DALLAS — Surrounded by shoeboxes inside a storage warehouse in Southeast Dallas, Ashley Marshall tries not to cry.
As the head of the Dallas Independent School District's Homeless Education Program works to help nearly 4,400 students without homes, she must now confront uncertainty of her own: the end to federal pandemic aid means she'll lose funding for 16 members of her team, leaving her with four.
"While they’ve been so amazing to have, it’s going to be a huge gap once we get to September and all those staff are gone," Marshall said. "I don’t know what we will do then."
The program helps address immediate needs for students and families without places of their own to stay -- including providing help with transportation, emergency food and hygiene products.
Marshall's team can also provide referrals to housing, food banks and other resources. The hundreds of donated shoes lining the walls of the storage warehouse will be given to students as well.
"Our mission is really to make sure those students and families know they can reach out and there’s not going to be a judgement from us about the situation that they’re in," she said.
Of the several thousand students who are categorized as homeless within Dallas ISD, most are "doubled up," living with friends or family because they don't have a place of their own.
About 650 are in shelters, 430 live in motels and 80 are unsheltered, a recent presentation to the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees indicated.
Among the hardest student groups to help are unaccompanied 17-year-olds, who are too old for assistance from Child Protective Services and too young for adult shelters. It can take up to five days to find places for those students to sleep, Marshall said.
The additional staff members have been of particular help with finding places for those unaccompanied minors, which can sometimes exceed 100 students, she said.
The Homeless Education Program also provides supplies for eligible students -- ranging from new bookbags to new uniforms. It accepts donations via an Amazon Wishlist here.