Project Rise Lifting Spirits of APS Homeless Students | Program Fills the Gaps

By Marilyn Miller Paulk, APS Storyteller

At a family function, a 58-year-old grandmother was somewhat surprised when her teenage grandson suggested he live with her.

Admittedly, she thought her grandson was kidding. But as he pleaded continuously, it became clear that this was a serious ask, if not an obvious plea for help.

At 14, the grandson lived with his parents in Michigan. Yet, he had largely become self-sustaining, caring for himself amid a fragile, unstable environment since seventh grade.

“There wasn’t any stability with his parents,” said the grandmother, an East Akron resident. “They were young. There was no parenting. They moved around a lot from place to place. He hadn’t gone to school in four years. He said he didn’t want to go to school with holes in his shoes and shabby clothes.”

The grandmother didn't want to go into any details about the parents’ absence. “I just knew he needed help and I couldn't say no,” she said.

She learned about Project Rise, which made the transition possible. It was difficult at first because she is not the biological grandmother. The child’s grandfather is her ex-husband, but since she has a good relationship with the child’s parents, and was always "Grammy" to him, the mother helped provide information needed to get him enrolled and Project Rise helped her complete the paperwork.

The APS program provided clothes, a coat, shoes, hygiene items, bus passes, gift cards, school dues and fees and other necessities. Eventually, his parents divorced but he had a new life with his grandmother. The grandson is now playing football at a community college in Westerville, a Columbus suburb.

Project Rise is a program of Akron Public Schools that serves families experiencing housing instability and homelessness. It was created to ensure that homeless APS students have access to the same educational opportunities as other students.

The program, which follows the McKinney-Vento Act, a federal law that requires schools to account for students experiencing homelessness. 

The law defines homelessness as “lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. This could be a student staying in a hotel, motel, shelter or sharing the housing with others or their own home lacking utilities or using public and private spaces not designed for sleeping.”

In addition, the program supports the education rights of a homeless child or youth who is not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian, a young person who is living on their own.

The program identifies homeless students several ways.

“The bulk of our referrals come from schools,” said Jennifer Montisano, who heads the program. “Our teachers and school staff are the first to notice a change in a student's behavior, which can be a key indicator of housing instability or homelessness, offering the essential opportunity to initiate conversations and generate referrals to Project Rise.

Families sometimes call the program directly after learning about the program, to find out how to enroll their children.

Montisano said Project Rise starts identifying students who are homeless on July 1. All students have to be re-identified every school year, but students are added throughout the school year on a regular basis.

“At the end of the last school year, we had 1,450 students identified as homeless. So far this year we have 900 youth identified since July 1st,” Montisano said. “There are 19,468 students enrolled in APS so 7.3 percent of our students are homeless. That is reduced, and we believe it is a direct reflection of our staffing reductions.”

According to Montisano, Project Rise works as a call center.

“When we are working with families we assess their needs and barriers to education,” she said. “We try to connect to community resources to help support their needs.”

The program maintains community partnerships in the food, medical, clothing, housing, shelter, government benefits, mental health, community engagement and legal issues. It connects with providers such as United Way and Homeless Hotline for community support. 

“Last year we connected families and students to about $100,000 of support made possible through grants, community support, and donations,” she said. Our funding sources are:

the McKinney Vento Homeless Grant, which is a federal mandate and the GAR Community Grant and Community Action Agency Grant.

In addition, Project Rise uses donations to help cover student gas or bus passes, student fees and dues, field trips, hygiene items and laundry vouchers. 

Most people become homeless due to unexpected crises such as economic hardships, medical bills, family emergencies or loss of a job. Also, a lack of affordable housing can cause homelessness. Many people work, but low wages make it difficult to cover other necessities such as food, healthcare and utilities. 

Another family, which includes a mother and her two middle school students, were evicted and forced to live in their car. She was referred to Project Rise from a teacher, who noticed the brothers’ absences. She was also able to keep her sons in school, get temporary housing and clothing.

Again, Project Rise was there to help.

One mother of four dependent children, ages 4, 11, 16 and 17 called Project Rise her safety net. She experienced many ups and downs before learning about the program. She was evicted from the house she was renting in Cleveland, her car was stolen and she separated from her husband.

She moved to Akron because it was close. She learned that there are landlords who aren’t always truthful. Her landlord claimed she owed her $5,000 in back pay on a utility bill and had pets in the home that she did not allow, claiming the dogs were destroying her house. The woman was on Section 8, a government housing program that helps low income families. She had lived there for six years.

The 39-year-old mother said she won the case because she kept all her receipts including the pet deposit fee she paid when she moved in. She didn’t have a dog at the time she moved in, but knew she would eventually get one. In fact she never had any issues with her landlord until the landlord discovered she had two dogs. The landlord, who lives out of state, visited the premises one day without any advance notice and discovered the dogs in the home.

But one day she came home and found a green eviction notice on her door. 

With no money to fight it, she assumed the judge changed his mind. She learned later that the landlord told the court the mother had abandoned the home and left her keys.

She lost everything as the landlord kept her furniture and many personal belongings including her firearms locked in her safe. She couldn’t report the firearms stolen because she didn’t have the serial numbers, which were left in the house.

“I’m a very easy going person. I never complained. I was helping her with the water bill and it’s a utility that remains in the landlord’s name,” she said. “I told her about repair issues in the house but she never addressed them. I just repaired them myself and moved on. I have a degree in building maintenance. I thought I was helping her.” 

After she lost everything she moved to a shelter in Akron, it’s there that she learned about Project Rise. She said she never would have believed her life would snowball into so much turmoil. She was born in Cleveland but also lived in New York and in Europe with her parents. While growing up she had three stepdads.

She lived in the shelter for two months until a woman there got into a dispute with her and she was told she had to leave. So from the shelter she and her children were literally in the streets. They slept on the sidewalk in front of the shelter. 

The program helped get her children in school, set her up with community support agencies for housing in a motel then a house, provided clothing, hygiene items and school fees and supplies.

Her major concern is that the whole experience took more of a toil on her older son living at home. He was the one who had to pitch in after her separation and after her car was stolen. She had to work two jobs, so her son stayed home and missed school to care for two younger siblings. She had a more than four-hour round trip commute to work in Twinsburg. Ultimately, he struggled in the classroom. 

Now, she is in a better place financially and mentally. More importantly, her family is safe. They have a roof over their heads. She is in a house, she is working, She is back with her husband, who provides emotional and financial support.

She said she has reason and purpose. And she’s a survivor. 

“I am blessed and very much grateful to Project Rise,” she said. “Without Project RIse I wouldn't be where I am today. They were my first responders. They got me what I needed and are still willing to help my family anyway they can. I am more stable now and might have a few headaches along the way, but it’s nothing that a few adjustments can’t be made to work things 

out.”

Project Rise started in 1991, as a result of the passing of the Federal The McKinney Vento Act in 1987. If you believe a student you work with may be experiencing homelessness, please contact: projectrise@apslearns.org 330.761.2969