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On March 10, 2009, the National Center on Family Homelessness released its report on America's Youngest Outcasts. It numbers homeless children in Pennsylvania at 43,103 with 18,103 unschooled children 6 years and younger, 19,167 students enrolled in grades K-8, and 5,833 enrolled in grades 9-12. Read a summary of the state's "report card" here. The full report is also available.

And then read on line or download the National Center for Children in Poverty's December 2009 paper, Ten Important Questions About Child Poverty and Family Economic Hardship.

Take time as well to peruse NAECHY's Frequently Asked Questions on the Education Rights of Children and Youth in Homeless Situations – Updated November 2009 (a .pdf document that can be downloaded and/or printed), a most valuable and to-the-point outlining of each of these rights. The document includes a detailed index to each unique Question.

Attend also to these statistics from the Allegheny County Department of Human Services' Point-in-Time survey on a day in January 2010. Programs addressing the needs of the homeless and participating in the point-in-time survey include hospitals, soup kitchens, day programs, street outreach, emergency shelters, transitional housing of various types, and permanent housing. It is important to understand that not every homeless person, child, or family will be counted in such a survey. On that January day

• 875: the number of children being served by homelessness programs from street outreach to permanent housing (up from 546 in January 2008 and 631 in January 2009)
• 319: the number of single women with children being served by these programs (up from 286)
• 7.5: the average age of these children (down from 8)
• 36%: the percentage of individuals being served that are children (up from 28%); children are now the largest segment of the county's homeless population, surpassing the traditionally greater number of single men (now at 31% of the total)

The availability of safe, low-cost housing continues to decline as the economy and job market also decline, and the need for Sisters Place services becomes ever more vital. At the same time, in recent years HUD funding that once adequately funded 72% of our mission has steadily decreased and now supports only 50%. We do not expect it to return to the previous level of support and so the need for outside financial support is ever more important.