Metropolitan Ministries partners with 10 local schools to help families through ‘Pathways to Hope’

TAMPA, Fla. - It’s a crisis that isn’t always noticeable at first glance, but thousands of students in the Tampa Bay area are considered homeless.

During the school year, a lot of the resources children have access to, including many meals, come from the schools.

Metropolitan Ministries started the partnership, "Pathways to Hope," with 10 Hillsborough County schools to connect with the families who need help the most.

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"We are looking at families who have earned income and just are not able to make the means to just be, you know, live lives that are comfortable," Dr. Dorcas Smith with Metropolitan Ministries said. 

Lewis Elementary, Robinson Elementary, Forest Hills Elementary, Oak Park Elementary, Greco Middle, Jennings Middle, Mango Elementary, Pinecrest Elementary, Dover Elementary and Turkey Creek Middle are participating in "Pathways to Hope."

Metro Ministries says these schools were identified as having the highest rate of homelessness among their students.

"Those 10 schools families had homelessness at a rate between 5 to 16%," Smith said.

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The summer can be particularly hard for a lot of families who rely on not just the academic support from schools, but a lot of necessities like meals. Metropolitan Ministries expects the need to only go up as the school year ends.

"We are a school and of course our main purpose academics. But before we can do that, we have to make sure their basic needs are met," Lewis Elementary School Principal Melissa Babanats said.

Babanats says sadly, a number of students at Lewis Elementary School don’t have a place to call home.

"Sleeping in a car to some of our students are in hotels and different hotels every night to being on someone's couches or, you know, couch hopping," Babanats said.

"Pathways to Hope" aims to create a direct line with the schools. The program will help connect families with a variety of resources, from food to housing, education and employment assistance.

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"Rental assistance, utility assistance," Smith said. "But then we also think about just whatever is a concrete support that will help a family move to the next level. We don't want families to have to make the decision, Do I repair my car or do I pay my rent this month?"

Smith says the face of homelessness has changed.

She says these resources are for students and their families.

"And so in addition to those concrete supports, Pathways to Hope is a another part of that is having a housing specialist and education employment specialist attached to that," Smith said. "So we want to make sure that if families want to increase their employability skills, that there's training available through our Virtual Uplift You program."

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Babanats says this program helps them maintain that flow of support that can sometimes otherwise disappear when the summer comes and children are out of school.

"We have to make sure that they have a roof over their head, food in their bellies and clothes on their back," Babanats said. "And if that's where we need to start. There's never a time to be ashamed to ask for help."

Metropolitan Ministries says it’s already had close to 100 families sign up for the "Pathways to Hope" program, and is expecting an influx in families in the coming weeks and months.

You can find more information about the program and how to sign up here.