Anytime, Anywhere Learning
Interview Highlights
After School Programs
School on Wheels, Los Angeles, CA.
Catherine Meek, Executive Director
Approximately 2.5 million children in the United States experience homelessness each year.
That’s one in every 30 children, one in every classroom, one too many. School on Wheels provides academic tutoring to children living in shelters, motels, cars, group foster homes and on the streets in Southern California – and anywhere, anytime learning is essential in reaching these children. School on Wheels provides homeless students stability in a time of stress and transition and helps them achieve educational success so that they may break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. CML’s Tessa Jolls interviewed Catherine Meek, School on Wheels Executive Director:
Tessa: Let’s talk about School on Wheels and the growth that you’ve been experiencing – serving 3500 children in six counties is really phenomenal.
Catherine: School on Wheels was founded in 1993, and our mission is to enhance educational opportunities for homeless kids. We don’t serve all homeless kids according to the “McKinney-Vento Act” definition; we serve the kids who are the most transient, those who live in shelters, motels, group foster homes, cars, campgrounds and on the street. McKinney-Vento covers kids who are doubled-up or tripled-up, that is, children who share the housing of others. We work with kids who move around all the time, those with the highest mobility among the homeless population. Because they move a lot, they miss a lot of school. And our goal is to shrink the gaps in their learning.