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Kern County superintendent office highlights Student Voice Ambassador program and $5.2 million youth housing grant
Summary
Kern County Superintendent of Schools staff described programs serving foster and homeless youth, reported serving about 7,200 McKinney-Vento-identified homeless students and roughly 1,200 foster youth in school at any one time, and noted a recently awarded $5.2 million grant for housing services for youth ages 14–24.
Kurt Williams, senior director for foster and homeless education programs at the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office (KCSOS), briefed the board on the Student Voice Ambassador program and related support services at the April 14 meeting.
Williams said KCSOS coordinates services across all 46 school districts in Kern County and now manages McKinney-Vento programs countywide. He reported that the district identifies "over 7,000" homeless students (he estimated "somewhere around 7,200") and serves roughly 1,200 foster youth in school at any given time, with a total of "a little over 2,000" foster youth served annually across placements that move in and out of the county.
Williams described the Student Voice Ambassador program, which trains youth who have experienced foster care or homelessness to plan school projects, pursue civic-engagement credentials such as the State Seal of Civic Engagement, and access vocational and higher-education pathways. He highlighted peer-support staff (Brian Johnson) and partnerships including the Kern County Network for Children and HopSkipDrive, the latter used to ensure door-to-door transportation to school of origin when KCSOS cannot provide a ride.
Williams also announced a substantial external award: a $5.2 million grant to support housing for youth ages 14–24. He said the grant will fund three permanent housing projects and supportive services programs including one (Healing Pathways) designed to serve minors and to unify youth with family or guardians when possible.
The presentation noted other program elements: STEAM camps (including one in partnership with UCLA for foster and homeless youth), the Youth Empowering Success (YES) conference, and the development of trained education-rights surrogates countywide to represent students in special-education situations where guardianship is lacking. Board members thanked staff and invited continued reporting on program outcomes.
