MAUMEE, Ohio, March 10, 2022–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In January of this 12 months, greater than 50 Ohio households who’re experiencing homelessness utilized to have their youngsters change into college students in varied grades on the Ohio Digital Academy (OHVA), thrice greater than any single month in over a decade of training unhoused college students.

“We’ve by no means seen something like this,” mentioned Heidi Ragar, OHVA’s At-Threat Administrator. “Individuals are actually hurting on the market, and all these households need is to get an training for his or her youngsters.”

Many colleges in Ohio have a protracted historical past of serving to households in-need, however Ohio’s largest on-line training supplier has seen unprecedented demand because the pandemic took maintain. OHVA is at present helping greater than 400 college students throughout all 88 Ohio counties, or simply beneath 4% of Ohio’s total homeless inhabitants (per Jan 2020 information).

The explanation for the uptick? COVID, however not in the best way you could assume.

Throughout the peak of the pandemic, emergency eviction-prevention legal guidelines protected households, offered additional unemployment funding, and even offered much-needed social providers akin to meals and well being care. Now that Ohio, like many states, is shifting right into a post-COVID transition, extra households are discovering themselves on the road with out important assets, together with constant training for his or her youngsters.

It’s at this second that Heidi and her OHVA crew kick into excessive gear, expediting the enrollment course of, and instantly connecting households to providers of their county or neighborhood that may assist them survive for one more day.

OHVA gives laptops, printers, and wi-fi hotspots when essential and distributes important faculty provides like backpacks, crayons, and pens to college students statewide from its places of work in Maumee.

Faculty officers additionally work with non-profit entities throughout the state, just like the Division of Human Companies in every county, and have additionally established partnerships with exterior assets akin to Cornerstone and Syntero who work with college students to offer psychological well being providers. As well as, OHVA works straight with native brick-and-mortar faculty districts so college students can get free lunches and achieve entry to extra assets on the native degree.

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OHVA is actively attempting to vary the legal guidelines in Ohio to get a few of these college students on the Nationwide Diet Registry so households can get direct entry to funds for meals and different requirements.

“Being at school and having a relentless supply of meals will ease the minds of so a lot of our struggling households in Ohio,” mentioned Kristin Stewart, OHVA’s Head of Faculty. “We actually must make this occur earlier than later.”

For now, OHVA continues to do what it may possibly to assist. Heidi has a workers of 6 devoted to serving to these, and different, college students statewide, a powerful quantity contemplating many faculty districts are slicing related positions. However everybody at OHVA is aware of they should assist.

“There are over 750 workers at OHVA throughout the state to assist wrap our providers round these college students like a hug,” mentioned Ragar. “They know what to do, they usually know we’re all right here to assist.”

For extra info, go to ohva.k12.com.

About Ohio Digital Academy

Ohio Digital Academy (OHVA) is an accredited, full-time on-line public constitution faculty approved by the Ohio Council of Neighborhood Faculties (OCCS) that serves college students in grades Ok by 12. As a part of the Ohio public faculty system, OHVA is tuition-free and gives households the selection to entry the curriculum and instruments offered by K12, a Stride Firm (NYSE: LRN). Stride presents learners of all ages a simpler solution to be taught and construct expertise for his or her future. For extra details about OHVA, go to ohva.k12.com and observe on Fb.

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Contacts

Ken Schwartz
Senior Supervisor, Communications
kschwartz@k12.com