Valdosta organization provides education for homeless students

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - There are over 200,000 homeless students across America, according to Millennial Cities, an online community planning resource, and Georgia is high on that list.

Just because your family may be experiencing hardships with living situations, doesn’t mean your child can’t get an education. That’s what LAMP, a homeless shelter, in Lowndes County says.

Being homeless doesn’t have one meaning. A homeless family can be living in a hotel or motel, doubled up with another family, living in a shelter, or sometimes in a motor vehicle.

“In the Lowndes-Valdosta area, there are over 300 families with children by themselves that are homeless. And that number has increased significantly in the past few years,” said Yurshema Flanders, director at LAMP.

If your family lives in any of those situations or even if your child was previously at one school and you moved under circumstances, your child is still eligible to receive free public education from the school of origin, enroll in school immediately even if lacking the required documents, and receive transportation to and from school.

“Soon as we get a family in, we find out whether or not they were enrolled in Lowndes County Schools or Valdosta\City Schools. and if they weren’t then they are provided with an application for enrollment,” said Yurshema.

“If they were at a Lowndes County school and they want to continue to go to a Lowndes County school, then transportation through the bus system is granted for them to get to whichever school they want to,” the director also said.

If you reach out to the school systems in the Lowndes/Valdosta area, they’ll be able to help you get your child enrolled.

Copyright 2022 WALB. All rights reserved.