Homelessness is a crisis facing communities, including Moore Public Schools

No child should ever have to worry about where they are going to sleep at night. Currently, too many do, and a partnership between Moore Public Schools, Bridges Inc. and Moore Public Schools Foundation is working to address the need in the community.

Building Bridges is a capital campaign to build housing, residential adviser housing and a student resource center to meet the needs of students living alone in Moore Public Schools. There is a need for this project in the Moore Public Schools area, and the need is great. A few years ago, I would have never believed that there are students that attend Moore Public Schools that do not have stable housing and that are living on their own.

We know that homelessness is a crisis facing communities across the state and across the United States. There are great programs and success stories of facilities and community groups acting and addressing the situation of people without stable housing. These efforts should be applauded for meeting a need for so many.

Bridges Inc. is one of those groups that is taking the lead in assisting students who are living alone, due to no fault of their own, to provide housing and resources to allow high school students to graduate.

"The goal of the Bridges program is to assist students by removing barriers to graduation, which includes help with food, clothing, shelter, and medical needs."

Thanks to Bridges of Norman, students in Norman have been able to graduate and have plans for their lives after graduation.

However, there are students in Moore Public Schools who are needing help, too.

In 2020, there was a student identified that was living alone due to no fault of his own. His guardian had passed, and he was doing what he could to survive. Thankfully, Bridges of Norman was able to take him in, allow him to finish his senior year and graduate with his peers. When asked where he would be without the Bridges of Norman program, the student said he would either be dead or living under a bridge. Neither of these were options that the Moore Public Schools administration found acceptable.

Fast-forward to today, the partnership formed between Moore Public Schools, Bridges Inc. and the Moore Public Schools Foundation has each group providing the necessary information, resources and skills to help address this need. Currently, Moore Public Schools has identified about 30 students between the three high schools that are considered unaccompanied.

Recognizing that 30 students is a smaller number out of the total number of unhoused individuals, but one student is too many. The need has been identified, and now Moore Public Schools Foundation is raising monies to construct facilities to address the need in the school district. This will consist of 10 duplexes that will house up to 20 students, two residential adviser housing units for 24/7 staffing on-site, and a student resource center that will house offices for caseworkers, social workers, laundry facilities, a community kitchen and a safe room. The student resource center is integral to the programming that Bridges Inc. will bring once the facilities are completed.

We cannot do one without the other, and that is why this partnership is so integral and why this capital campaign is so important to this community. The goal is to raise the funds for construction for all the facilities and then help provide resources for programming and staff to help these students succeed.

The Oklahoma Standard to take care of one another and our neighbors has been proven time and time again. The need is there, and this is an opportunity to show the world again that as Oklahomans we will not sit by, rather that we heed the call and answer it. There are many worthy causes to help celebrate and support, but helping homeless high school students with shelter and opportunities to finish high school is at the top of the list.

Zach Swift is campaign coordinator for Building Bridges and former president of the Moore Public Schools Foundation Board of Directors. For more information about the Building Bridges Campaign and what Bridges Inc. programming looks like, go to https://mooreschoolsfoundation.org/buildingbridges/ or https://bridgesnorman.org/about/ or email buildingbridges@mooreschoolsfoundation.org.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Homeless students in Moore Public Schools to benefit from partner agencies