the funds pay the housing specialist's salary and provide discretionary dollars for application fees, security deposits and utility payments. "Those are our 3 main ... expenses you'd see on this grant," Darigan said.
Nut graf: The navigator model is intended to help McKinney-Vento–identified students and families who lack a fixed, regular nighttime residence to secure stable housing; the district said the contract term runs from Feb. 10 through Feb. 9 of the following year and that the state may provide additional funding later.
Natasha Turcotte, the district's student and family engagement coordinator and McKinney-Vento liaison, said the navigator began receiving referrals and that 15 families are engaged in the process. "We have already started getting a lot of applications already before we contracted with her so a lot of families are already ... moving forward. And so there is a lot of work that was already done and now she's just taking the lead," Turcotte said. She added that at the time of the presentation 11 families were "on their way" toward securing housing.
The presenters told committee members the grant runs for a year and that the state legislature may approve a two-year extension; if the state does not extend the funding, district staff said they could continue to refer families to Community Concepts through that organization's other programs. Darigan said the district had 440 active identified students who might be eligible for homelessness services and that the navigator's caseload target is about 20 families.
Ending: Committee members asked about sustainability and whether unaccompanied youth were eligible; staff said the navigator's work is focused on referred families identified under McKinney-Vento standards, and staff will continue to coordinate with existing community partners and other case-management services in the city.
