Federal grant funds are available to support programs that meet the needs of homeless children and youth through the U.S. Department of Education’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as authorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) will distribute these funds to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) for the establishment of projects which promote identification, enrollment, attendance, and success of homeless children and youth in school and preschool.
The WDE is currently accepting grant applications for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youth grant. All LEAs in Wyoming are eligible to apply for these funds through a competitive grant process, regardless of the number of homeless students identified and served in the district. The grant is located in the Grants Management System (GMS) in the 2023-2024 grant section. The deadline for submission is June 30, 2023. LEAs will be notified no later than August 25, 2023 of grant approvals and award amounts. The number of proposals funded depends on the number and quality of application received by the WDE by the close of the application due date.
The grant application is focused on the following:
- Projects must be designed to focus on improvement to, or the development and Implementation of McKinney-Vento policies, procedures and the identification of homeless children and youth, including preschool age children. And/or;
- Projects may be designed to focus on improvement to, or development and implementation of a coordinated, community driven plan to ensure quality services to all children and youth experiencing homelessness and unaccompanied homeless youth. And;
- Projects must be in compliance with the McKinney-Vento Act and related statutes, which includes facilitation of the identification, enrollment, attendance and success of homeless children and youth in school. And;
- Ensure that services provided with McKinney-Vento grant funds must not replace the regular academic program and must be designed to expand upon or improve services provided to homeless children and youth as part of the school’s regular academic program.
Awards will be based on the grant application scoring and the number of homeless students supported by the LEA, as identified on the previous year’s WDE684 data collection. The minimum award amounts are:
- Tier 1: 0 to 25 students identified – Minimum award $2500.00
- Tier 2: 26 to 100 students identified – Minimum award $4000.00
- Tier 3: more than 100 students identified – Minimum award $5500.00
For more information, contact Shannon Cranmore, State Homeless Coordinator, at 307-221-2233 or shannon.cranmore@wyo.gov.