**Please forward this alert to colleagues and community partners and ask them to act.**
A bipartisan “Dear Colleague” letter is circulating in the U.S. House of Representatives that calls for $304 million for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) program and $800 million for the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program in the FY 2025 budget. The letter is authored by Congressman Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE), and Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA).
The more U.S. Representatives sign on to this bipartisan letter, the greater the show of support for enacting these critical funding levels in the FY 2025 budget.
Please take three actions to contact your U.S. Representative TODAY and ask them to sign on to the bipartisan Davis-Bacon-Panetta letter in support of FY 2025 funding for children and youth experiencing homelessness.
ACTION #1: Personalize and send the email below to all of your U.S. House Representative contacts
DRAFT SUBJECT: Sign Davis-Bacon-Panetta Dear Colleague: FY25 Runaway & Homeless Youth/McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children
DRAFT EMAIL:
Dear INSERT NAME,
I am writing as a constituent to ask you to sign the bipartisan Davis-Bacon-Panetta FY25 Dear Colleague Letter in support of the Runaway & Homeless Youth/McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children programs. This letter requests $304 million for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) program and $800 million for the McKinney Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program, the only two federal programs focused specifically on child and youth homelessness.
In every American community — rural, suburban, and urban — children and youth experience homelessness. Public schools reported nearly 1.2 million children and youth experiencing homelessness in the 2021-2022 academic year, with an additional 1.2 million children under age six experiencing homelessness. At least one in thirty adolescents ages 13-17, and nearly one in ten young adults ages 18-24, are estimated to experience homelessness on their own each year.
RHYA programs prevent trafficking, identify survivors, and provide services to runaway, homeless, and disconnected youth.
- RHYA was most recently funded at $146.3 million, which equals an investment of a mere $34 per year per young person experiencing homelessness.
- Only 25% of applicants receive funding due to the severe underfunding.
- $4 million should be appropriated in addition to current RHYA funds to update incidence and prevalence estimates of youth and young adults experiencing homelessness.
The EHCY program is the only federal education program that removes barriers to school enrollment, attendance, and success caused by homelessness.
- Nationally, only 20% percent of local educational agencies receive EHCY subgrants due to lack of funding.
- While EHCY was most recently funded at $129 million, a bipartisan amendment to the American Rescue Plan provided $800 million to support children and youth experiencing homelessness because research shows that not completing high school is the greatest single risk factor for experiencing homelessness.
RHYA and EHCY are uniquely able to help solve child and youth homelessness. We hope you will join us in this request. If you would like to sign on, please sign the letter via this Quill link or contact Jill Hunter-Williams (Davis; 5-5006; Jill.Hunter-Williams@mail.house.gov), Jaydn Smith (Bacon; 5-2261; Jaydn.Smith@mail.house.gov), or Mark Dennin (Panetta; 5-2861; Mark.Dennin@mail.house.gov).
Sincerely,
INSERT NAMEACTION #2: Call your U.S. House Representatives
You can be connected directly to your U.S. Representative’s office by using the Congressional Switchboard at 202.224.3121, or find their contact information through the House of Representatives website here.
The message:
“Please sign the FY25 Dear Colleague Letter led by Davis-Bacon-Panetta in support of funding for the Runaway & Homeless Youth program and McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children and Youth program. Our community needs your help to ensure that children and youth experiencing homelessness get support to avoid homelessness as adults.”
Offer to provide a copy of the letter and more information on the numbers and needs of children and youth experiencing homelessness in your community or state.
ACTION #3: Use our Take Action form
Fill out this form to easily communicate with your U.S. Representative to urge them to sign-on to the bipartisan Davis-Bacon-Panetta Dear Colleague Letter.