MILTON — The Santa Rosa Art Association’s members recently used their talents to decorate roughly 40 journals for homeless students.
Dr. Karen Barber, director of the Santa Rosa County School District’s federal programs, is also the homeless education liaison, a function of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act.
The act, which then-President George W. Bush signed into law on Feb. 8, 2002 as a part of No Child Left Behind, mandates "homeless (youths have) equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as provided to other children and youths," the U.S. Department of Education’s website states.
Among Barber's duties as liaison is to track homeless student population. Her data show a rise in homeless children from the 2010-2011 school year — 1,467 students to 1,806. However, by the end of the 2013-2014 school year, the count dropped to 1,301 students for 2015-2016. The current number is at 587. Barber predicts the final number of homeless students for the year will follow this downward trend.
Meanwhile, the SRAA continues its journal outreach program.
SRAA secretary Marianne Richardson said the program began five years ago when the organization learned through Barber about the number of homeless youths in Santa Rosa County. She said the SRAA learned children can suddenly become homeless and "all they have fits in a single Wal-Mart bag."
So, she said, the project began as a way to give these youths a one-of-a-kind item they can use and call their own.
Richardson said the artists work in collage, watercolor, beads and quilting.
Barber said as the school system identifies homeless students, the journals, she said, will go to those who will likely use and appreciate them.
Editor's note: In a previous version of this article, the caption for the picture incorrectly stated the members pictured are in the Santa Rosa Arts and Culture Foundation. In fact, they are part of the Santa Rosa Art Association. The paper regrets any confusion this may have caused.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa artists create journals for homeless students