Equip Academy of New Mexico -

Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program

Vision: To ensure that children experiencing homelessness or unaccompanied youth have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as provided to other children and youths.

Mission: To work with school districts, schools and other partners in order to provide educational stability to students experiencing homeless by removing barriers such as enrollment in school, transportation, access to school meals, appropriate education and extra-curricular activities.

Federal Definition of a Homeless Child or Youth

Students who qualify for this program include children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.

The term includes—Children and youths who are:

• Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason (sometimes referred to as “doubled-up”)

• Living in motels, hotels, RV parks, or camping grounds due to a lack of adequate alternative accommodations.

• Living in emergency or transitional shelters, or abandoned in hospitals.

• Children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

• Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings

• Migratory children who qualify as homeless because they are living in circumstances described above.

If, due to a loss of housing, a child must live in a shelter, motel, vehicle, or campground, on the street, in abandoned buildings, or doubled-up with relatives or friends, then they are eligible to receive services provided under the McKinney-Vento Act.