Summit on homeless focuses on children
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Terrence Moses, a senior at Sto-Rox High School who has been homeless, performs an original rap song in front of a multimedia presentation that he created in high school during the Homeless Education Network summit Friday at the Rivers Club.
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For much of his childhood, Terrence Moses, 20, was without a home, moving along with his mother and 11 siblings from shelter to shelter, or to temporary houses or to homes of friends or relatives.
Yesterday he brought down the house when he performed a rap song that he composed called "One Way Road" about his journey through homelessness, despair -- he lost two brothers to street violence -- and eventually success at Sto-Rox High School, from which he will graduate in June.
The song, performed at the Homeless Education Network Summit held at the Rivers Club, mixed Bible verses with street slang and left listeners with a message about beating the odds by believing in oneself and having faith.
The performance received a standing ovation from the more than 300 attendees who included education and community officials, representatives from social service agencies and Susan Corbett, wife of Gov. Tom Corbett, who has expressed a commitment to working on behalf of homeless children.
Charlie LaVallee, Homeless Education Network director, said between July 1, 2010, and Jan. 31, 2011, about 1,700 homeless children were identified by shelters and school districts in Allegheny County. About 40 percent of those children were living in shelters with the remainder "sleeping on couches, doubled up with other families."
Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Linda Lane, who also spoke at the summit, said her district identified 615 homeless students so far this year with the same percentages as the countywide group -- 40 percent in shelters and 60 percent doubled up with other families.
The Pittsburgh district works along with area shelters and the Allegheny County Department of Human Services to try to ensure that the students' education remains steady and they have access to all programs even as they move from residence to residence, Ms. Lane said. But she said dwindling resources make that difficult, citing a reduction in Student Assistance Program funding, which is used to provide services to homeless students, from $384,902 in 2005-06 to $216,885 in 2009-10.
U.S. Attorney David Hickton, another summit speaker, said nationally about 1.5 million children a year are homeless, thousands in Pennsylvania. Mr. Hickton said the average age of a homeless child is 7 and at least seven percent of all fifth graders "have lived in a shelter or car at some point in their lives."
First Published April 9, 2011 12:00 am
