Day care, baby supplies, counseling: Inside a school for pregnant and parenting teens  

School-based health centers provide free services including flu shots, physicals, contraceptive care and reproductive education, talk therapy and behavioral health care to students. Research has found that these school-based clinics boost vaccination rates, reduce hospital visits, lower rates of teen pregnancy and depression and improve grades and attendance levels, all while reducing disparities and making healthcare more accessible.

Educational Talent Search provides personalized college and career counseling to first-generation and low-income students. Counselors work with students from 8th grade through high school graduation, offering one-on-one support with college applications, financial aid forms, scholarship searches, and career planning. The program has seen nearly 90% of seniors enrolling in post-secondary education, far above its 56% target.

The Lexington School for the Deaf provides wraparound family services including free American Sign Language classes and assistance navigating the health, legal and shelter systems, particularly for immigrant families. The gaps immigrant families face in accessing necessary services creates psychological distress, especially for children. But research shows community-based supports, like The Lexington School, help address those gaps and improve mental health outcomes.

Free school meal programs help improve students’ health, support better academic performance and combat hunger and food insecurity. Several states have passed legislation to keep free meal plans active after federal waivers ran out in 2022. In Michigan alone in October 2023, the 3,459 school meal sites across the state served 10,064,686 free breakfasts and 17,659,809 free lunches.

The Sebastian Indian Social Projects (SISP) works with socio-economically disadvantaged communities, providing social services like healthcare and employment assistance with a primary focus on educating youth. SISP has focused on educating the local female population, which has helped empower them economically and led to several women receiving jobs outside of their village. SISP has also educated several students who were forced to drop out of traditional school and provides supplementary activities along with their standard education, such as skating and coding clubs.

The Transitional Learning Center provides children ages four to 14 with free education, school supplies, and one meal per day to not only encourage school attendance but to also address the issue of malnutrition. The beauty of the Center is that it’s a semi-permanent structure that can be moved to different locations where there may be school children in need. Since the Center was formed, over nine million students from 54,619 schools have benefited from the program.

Youth Villages, a nonprofit started in Tennessee over 30 years ago has helped improve the lives of children who face difficulties in their homes while saving money on the child welfare system. Instead of immediately removing children from their problematic homes, Youth Villages works on building relationships with the parents and providing in-home support services to both the parents and the children to ensure that they have a successful future. Additionally, the organization supports foster kids who age out of the system, and has managed to place many children back with their families securely.

TreeHouse, a nonprofit in Washington state, achieved an 89 percent five year graduate rate for the hundreds of high school students in the foster care system it serves. This figure is a stark contrast to a 2010 statistic that found only 36 percent of foster students in King County and Seattle were completing high school. By providing the missing resources and guidance to students, TreeHouse hopes to expand the model to all Washington state counties.

Mounting evidence points to an increasing disparity in the educational achievements of those children who attend and complete pre-school, and those who do not. The Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program is a national home visiting initiative for low-income families that is working to bridge the gap. They provide learning curriculum, guidance, and parenting support for disadvantaged families in their homes, so that their children can be equally prepared to succeed in school.

A nonprofit organization, the Internationals Network for Public Schools, delivers a first-class education to the children of illegal immigrants, helping to break the cycle of poverty and provide them a path to advance in life.