After evaluating data and research, our community assessment identified homelessness and mental health as the largest problems facing Spokane County.

Priority Spokane evaluated data from Community Connectors and other sources to fully understand the problem and identify an approach.

Looking at research and data, the focus was narrowed to target students K-8 and their families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Priority Spokane understood that by housing/stabilizing homeless children, we could prevent them from becoming homeless youth who could become homeless adults.

Priority Spokane awarded a $40,000 grant to EWU to research and identify evidence-based strategies to stabilize/house children in grades K-8 and their families who were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. We worked with area providers to utilize that research to develop a regional plan to prevent children from becoming homeless. You can read the full EWU report here.

Thanks to funding from the Spokane Regional Health District, Providence, Innovia Foundation, and Umpqua Bank the plan was funded! We contracted with experts on the ground, Catholic Charities, to place specially trained community health workers (CHW) in 4 high-need Spokane County Elementary schools & one middle school. They worked to identify, support, and stabilize homeless K-8th students and their families.  By placing these CHWs directly in schools, they were able to most effectively find & reach families facing homelessness.

Priority Spokane partnered with the Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) to evaluate and learn from the 3 year pilot project. SRHD evaluated the length of time it took to house a family, length of contact with families, how often families were contacted, overall stability of the family, the student’s academic progress, etc. Thanks to them we learned our plan works! We stabilized/housed 80% of the homeless children in our pilot and their families and after 3 years, 95% of them were still stabilized/housed! We expanded the pilot to include families with infants in the WIC & Nurse Family Partnership programs. You can see the results for yourself here.

We’re reviewing what we’ve learned to figure out how we can improve our model.  Because of the pilot’s success, we’ve expanded the project to also serve families in the WIC program. We’re also working to expand the effort to more of Spokane’s highest need schools to prevent children in Spokane County from becoming homeless.