One of the drawings shows a house with green windows and red writing that says “home.” The sun is shining happily, and there are blue clouds in the sky. In the yard, the young artist has drawn their family. Everyone is labeled, and on the right side of the page is a smiling face with “Me” above it in green colored pencil.
The next drawing is black and white, done entirely in pencil. It is presumably drawn by an older kid, with more detail on the faces of the two people depicted. A circle with a line through it is drawn over the house. At the bottom of the drawing is written: “Home is not the place, it’s the people.”
Students involved in the Cincinnati Public Schools’ Project Connect program created the drawings at the WRAP Center.
The program provides holistic wraparound services to students and their families experiencing homelessness. The Safe Sleep initiative, allowing students and their families to sleep in a lot on the property of Taft Elementary School, is expected to open April 30.
“Last year we served 355 students who were either sleeping outside or in vehicles,” said Rebeka Beach, program manager for Project Connect. “On any given night, we are expecting to have three or four cars.”
The idea is to provide a place for families who must sleep in their cars to come to a safe lot with facilities and security. Twelve spots will be available once Safe Sleep is fully operational.
“Some people ask, ‘How is this a solution,’” Beach said. “I want to say we don’t look at this necessarily as a solution. But the fact is we do have families who are sleeping in their vehicles, and we want to provide them with dignity and respect. We also want to provide them with safety. And this lot will provide a safe space.”
The problem
Ohio had 25,550 students experiencing homelessness during the 2023-2024 school year, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
In Cincinnati, more than 8,000 children experience homelessness every year, according to Upspring, a nonprofit that provides resources for kids without housing.
Cincinnati has the second worst child poverty rate of the 76 largest cities in the country, Upspring reports, at 53.1%. The only large city on the list that beats Cincinnati is Detroit, with a childhood poverty rate of 59.4%.
If poverty leads to homelessness, how does that affect students?
“Only 25% of children experiencing homelessness graduate from high school,” according to data on Upspring’s website.
The most stark statistic may be this: The average age of a person experiencing homelessness in the United States is 9.
The solution
On any given night in Cincinnati, approximately 4,300 children are considered unhoused — without a fixed permanent or adequate place to spend the night. The majority of unhoused children are in shelters, couch surfing at relatives’ homes or staying in a hotel. Yet, every night a handful of families have no safe place to sleep except their vehicles.
Which is where Project Connect comes in.
The district receives federal funding through the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act designed to remove barriers to education experienced by children and families experiencing homelessness.
In 1996, CPS created Project Connect, which provides a broad range of services for unhoused students and their families. The project works to identify children and youth facing homelessness, provide support and connect families with additional community resources.
The WRAP Center
The program has expanded its services over the years and now offers help through the WRAP Center in a building on property adjacent to Taft Elementary School in Mount Auburn.
“We have a resource center that has a food pantry, clothing, shoes, undergarments, school uniforms, backpacks and school supplies, hygiene items and just really anything tangible that a child may need to go to school,” Beach said. “But then, in addition to that, we’ve started this year bringing on some onsite partners to provide services to meet the other needs that our families have.”
One day a week, staff from the Hamilton County Department of Jobs and Family Services visit the center. The nonprofit Community Action Agency also visits weekly, bringing access to job training and coaching, Head Start and more. On “Legal Fridays” once a month, families can meet with a lawyer for free legal services.
The center is adding new programs on a continuing basis as needs arise. For example, a discussion with families found many were unfamiliar with their rights as tenants. This led to a partnership with the Hamilton County and University of Cincinnati law school’s limited representation program.
Safe Sleep
Safe Sleep is the latest addition to the Project Connect program, and it directly addresses the immediate needs of families sleeping in cars. It offers them a safe space to park for the night with some amenities to make the night feel safer. The lot has room for 12 cars.
The Safe Sleep space is under construction now with a goal to open later this spring. The site will include a structure with two showers and two toilets, a kitchenette with a microwave, a water cooler for hot and cold water, as well as a separate room for onsite security. A freezer will be loaded with meals from the Free Store Foodbank Cincinnati Cooks program.
Families are also provided with sleep kits through a partnership with Standard Textile. Each kit includes a hotel quality blanket, pillow, towel and washcloth with a note that says “Sweet dreams from Project Connect.”
Beach has secured a grant to build a pergola on the property so families will be able to sit outside their cars and enjoy a meal. That will be built next year as part of phase two of the program. Project Connect staff is working on additional ideas for support services and even some fun things for the families, depending on resources and staffing.
While the Safe Sleep lot is located on Taft Elementary property, it is separate. School officials and Project Connect staff have worked out a system to ensure the program doesn’t interfere with regular school operations. The lot will be cleared by 7 a.m. before buses arrive at 7:30 a.m.
Beyond giving families a place to go, night in the Safe Space lot also allows families to be verified for shelter placement, she said.
“In order to get into a shelter, street outreach workers have to see families sleeping in their car, and this can take weeks to find them and connect,” Beach said. “All of our families will be verified within 24 hours, so that really reduces the amount of time it takes to get into a shelter. And so, we look at this as more of a bridge in the housing pipeline.”
Once verified, families are eligible for up to six nights in a hotel while awaiting placement in a shelter. It gets them on the list at least. Still, they may not get into a shelter right away.
“It’s not likely, to be honest,” Beach said. “Shelter waiting times are usually at least a month, but it does give them some reprieve, an opportunity to relax, regroup. Sometimes families during that stay will figure out a family member or friend to stay with, but if not, they will be welcome to come back to our lot.”
Reaching out
Project Connect identifies families for Safe Sleep and other services and programs through a variety of means. Staff presents at every school annually and teaches teachers, social workers and counselors how to identify signs of homelessness. There is a link on the district’s website for community referrals, or families themselves can let the district know they need help.
On the school enrollment form, families can check a box if they are at a temporary living address. This generates a report that Project Connect staff check every day. The district also has a memorandum of understanding with the youth and family shelters and receives daily reports.
From there, staff work with the family to assess what they need. Outreach to older students, those who are not in the care of a parent or guardian, can be a bit different, Beach said. Usually they meet them wherever they are.
“With the youth, we really try to build relationships,” Beach said. “When we meet with them at the schools, we say to them, ‘it’s our understanding that you’re in a transient living situation.’ We never use the verbiage ‘homeless.’ We say ‘we are here to support you … What can we help you with?’ And usually we’re able to figure it out that way.”
The WRAP Center offers younger students a free six-week summer academic and enrichment program that runs all day with academics in the morning and swim lessons and other activities in the afternoon. Students go on field trips and have opportunities to study theater and STEM subjects. Students age out of the summer program at 15, but they have an opportunity to return to help with the program through the Urban League Summer Youth Employment program.
The affordable housing crisis
“Because we have a partnership with CMHA, [Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority] we get 200 housing vouchers a year, so we can refer families to their housing program,” Beach said. “But the thing with that is, getting a housing voucher used to be the golden ticket out of homelessness, but now there are not enough affordable housing units.”
A lot of families have those vouchers, Beach said, but they still can’t obtain housing because they can’t find a landlord willing to take it.
Beach belongs to Strategies to End Homelessness, a collaborative effort of more than 30 nonprofit, housing and service partners working on the housing issue.
“We oversee the HUD funding in the community,” Beach said. “These are conversations we’re having constantly. People just are not earning livable wages, and there’s not enough housing, because whenever there are more people needing housing than there are housing units, it drives the cost of housing up. It just deepens that gap and really perpetuates this cycle … we’ve lost a lot of affordable housing units in the city.
A harsh reality
Beach said she knows Safe Sleep is not going to solve the housing crisis. Yet, it can be a start and provide some comfort for families with nowhere to go.
“So, they are here, in Safe Sleep,” Beach said. “They’re verified, and the hope is to get them into a hotel, and then very soon afterwards, get them into shelter. That is the goal. We know sleeping in your car is not ideal, but it’s a reality, and so we’re just trying to make it a safe reality.”
Safe Sleep is set to open later this spring. In the colder months, December through the end of February, Christ Cathedral Church Downtown will open their doors for the families in the program.
The WRAP Center is in the process of moving its offices from the basement to a new expanded space upstairs within the building at 270 Southern Ave. It operates from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For more information on Project Connect, go to cps-K12.org/our community/project-connect or call 513-363-5670.
Families in immediate need should call 513-381-SAFE (7233).
Additional resources
Upspring
Provides resources for kids experiencing homelessness.
URL: upspring.org
Phone: 513-389-0805
Address: PO Box 23300 Cincinnati, 45223
Lighthouse Youth and Family Services
Provides resources for young people and their families
URL: lys.org
Phone: 513-221-3350
Address: 401 E. McMillan in Cincinnati
Strategies to End Homelessness
Coordinates with 30 nonprofits to provide resources for people experiencing homelessness.
URL: strategiestoendhomelessness.org
Phone: 513-263-2780
Address: 2368 Victory Parkway, Suite 600 in Cincinnati