Region 4

Region 4 is very diverse in nature. It encompasses urban, suburban, and rural counties with a population of more than 2.3 million. Nine counties are served by Region 4 which encompass 133 school districts and 686 schools.  The poverty rate in this region ranges from 9 percent to 18 percent.  96,920 families receive food stamps and 52,945 families have single female heads of households. The geographical area covers 6,940 square miles.

The established Allegheny County Homeless Children’s Initiative has taken a leadership role for Region 4, with the cooperation and collaboration of Westmoreland Intermediate Unit and Intermediate Unit #1. The goal of Pennsylvania' Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program in Region 4 is; to provide educational and enrichment programs that encourage school attendance, reduce disruptions, and to facilitate services that are linked to the challenging state performance standards will now be extended to include all of the homeless children and youth in Region 4.

Some of the Region 4’s activities include the following:

• Provide enrichment programs for homeless children and youth, during non-school time.
• Train and supervise college students in service learning projects to serve in shelter sites as tutors/homework helpers.
• Establish an emergency school fund for school-related items to address the stigma of homeless, (being different from regular students) (ex. school supplies, uniforms, pictures, and fees).
• Encourage school attendance on a regular basis through perfect attendance awards and monthly attendance shelter reports.
• Provide summer educational enrichment programs through mini-grants to fund family shelters’ summer projects for homeless families.
• Provide parent workshops on enrollment, attendance, dress code, rights of homeless students, etc.
• Assist local districts to create and/or revise policies and procedures to eliminate barriers for homeless children and youth.
• Raise the capacity of local school districts (registrar, school attendance officer, school liaison) to identify homeless students (both sheltered and unsheltered).
• Raise the capacity of shelter staff to recognize the importance of immediate school enrollment.
• Educate the school transportation departments on the rights of homeless students.
• Maintain an emergency fund to assist for the provision of transportation on a short-term basis until transportation can be worked out with the local districts to avoid delay in school attendance.