15th Night Welcomes Churchill High School to School Mobilization Model

In partnership with United Way of Lane County and Eugene 4J School District, 15th Night is excited to add Churchill High School to the growing list of Eugene/Springfield schools participating in the School Mobilization Model (SMM). In 2016, 15th Night partnered with South Eugene High School to pilot the SMM with the goal of keeping students connected to school and safely off the streets. This prevention strategy works by cultivating community support in a school area and involving students, parents, alumni, and neighbors to help better support students at risk of experiencing homelessness.

Back when 15th Night first started, the Youth Action Council (YAC) surveyed youth experiencing homelessness in order to find ways that we can prevent at-risk youth from ending up on the streets in the first place. We learned that for many youth, dropping out of school was often the tipping point that lead them down the path to the streets. We figured that if we can find innovative ways to connect students at risk of experiencing homelessness to existing services in their school community, we can help to keep them in school and off the streets.

The SMM utilizes 15th Night’s Rapid Access Network (RAN) technology to connect students to resources at their school in real-time. When a student has a need an “Advocate” can send an “alert” to the RAN, where a “Provider” can respond and the Advocate can connect with the youth with the resource. Each school has their own RAN, made up of resources that already exist in their community. The SMM helps to expand on these resources by engaging the whole school community and by breaking down the barriers that students face when trying to access resources.

Thanks to funding from United Way of Lane County’s Transformation Grant, 15th Night will help to implement the SMM in all 4J, Bethel, and Springfield high schools by 2022. If you have questions about the SMM or 15th Night please reach out to info@15thnight.org.