“Why don’t they just go find a place? Why don’t they just go get a job?” 

As a McKinney-Vento liaison, Shaneitha Nance said these are common questions and misconceptions people have about who she serves — students and families experiencing homelessness. 

Nance currently works for the Public Schools of Robeson County. In her 19 years of experience in the school system and 30 years in social work, she said she is passionate about children being treated fair and equitably. 

“I believe in getting to the root, that’s something that’s real important to me. Finding out what’s really going on with children, and then trying to help them with that,” Nance said. 

The McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children and Youth Act is a law that mandates each child of a homeless individual or homeless youth receive a free, appropriate public education. The act is also known as the Every Student Succeeds Act, signed into law in 2015 in North Carolina.

According to the district, 390 students were unhoused during the 2023-24 school year. Over 37,000 students did not have permanent housing across the state, according to a press release from the district, up from the previous year. 

Robeson’s McKinney-Vento program and its community partnerships were recently praised in a clean audit from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI). The audit results said that the Robeson County McKinney-Vento Program has shown “commendable efforts in addressing various indicators related to the identification, enrollment, retention, and support of homeless children and youth. This includes establishing effective procedures for identifying homeless students, ensuring immediate enrollment, and supporting their retention in school,” the district said in a press release.

“Ms. Nance is diligent in her work with the district’s homeless education program and she ensures that the identification and enrollment of a student experiencing homelessness is in alignment with the law and that all students receive the appropriate resources needed for their academic success,” Lisa Phillips, state director for the education of homeless children and youth at DPI, said in a press release.

Nance said that the audit results were thanks to the collaboration between school social workers and community partners helping with their program.

She said that she reaches community partners by word of mouth and has made connections by serving on several committees and boards across the county.

“They will contact me and say, ‘What do your children need? How can I help with that?’” Nance said. “People are aware of McKinney-Vento in our community, and they just want to help.”

Partnerships that have been offered to Robeson’s McKinney-Vento program include a laundry truck, food pantries, and shopping vouchers from the church.

Tomeika Munn, director of community impact at United Way, works in close partnership with Robeson County Schools McKinney-Vento liaisons, school counselors, and school nurses.

“The McKinney-Vento Initiative, a forward-thinking project of Lumber River United Way, was launched during the 2021-22 school year and has already demonstrated its effectiveness,” Munn said in an email. “In its inaugural year, the initiative successfully raised funds to provide new coats and shoes for 244 homeless students, significantly enhancing their lives and instilling hope for their future. This achievement stands as a testament to the united efforts of our community.”

Munn said that funding for the McKinney-Vento Act beyond Title I employee salaries and small grants falls short of student needs. Lumber River United Way tries to fill in gaps so that attending school is “normal as possible” for students.

“The displacement of families from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence and COVID have shifted the landscape of affordable housing and caused a loss of homeownership in Southeastern NC. Because of these disasters, the number of students identified as homeless has increased every school year,” Munn said.

Robeson is the largest county in North Carolina, spanning across 947.3 square miles, according to Census data. As an area that is also largely affected by storms, Nance said her biggest challenge is finding a way for her students to get to school. 

“I think that’s our biggest barrier, is just trying to get transportation coordinated for such a large county and so many students,” Nance said 

Munn said the McKinney-Vento Initiative expanded in 2023 by allowing schools to assist students experiencing homelessness with needs beyond a coat and shoes:

• A mattress and pillow for a good night’s sleep (air mattresses are allowed)
• Nutritious food to take home on nights and weekends (backpack pals)
• The ability to participate in extracurricular school activities (field trips, sports equipment, extracurricular activities such as STEM or Robotics teams)

Other goals and challenges Nance mentioned related to early childhood and career and technical education. Nance said she aims to focus on getting younger siblings into preschool, Head Start, and other early education programs. She also said she wants to help seventh graders transition to prep for CTE classes, the military, or college.

Nance said that overall, it is important to address the whole child. Nance mentioned that by taking stress off the family, it can in turn take stress off the child, as children in homeless situations often have to deal with “adult problems” that their parents are facing.

One goal is to establish a summer camp for the students she serves so that they are not “stuck in hotel rooms” all summer, Nance said. She said that there would also be a family shelter where families stay together and not have to leave during the day. 

“I think we’ve come a long way as far as people, realizing that we do have these problems in our area and that we need to help people,” she said. “We need to just treat everyone gentle.”