Children who live in a homeless situation where there's so much of this instability and stress
and unpredictability actually have problems early on with the development of that part
of the brain that is essential for effective learning.
These are the roots of having trouble in school later.
Homelessness is providing the foundation for a lot of things that are going to cost society
a lot of money later, and that also individuals pay a huge price for.
And this is, I think, how science is bringing us to a deeper level of understanding of how
seriously damaging homelessness is to young children.
I was living in a women's house making minimum wage, and I couldn't afford to pay market
rent, so I went into a shelter.
I just was bounced around to like three different shelters.
My daughter's been with horizons since she was in the infant room.
Children thrive in good early childhood programs.
The idea is that we're going to help children who are in shelters or in motels, some of
them.
The centers really provide a place that they feel safe, and it's theirs, and that's
one of the first things that we try to teach the children is, this is a place for you to
be.
I've been in the Horizons for Homeless program for about seven years.
I really started as a way to give back to the community.
I hope that it gives the kids a sense of stability in their lives, and that they realize that
there are people in the world that care about them.
Schools that live in shelter often do not get a full night's sleep.
So many times the child then comes in to the classroom tired.
So teachers are often needed to hold children to put them to sleep, to comfort them that
it's going to be all right to shut their eyes.
Shelters aren't usually in really good neighborhoods, where there are killings, where there are
police activity, where there are fights around.
All of that affects what's happening to the child, and they're exhausted.
If we think about the impact down the road years later, there are areas of brain development
like focused attention, the ability to plan, the ability to problem solve, the ability
to follow directions.
All of these kinds of skills that are critical performance begin to develop in the brain
very early.
This is the classic example of prevention is more effective and cost less than trying
to fix things after the fact.
We're just basically ignoring a situation that is going to cost us a lot of money later
because we haven't invested wisely early on to do something about it.
Thank you.
