SARASOTA, FL – Ellen McLaughlin, the director for the Sarasota YMCA Schoolhouse Link program, was invited to speak at the National Summit on Youth Homelessness, which took place in Washington, D.C. last month. The event, this year themed “The Intersection of Policy & Practice,” is presented annually by the National Network for Youth. McLaughlin was featured, along with professionals from across the country, in a session titled “Housing-Education Partnerships: Working Together Today and Tomorrow”; her portion of the program focused on how the Schoolhouse Link program – through partnerships with Gulf Coast Community Foundation, the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness, More Too Life and Harvest House – is providing room rental and housing subsides for unaccompanied homeless youth.
McLaughlin, who has over 20 years of experience working with homeless youth and families, began her work with the Sarasota YMCA as a case manager and has served as Schoolhouse Link program director for 13 years. The goal of the program is to provide services to help families and youth that are homeless and/or in transition, to ensure that students are able to enroll, attend and succeed in school.
For more information, go to www.sarasotaymca.org/schoolhouselink.
About the Sarasota YMCA
The Sarasota YMCA is committed to strengthening the community: through youth development by nurturing the potential of every child and teen, through healthy living by improving the community’s health and well-being, and through social responsibility by giving back and providing support to our neighbors.