Homeless Students Need Shelter for the 16 Hours and 49 Minutes in Between Classes

by Josie Raymond · 2010-10-14 11:04:00 UTC
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Do you know how long it is from when the last bell rings at the end of the school day to when the first one rings the next morning?

Homeless students do. In Rock County, Wisconsin it's sixteen hours and 49 minutes. Taking its cue from that important number is the documentary "16:49:00," a local film festival entry that profiles three homeless students from nearby Beloit Memorial High School as well as area service providers, homeless advocates and school officials. (If you're nearby, catch a screening at the University of Wisconsin-Rock County in Janesville on Nov. 16.) These three are among the one million students homeless nationwide.

One student in the documentary is Kayla Brown, a 19-year-old who was living in her aunt's living room after her mother kicked her out. "It's hard to hear somebody say, 'I love you,' and kick you out the next day," she said. Now she's staying with her boyfriend's family.

Another is 18-year-old Cory Winters, an honor roll student who has been couch-surfing since he went out on his own at age 16. He said, "I felt like the only person in the world like this. I didn't feel human." He's currently staying with the family of a woman he has a six-month-old baby with.

Though Kayla and Cory are housed right now, the arrangements aren't stable. They're still struggling. Though they may feel alone, they're not; in some places there are homeless students in every classroom and in other areas there are entire independent schools devoted to homeless children.

I love the idea of local media highlighting local homelessness in such a powerful, blameless way. Many people who view it will undoubtedly be surprised that homeless people live in their community, and that homeless teens mingle at the high school with their own kids. There are a total of 174 homeless students in the Beloit School District this year and 22 are unaccompanied.

In Beloit, officials are always looking for host families who can house homeless teens for a couple weeks while more permanent housing is located. The city is planning to open an eight-bedroom facility for homeless students, but it's at least a year (and a $210,000 annual budget) away from reality. Doesn't take a math major to figure out that help is needed now.

Photo credit: Eric James Sarmiento

Josie Raymond is a Change.org editor who has reported from the streets of the South Bronx, written for several magazines that folded (not her fault) and fixed thousands of typos.
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