{"id":2302,"date":"2015-11-12T16:05:19","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T01:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us\/wpmu\/?p=2302"},"modified":"2015-11-12T16:05:19","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T01:05:19","slug":"news-release-kpbsd-students-are-homeless-come-to-a-candlelight-vigil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/2015\/11\/12\/news-release-kpbsd-students-are-homeless-come-to-a-candlelight-vigil\/","title":{"rendered":"News Release: KPBSD students are homeless \/\/ come to a candlelight vigil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District\"KPBSD<\/a>
\nContact: Pegge Erkeneff, 907.714.8888<\/p>\n

News Release<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Candlelight vigil for KPBSD students who are homeless<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Soldotna, November 12, 2015\u2014Families and unaccompanied youth are homeless on the peninsula. An invisible reality to many residents, would it surprise you to know that 253 is the average number of students who experience homelessness, but are enrolled in the KPBSD Students In Transition (SIT) program, and attend a KPBSD school, everyday?
\nThe SIT program has enrolled 183 students since the start of the school year in August, 2015.<\/strong>
\nPeople of every age are invited to the 6th<\/sup> Annual Candlelight Vigil for Homeless Youth and Families
\nThursday, November 19, 2015
\n<\/strong>6:00 \u2013 7:00 p.m.
\n<\/strong>Farnsworth Park
\n<\/strong>Birch Street, Soldotna, Alaska<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe event<\/a> is posted on the KPBSD Students in Transition Facebook page<\/a>. Please connect there, then share the event invitation<\/a> in social circles.
\nGuest speaker Pegge Erkeneff, KPBSD communications liaison, will help raise awareness about the reality of homelessness on the Kenai Peninsula, and invite us to become a voice, advocate, and welcoming presence to our young people who are homeless. Music will be provided by Vickie Tinker, the Knight in Shining Armor Award will be presented, and information for high school students regarding the Scholarship of Hope will be shared. Learn ways everyone can help support local homeless students, and connect with our caring community members. This is an outdoor event, please dress for the weather.
\n\"2014<\/a>
\n\u201cFor the past several years we have seen an increase in the number of students in transition across our district,\u201d said Sean Dusek, superintendent. \u201cThis is very challenging, but through the efforts of Kelly King, homeless liaison, our district is stepping up to support our students and meet this challenge. The public vigil is an excellent opportunity for all of us to stop and reflect on our students in transition. The vigil is also a time to re-focus attention on this issue to further benefit our students in transition.\u201d
\nAbout KPBSD Students in Transition (SIT) program<\/strong>
\nStudents experiencing homelessness are provided assistance through two KPBSD homeless liaisons. This program\u2019s primary purpose is to ensure that educational programs for students are not interrupted while they are in transition. In order to facilitate helping our communities grow in awareness and advocacy, KPBSD created a Facebook page to provide updates and resources. Please like and share, KPBSD Students in Transition.<\/a>
\nThe SIT program provides KPBSD Pre-K to12th grade students:
\n<\/strong>\u2022 An advocate to help students and families find the resources they need in the community for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and permanent housing
\n\u2022 Free school lunches
\n\u2022 School supplies
\n\u2022 Immediate school enrollment
\n\u2022 Paperwork assistance to secure school documents
\n\u2022 Special academic support if needed
\n\u2022 Local referrals to other agencies
\nEligible families or youth are those who lack a stable, adequate, and permanent place to sleep at night. If you or someone you know is sleeping in a motel, a camper, a tent, couch-surfing, or living with friends or relatives then this program can help.
\nKPBSD Students in Transition program contacts<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>
\nKelly King<\/strong>, homeless liaison, serving Central Peninsula, Seward and Tyonek schools, kking@kpbsd.k12.ak.us<\/a>, 907.714.8869
\nJane Dunn<\/strong>, homeless liaison, serving Southern Peninsula schools and Ninilchik, jdunn@kpbsd.k12.ak.us<\/a>, 907.226.1890
\nLinks
\n<\/strong>KPBSD SIT program website\u00a0http:\/\/bit.ly\/TransitionsKPBSD<\/a>
\nKPBSD Students in Transition on Facebook https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kpbsdStudentsInTransition<\/a>
\n2014 Vigil for Youth and Family Homelessness KPBSD story<\/a>
\nAn outpouring of advocacy, care, and service for students who are homeless: 2015 students helping students story<\/a>
\n###<\/strong>
\nThis and all KPBSD media releases<\/a> are online at this web page: http:\/\/bit.ly\/MediaPublicRelationships<\/a>
\nSuggest or contribute a story<\/a> online link: http:\/\/bit.ly\/SuggestKPBSDstory<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Contact: Pegge Erkeneff, 907.714.8888 News Release Candlelight vigil for KPBSD students who are homeless Soldotna, November 12, 2015\u2014Families and unaccompanied youth are homeless on the … Continue reading “News Release: KPBSD students are homeless \/\/ come to a candlelight vigil”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[64,291,492,494,586],"class_list":["post-2302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-release","tag-advocacy-students-in-transition-program","tag-covenant-house","tag-homeless","tag-homelessness","tag-kenai-peninsula"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}