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The McKinney-Vento Act

The McKinney-Vento Act defines homeless children as "individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence." 
  • sharing housing due to economic hardship or loss of housing;
  • living in "motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camp grounds" 
  • living in "emergency or transitional shelters"
  • "awaiting foster care placement"
  • nighttime residence is not ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation (e.g. park benches, etc)
  • living in "cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations…"

MV students in Tukwila schools
In the academic year 2016-2017, 374 students enrolled in the Tukwila School District were struggling with food and housing insecurity. For those children, weekends aren't about sleeping in or hanging out with friends. Weekends mean long, hungry hours until school re-opens when they can again receive wholesome nourishing meals.

​This represents more than 12% of the student population, and in one elementary school more than 20% of the students met the federal criteria for homelessness as defined in the McKinney-Vento Act. 

Our program
We make available food for the weekend to every student enrolled in Tukwila School district that meets the federal criteria for homelessness.