Bullitt County Schools is receiving nearly $100,000 in funding to support students experiencing homelessness, aiming to remove one of the biggest barriers to their education: transportation.
Tiffany Reynolds, the McKinney-Vento Liaison for Bullitt County Schools, works directly with students who are navigating the challenges of homelessness. She said their situations vary—some have been evicted, while others have lost their homes to natural disasters like the recent floods.
“They’re hiding in plain sight,” Reynolds said. “Maybe they’re hungry, maybe they’re dirty, they need their clothes washed… and then we find out, oh it’s because that family’s staying in a hotel and they don’t have access to transportation, so the parents are really struggling to get them to and from school.”
Currently, nearly 450 students in Bullitt County are considered homeless. As the largest county in Kentucky without a homeless shelter, many of those students are forced to live with family or friends outside the county—making it even harder to get to school.
“If you think about going to school and academics, if they have all of these other barriers, it’s really hard to focus and get them to graduation,” Reynolds said. “And really, it’s very important for them to graduate from high school to get out of that cycle of poverty.”
Now, thanks to a $125,000 grant from Ford Philanthropy awarded to Metro United Way, that burden will be eased. $82,000 of the funding is going directly to Bullitt County Schools. The money will be used to provide gas cards and hire a part-time van driver to help transport students to and from school.
The remaining funds will go to BluePrint502, which will use the money to purchase a van for similar transportation needs.
“This is a really important first step in ensuring that we’re working in partnership with a lot of great organizations to fill a very critical gap,” said Josh Williams, Director of Strong Households at Metro United Way. “We want to help people get where they need to go and support them in whatever success looks like for them.”
The grant comes at a critical time. After losing federal funding, the district’s program for homeless students suffered staffing cuts—including the loss of seven employees. This new funding will help keep the program running for the next two years.
“If we can’t get kids to and from school, there’s no way they can succeed,” Reynolds said.
It’s a step forward in the ongoing effort to break the cycle of poverty—one ride to school at a time.
