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Seminole County Schools Launch Fund To Help Families Head Off Homelessness

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Seminole County Public Schools has launched a fund for students and their families who are homeless or on the verge of homelessness. The "Families in Need Fund" sprung from a regional central Florida initiative called “Rethink Homelessness.”

The district says 1,483 students in Seminole schools are considered homeless or in transition. That could mean they’re staying with friends or family. Davia Moss, executive director for the Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools, says another 2,000 families are in a financially fragile position, where a single emergency could push them to homelessness.

Moss said the fund will be used to provide services for these families,“like financial management for the home, like resume writing, like skills building. We have so many underemployed adults where making minimum wage is just not going to sustain them in a housing situation,” said Moss.

Donors have already contributed about $25,000 into the fund. The public is invited to contribute. Teachers and counselors are often the ones to identify students in need; they then refer them to social workers.