Reimagining th
e McKinney-Vento Act: Applying a “Housing First” Approach to Students Exper
iencing HomelessnessJoin us for the second event in Y-Lab’s sp ring 2025 Working Paper Lunch Series \, a discussion with Sarah Berton and Brian Br oderick.
*Be sure to RSVP here for lunch on April 14.
Reimagining th
e McKinney-Vento Act: Applying a “Housing First” Approach to Students Exper
iencing HomelessnessSarah Berton\, Harvard Law School J.D. Candidat e
Paper Topic: The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistanc e Act provides robust and integral protections for students experiencing ho melessness and housing instability across the country. However\, the Act la rgely institutes a set of unfunded mandates. This paper argues that the McK inney-Vento Act does not sufficiently support students experiencing homeles sness. The Act’s insufficient grant resources and resultant lackluster impl ementation\, and the overall lack of coordination required or effectuated b etween other school-based supports perpetuates unhelpful barriers to highly mobile students’ success in school. The statute should be amended to addre ss gaps in the law\, including amendments that more explicitly institutiona lize supports and outline what coordination looks like in situations that a re likely to arise. Ultimately\, though\, short of solving the housing cris is\, these shortcomings would be most effectively addressed with more robus t funding and programming under McKinney-Vento that (1) prioritizes housing stability and (2) provides holistic\, rather than purely logistical\, supp orts for students and families experiencing homelessness. The paper borrows from “Housing First” literature common among housing advocates to argue th at McKinney-Vento funding and programming should prioritize efforts that pr event homelessness among youth and their families in the first place.
Biography: Sarah is a 3L in the Y-Lab Fellows Program. Or iginally from San Antonio\, Texas\, Sarah is passionate about educational e quity and justice for marginalized and overlooked youth across the country. On campus\, Sarah has represented public housing tenants and worked with h ousing advocates across the Boston area as an Advocate and Policy Co-Direct or with HLS’s Tenant Advocacy Project. She has also spent the last four sem esters in various Y-Lab Clinics\, contributing to systemic education litiga tion in California and Kentucky and representing the families of students w ith disabilities in special education proceedings. After graduation\, Sarah will be clerking for a federal judge in Albuquerque\, New Mexico\, before pursuing a career focused on youth advocacy and civil rights.
School “Choice” For Whom? The History and Tradition B
ehind Efforts to Establish Religious Charter SchoolsBrian Broderick \, Harvard Law School J.D. Candidate
Paper Topic: Th is term\, the Supreme Court will decide St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond\, which will determine whether states must allow charter schools to be religiously affiliated. This paper examines th e history of traditional public common schools in the United States\, the p ushback against the common school model (namely\, school vouchers and chart er schools)\, and the legal doctrines that have developed for each. In so d oing\, this paper will show St. Isidore’s role in a larger plan by the mode rn far right to exclude certain students from public education in the name of ostensible “religious freedom\,” and why public education advocates shou ld be very concerned if St. Isidore wins its case.
Biography: Brian is a 3L at HLS. He is from Philadelphia\, but spent his yea rs before law school as a public educator in Oklahoma teaching 10th-12th gr ade mathematics. On campus\, he is the Co-President of Advocates for Educat ion and the Academics Co-Chair of First Class. His primary academic interes ts include constitutional law\, legal history\, and the intersection of law and policy. After graduating\, Brian will be clerking on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court\, after which he will return home to Philadelphia to begin hi s legal career.
CATEGORIES:Discussion,Speaker/Panel,Workshop LOCATION:WCC 3007 GEO:0.000000;0.000000 ORGANIZER;CN="Margo Strucker":MAILTO:mstrucker@law.harvard.edu URL;VALUE=URI:https://hls.harvard.edu/events/youth-advocacy-writing-group-w orking-paper-lunch-with-sarah-berton-and-brian-broderick/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20250309T070000 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR