CARSON CITY, Nev. – Education Leads Home, a national campaign focused on addressing the needs of 1.3 million homeless students enrolled in public schools, announced an award today of $20,000 to the state of Nevada to improve educational outcomes for students experiencing homelessness.

“We have nearly 17,000 homeless students in Nevada’s public schools,” said Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak. “Sadly, the variety of obstacles homeless students face impacts their ability to graduate high school. With this grant, we’ll be able to continue to help students struggling with homelessness to achieve better educational outcomes and a brighter future.”

The award is part of a first-of-its-kind partnership bringing together policymakers and practitioners from six states; California, Kentucky, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, to overcome child and youth homelessness through education. Through the partnership, each state has committed to researching and implementing replicable best practices that address the most urgent needs of their unique homeless student populations.

“This funding will help support the work already being done in Nevada to reduce educational gaps created by homelessness to improve opportunities for a brighter future and to create a better overall quality of life for these students,” said Karen Gordon, Homeless Education Program Director from the Nevada Department of Education. “The State Partnerships in Student Homelessness Project grantee team, co-led by the Office of the Governor and the Nevada Department of Education, aims to help school districts strategically budget their Title I set aside dollars to enhance the support they are providing for students experiencing homelessness. The team will also create state-level guidance and procedures to improve the absenteeism, dropout, and graduation rates of young people experiencing homelessness.”

Last year, public schools nationally reported the highest number of homeless students enrolled on record. Students experiencing homelessness are 87 percent more likely to drop out of school than their peers with stable housing and, without a high school diploma, are 4.5 times more likely to experience homelessness later in life.

For more information, please visit www.educationleadshome.org or join the conversation on Twitter at @eduleadshome.