In December, New Mexico and the Albuquerque Public Schools Department rolled out a new plan called the McKinney-Vento Program, designed to help teens experiencing homelessness stay in school. Students in the program will receive $500 per month and the support of a financial advisor in exchange for attending classes.

According to public school data from the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, approximately 9,500 New Mexico students ages 11-18 were homeless or housing insecure. The program will benefit students in 10th-12th grade, provided they maintain a 92% attendance rate, complete all assignments, attend tutoring sessions, and meet with a counselor. KOAT Action News said that “the Public Education Department will enroll 330 students in grades 10–12 across 12 school districts and one charter school. Lawmakers approved $2.1 million a year to run the three-year program.”

I talked to newly re-elected mayor Tim Keller about his opinion on the new program, and he explained how important it is for teens experiencing homelessness to have something stable like school in their lives. “It [the program] is so important because it enables the student and the family to maintain an APS home regardless of where they live. For those unhoused, their actual address may change from shelters, to temp housing, to hotels, to friends’ houses, and the only stability in their lives is being able to stay enrolled in the same school. This is core to the holistic and child-centered approach to the program.”

The program shows promising effectiveness, with some pilot programs achieving dramatically higher graduation rates, up to 93%, rather than an earlier average of 60-70%.

According to Mayor Keller, “unhoused teens are a particularly vulnerable segment of the unhoused. First, because they are old enough to have access to, be exposed to, and be taken advantage of by human traffickers and by narcotics dealers. This makes them extremely vulnerable to paths that lead to criminal activity, gangs, prostitution, or addiction, or all of the above.”

Another thought-provoking reason for this program has to do with the familial relations of these teens. As Mayor Keller explained, “so many services for the unhoused are tied to parents, which often unhoused teens are no longer connected to, so without that link, these teens can’t access the vast majority of services that are out there because they are not legal adults. The only way to keep them from falling through the cracks is typically school, which is the last remaining stable point in their lives. This is also why the City is building the Youth Gateway – at the former San Mateo Inn, specifically to house teens who have no choice, to give them the stability to go to school.”