Inside the halls of Biddeford's John F. Kennedy School, which serves about 280 pre-K and kindergarten students, co-coordinator Meghan Schrader stands before a largely empty classroom, which she says will soon be transformed into a "family welcome center."
"It's a center where we're connecting the community resources with our school resources, what we know about what kids and families need," Schrader said.
Those needs are often overwhelming. Many families seeking asylum have recently moved to the area, and require translation services and medical and dental care.
In addition, the number of homeless students in the district has more than tripled in recent years. Administrators are envisioning the new center as a hub, under which it can expand the district's efforts to provide students with basic necessities such as food and financial assistance.
"What that means for our district is, we're becoming more and more of a social service agency," said Chris Indorf, the assistant superintendent for Biddeford schools. "And we have to ramp up the administration of those sorts of pieces."
Indorf said that when the district found out a family was living out of a U-Haul in the winter, it got them food assistance and put them up in a motel for nearly two weeks.
He cited the case of another family with a bedbug infestation that couldn't afford an exterminator.
"And so we were able to use funds from our Biddeford Education Foundation to pay for a company to go in and to treat the home, so that the kids can continue to access their education," Indorf said.
All told, the foundation spent nearly $50,000 on similar emergency expenses for students and families. The Foundation for Portland Public Schools spent about $100,000 from its Families in Crisis fund last year, largely on rent, utilities and medical and transportation needs.
The state is also stepping up. Earlier this year, lawmakers approved a two-year pilot program, under which schools can spend up to $750 per student, per year, on emergency assistance, such as rent, home repairs, and other expenses, in order to keep them housed.
"The reality was that families became homeless due to small increments of money that were owed to some system, whether it was a landlord, or whatever," said Democratic State Sen. Joe Rafferty of Kennebunk, who sponsored the measure.
Rafferty points to a 2020 study from the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition showing that over a three-month period, nearly 75% of the state's evictions were a result of a tenant only owing, on average, about $1,300.
"And so we were looking for a way of, 'How can we help? How can we assist? How can we prevent that from happening? And what are our resources?'" Rafferty said.
Under federal law, every school district has a designated homeless liaison, and the state has been generally allocated about $300,000 each year to support homeless students and their families.
But Amelia Lyons Rukema, with the Maine Department of Education, said that the new state program will fill in a crucial gap by providing schools with crucial new resources to prevent homelessness earlier.
"It's going to change lives," Rukema said. "That's what liaisons have been telling me. Every time, there's a flood of relief that that comes over them. Because they say, 'Oh, finally, I have something I can actually do to help in these situations.'"
But some officials are concerned about just how far $750 will go, particularly with rent and utility prices continuing to climb.
Signe Lynch, with the social service organization New Beginnings, said it's also important that utilities such as CMP or Versant are aware of the funding, and can potentially direct customers to schools, if they're struggling to pay their bills.
"To be able to say, 'Hey, you haven't paid your bill. But you know, you have three kids in the school system. Have you looked at this program that could help you pay for this bill?' And that would be huge, I think," Lynch said. "If we could have that level of community connection, so that these places can point families into a resource that could help them financially."
The state plans to evaluate the program over the next two years. And some national groups say they'll be paying attention to Maine, as they view the new approach as a potential model for other states to follow.
