Village Of Hope's 61 Homeless Kids Go Back To Remote School

TUSTIN, CA — Back-to-school looks different for the 61 school-age kids living at Village of Hope, a transitional housing facility for homeless families. Each of those students needs workspace for remote learning in the time of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Orange County Rescue Mission, which runs the village, has taken all summer to ensure they return to class with confidence and the tools they need to succeed.

OC Rescue Mission has served men, women, and children experiencing homelessness from all walks of life. The residents are survivors of abuse, addiction, joblessness, and abandonment. When they become part of the Orange County Rescue Mission, residents are part of the greater whole. Here, adults receive counseling, education, job training, health care, and learn to reintegrate into society. Meanwhile, children are cared for, fed, clothed, guided, and provided with a space for remote education.

According to President Jim Palmer, setting up those distance learning spaces was the primary focus of rescue mission staff all summer.

"We put an emergency budget in place and are seeking donations from the local community to aid with this very urgent and important need for our kids at the Rescue Mission," Palmer says.

The Mission had a mere two weeks to modify various spaces through the Village of Hope campus to create an environment conducive to long term distance learning for students.

To do so, they transformed existing office spaces into classroom environments.

But, children who are experiencing homelessness have academic challenges beyond typical, Palmer says. Sometimes, they fall behind their peers. The onus is on the Mission to support the young learners in their care, to ensure they succeed.

With that in mind, they hired one full time, credentialed teacher, and two teaching assistants to lend aid to students on their remote campus. Thanks to Tangram Interiors, they also recently received a generous donation to help lift their learning spaces into something unique and inviting.

The 61 Steelcase Node chairs donated by Tangram completed the Mission's existing classroom set up for the children currently being homeschooled at the facility.

According to Tangram, chairs are mobile and designed for quick transitions in the classroom. They can support a range of learning modes and styles in a setting that can be arranged and rearranged quickly and easily.

President and CEO of Tangram, Joe Lozowski, says that their company hopes to "make a positive impact" with the 61 children conducting online learning at the village of hope.

"We are very pleased to support the vital services being provided by Orange County Rescue Mission to help children learn during COVID-19," Lozowski says. "These children can't attend school and don't have access to technology for distance learning."

"Now more than ever, it is vital that we strive to provide homeless and at-risk children with the same resources and opportunities that are available to their peers of higher socioeconomic status. It is our goal that the homeless children living on our campuses would not only be kept from falling behind in their education but that they might even thrive and exceed expectations during this unprecedented time."

To donate and help bring a quality educational environment to these homeless children, please visit www.rescuemission.org/distance-learning-campaign.

For questions about giving, please call (714) 247-4343.

For more information on Tangram, visit: www.tangraminteriors.com.