Reliable rides to school can impact a student’s life more profoundly than you might think.
Students experiencing homelessness face significant challenges well before the first bell rings — from where they will sleep to when or if they will eat to how they will get to school. These hurdles often require students to change residences or shelters during the week, making it difficult for the traditional school bus to make last-minute adjustments to its already-optimized routes.
Partnering with an alternative transportation provider, like EverDriven, ensures students with unstable housing have reliable rides to school. Utilizing alternative student transportation gives students access to essential resources like free meals, tutoring and a consistent education — improving their well-being while helping to break the cycle of homelessness.
EverDriven is the nation’s largest alternative transportation provider and goes the extra mile for both students and hundreds of schools nationwide. The company transports thousands of students experiencing homelessness every year, helping districts to improve operational efficiency and drive key outcomes like attendance, classroom engagement and academic achievement.
How alternative transportation breaks the cycle of homelessness
Between residence changes, living out of district or varying pick-up and drop-off locations, traditional transportation cannot always meet the needs of students experiencing homelessness. This often results in these students missing school, with 48% facing chronic absenteeism in 2023.
However, alternative solutions ensure these students have reliable transportation by leveraging small-capacity vehicles that can meet their adaptive needs. Alternative transportation not only optimizes school districts’ existing bus routes, but also helps students to improve their on-time attendance, classroom engagement and test scores.
With stable transportation, students experiencing homelessness can receive a consistent education and access essential resources that go beyond their academics, helping to combat chronic absenteeism and break the cycle of homelessness.
5 benefits that go beyond the classroom
The benefits of alternative transportation go well beyond the classroom. In addition to consistent education, reliable transportation that meets the requirements of the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act ensures students with unstable housing have access to a variety of important resources.
- Free meals: Reliable transportation ensures students with unstable housing can eat breakfast and lunch each school day — no matter their living situation.
- Time to socialize: Students can spend more time building friendships that foster a greater sense of belonging.
- Extracurricular activities: Access to consistent transportation allows students to participate in after-school activities such as clubs and sports without wondering how they will get home.
- Tutoring: Alternative transportation provides students consistent access to their school’s academic resources and tutoring — helping them excel within their classes.
- Counseling: Students can meet with school counselors and social workers to receive emotional support and stability.
School districts can help break the cycle of homelessness by providing alternative transportation solutions to students with unstable housing. These solutions are tailored to students’ daily needs and protect their access to essential resources that set them up for a successful future beyond their education. With more than 150 million miles driven, EverDriven’s alternative transportation solution is committed to helping students with housing instability and many others across hundreds of school districts nationwide.
“Reaching 150 million miles reflects both our growth and our unwavering commitment to safe student transportation,” said EverDriven CEO Mitch Bowling. “As we expand our services, safety remains at the heart of what we do. No matter how far we grow, our mission stays the same ensuring every student arrives safely and securely, every time.”
Learn how alternative transportation can meet your district’s McKinney-Vento needs by meeting with a member of our team or visiting EverDriven.com.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.