Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we help our young people graduate high school. A recent study from Northeastern University in Boston is sobering. In our economy, there simply isn't the opportunity for work without a basic high school degree. But there's plenty of opportunity for incarceration, detention and worse.

Here at CCH, we have long understood that a root cause of homelessness is lack of an adequate education. We focus significantly on reaching youth disconnected from school. Remarkably, there are many barriers placed in the path of return to school for these young people. As recent events at Fenger High School have shown, violence is one.

But often school districts don't really want to be bothered to help us retrieve our young people from the dropout abyss.  Our Law Project has encountered situations in which --though entitled to return to school to complete a degree -- students are told they are ineligible. Comparatively trivial things like demanding payment of school fees and withholding a diploma,  or refusing transportation assistance are barriers or failure to provide in-home instruction or truancy services when needed. Restrictive and unfair residency policies imposed by school districts also impede.

Frequently, zero-tolerance and intense disciplinary processes force students out of school in the first place. For some of these young people, the message that they are not wanted, not valued and not necessary has been loudly communicated. One recent effort of the STLS program at the Chicago Public Schools brightens this picture.

"STLS" (short for Educational Support for Students in Temporary Living Situations, i.e., the homeless) has identified the homeless students who were in their senior year in 2008-2009 but left a CPS school. STLS staff are seeking out these students this fall to learn what has become of them and to reconnect them to school when possible. Just one small, but vital step and a model of what we must do to let our youth know they are valued and that their education matters.

CCH's Law Project provides assistance and representation to at-risk youth to help them re-enter or remain in school and to get the services they need.
 
- by Laurene M. Heybach
      Director, The Law Project of  the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless