23-04-2025
Former student highlights CCSD's efforts to support kids in need
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — According to the Clark County School District, more than 13,000 students are experiencing homelessness in Clark County.
'I predict it's going to be very similar to last year, I don't think the numbers are going to go down,' Meg Pike with CCSD said.
The district has programs and partners with other organizations to provide them support.
Former student of Rancho High School Jazzmine Adair shared with 8 News Now her story about experiencing homelessness while in school.
'My first period, I was always late because I would change in the bathroom like every day,' Adair said. '[I] experiencing homelessness, an abusive household, [and] moving around.'
Adair said she spent time living in shelters to even sleeping in a park with her family.
'I categorize it as the best and worst time of my life,' she said.
Timing is everything, and she said it is what makes her good at her job now.
Having walked the halls as a student at Rancho High School, she now walks them working for the nonprofit that helped her find a path forward.
Communities in Schools of Nevada supports underserved students to stay in school.
It is available to students at schools like Rancho High, where school-based programs empower kids like Adair.
'They need somebody to tell them they can do it,' Adair said.
Schools often partner with nonprofits to help students thrive.
While Communities in Schools is a valuable resource, it can't do it alone. It works with CCSD's Title 1 Homeless Outreach Program for Education, or HOPE, to remove barriers for students experiencing homelessness.
It also partners with an online nonprofit called Purposity.
This is an app where community members can support students without leaving their homes through simple donations from a cell phone. It's a year-round effort, especially during the holidays.
'I've also seen people request suitcases on that platform because people are moving around,' Meg Pike, CCSD's Title 1 HOPE coordinator, said.
She's one out of 13 staff members in the program covering the entire school district.
'Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, 'I want to be homeless,'' Pike said. 'I think it's easy for the general public, it's not easy for this staff or anybody in this building, partly because we are mandated to know how many students.'
Her message: no one should forget that.
'I am positive that there are families out there that are experiencing that right now,' she shared.
Right now, many programs and nonprofits across the valley are making it easier for them. Most of all for current and former students like Jazzmine, who now feel seen.
'I love being here,' Jazzmine said about working for Communities in Schools at Rancho High School.
Pike said for the 2023-24 school year, more than 230 students were served through Purposity donations.
She also mentioned that the school district is working on a documentary called 'Learning to Survive: A Lesson in Student Homelessness.' It addresses students experiencing homelessness in Clark County. At the time this story was published, a set air date for the documentary was yet to be determined. According to its YouTube page, it was supposed to be out by Spring of 2025.
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