Wednesday, August 19, 1998 Section: Local Edition: Final Page: 1B

By ANALISA NAZARENO Herald Staff Writer

Illustration: photo: Maria Todd and Nicole Clark compare new supply-filled backpacks

Caption: C.W. GRIFFIN / Herald Staff READY FOR CLASS: Maria Todd and Nicole Clark compare new supply-filled backpacks they received Tuesday at the Homeless Assistance Center in downtown Miami. A student group called Kids 4 Kids donated the bags to help get disadvantaged children ready for the new school year.

At the Miami Bridge shelter on the edge of the Miami River, piles of used clothing wait to be sorted for the 24 homeless teens who will be sleeping there.

At a downtown shelter on North Miami Avenue, a maroon van drops off backpacks filled with school supplies for the 40 children who are staying there with their parents.

For many of the more than 500 children who make Miami-Dade County shelters their temporary homes, the back-to-school shopping hunt for bargains and supplies doesn't include them. In recent years, efforts to bring those children into the mainstream have intensified through the school district.

``For a lot of children, school is the only stabilizing force in their lives, because parents are often just thinking about survival,'' said Juanita de la Cruz, the school district's homeless education coordinator. ``So what we try to do is have an educational experience while the family is going to through this crisis. They can go to school, have book bags and supplies and be a student and a learner.''

Throughout Miami-Dade County, 7,000 to 8,000 people live in shelters or on the streets, the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust estimates. Of that number, about 1,900 are children.

In 1992, Miami-Dade Public Schools created a program called ``Project Up- Start'' to address the needs of homeless children. The program offers after- school tutoring at the shelters. It provides school supplies and materials. And it works to ensure the district identifies special needs, whether a learning disability or an academic talent.

Outside of the school, it serves as a nexus for philanthropic organizations or social service agencies wanting to reach the homeless. And in turn, it refers homeless families to shelters and other agencies.

``Before that time, the children went to regular schools, but they didn't get assistance and supplies, the tutoring,'' de la Cruz said. ``And the community was not as aware or sensitized.''

Teacher training De la Cruz also offers sensitivity training for teachers, administrators and staff, helping them identify homeless children or those whose families are living on the edge of homelessness.

``We don't want to draw attention or have them be labeled,'' de la Cruz said. ``Sometimes the students are homeless because of domestic violence or economic reasons. We don't want peers to know that that child is homeless. They're not supposed to be separated from other children. The idea is to mainstream them, and give them access to programs.''

During the training session, de la Cruz describes for educators the causes and the effects of poverty and homelessness:

If a student seems aloof or anti-social, it may be because the student's family is experiencing crisis, or has moved from shelter to shelter and school to school, so he or she has difficulty developing emotional bonds.

If a student is sleeping in the middle of class, it may not be because of boredom, but because of fatigue or hunger, de la Cruz said.

And if a student isn't bringing school supplies, she said, it could be because they can't afford them, not because they are forgetful or defiant.

Shelter to school

When classes start in two weeks, a school bus will make its way to the downtown shelter run by the Community Partnership for Homeless. It will pick up 40 children at 7 a.m. and drop them off at Eneida M. Hartner Elementary and Community School, Booker T. Washington Middle School and Miami Jackson High School.

The school bus will pick up early and leave school late, de la Cruz said, so the children don't get unwanted inquiries from other children.

Several kids living in the downtown shelter said they're looking forward to going back to school.

``I want a good education. School is good for me,'' said 12-year-old Alex, who received a black backpack filled with supplies Tuesday. ``You won't be bored or feel uncomfortable if you have an education.''

Monica, a 7-year-old second-grader, said she likes school because it's a place where she can play with her friends and pick up homework, which gives her something to do in the afternoon.

``These children are just like your children,'' said Tamara Paul, program service manager for the Community Partnership for Homeless. ``Homelessness is not and does not have to be a permanent state. And as much as possible, we try to relieve the fears of the children.''

Paul said accurate counts on the homeless population are difficult because of transiency and mobility. But, she said, the need was so great that the partnership is planning on opening two more shelters.

On occasion, local service and philanthropic organizations will choose homeless children as a cause and call de la Cruz.

Donated supplies

This week, a Country Walk student group called

Kids-4-Kids, organized by Jack D. Gordon Elementary School teacher Beth Davis, are dropping off

1,500 backpacks filled with school supplies to the children in Miami-Dade shelters. The group extended their hands to the children in protective custody with Broward and Miami-Dade counties, as well.

``Each gift and every hand extended to these youngsters is a recognition that this problem of what to do to meet their needs, to get them educated, won't be solved just by social service agencies, but by a community coming together,'' said Stephanie Solovei, executive director for Miami Bridge Youth and Family Services, which provides shelter for teenagers who need temporary housing.

These are children in shelters because they were locked out of their parents' homes, have been labeled ``ungovernable'' because of truancy problems at schools, or because they need shelter before placement at a foster home.

The children may be in the shelter for one day or they could be there for five weeks. Typically, children stay at the shelter for 3-1/2 weeks until they find a foster or a group home.

At the two Miami Bridge shelters, Dade public schools provide two teachers whose task is to stimulate thinking and learning for the children ages 10 to 18.

``It's a challenging job, but it's got to get done,'' Solovei said.

Herald Staff Writer Analisa Nazareno can be reached by e-mail at anazareno@herald.com

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