For most students, the holidays bring a welcome break and the excitement of family festivities. But for some TCAPS students, the season highlights a tougher reality: homelessness. Since the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, TCAPS has identified 202 students facing or at risk of homelessness— a figure that’s likely to more than double by the end of the school year, according to Katie Kubesh, coordinator of TCAPS’ Student Support Network (SSN).

Launched just two years ago, the SSN provides resource and funding support for TCAPS students ages 3 to 20 who face financial challenges. Last year alone, the SSN helped close to 1,000 students. “In the 23-24 school year, we served 426 students who are experiencing homelessness. And then we supported over 500 students that were not experiencing homelessness but needed some help.”

The SSN combines several former TCAPS support services into one comprehensive program, created as northern Michigan’s homeless population surged by 56% during the pandemic. “The whole idea was not only to support those students experiencing homelessness but to try to reduce that homelessness too,” says Kubesh.

SSN offers practical help, providing essentials like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and shampoo that students might otherwise lack, making it easier for them to focus in class. “Like having clean underwear for school or hygiene products to stay healthy,” Kubesh says. While any student can reach out for help, TCAPS social workers also identify those who might benefit.

Courtney Haroney, a social worker at Traverse City West Middle School, notes that finding those students leads to a snowball effect of support – if one student in a family is given assistance, siblings at other TCAPS schools receive it too. “This connection with students and families also helps me identify other areas of need,” says Haroney. Besides offering internal support, SSN collaborates with community organizations like Project Feed The Kids and Norte Youth Cycling and connects families with agencies like Northwest Michigan Works and Traverse Bay Advocacy Center.

Despite a steady need for the program, its funding took a hit this school year without the pandemic-era federal grants it started with. And: “We’re not funded by TCAPS,” says Kubesh, explaining the program’s reliance on grants, community partners, and individual donations of cash and gently used clothing items which can be brought to the TCAPS administration building. Donated items are distributed directly to students or through pop-up events, where families can "shop" for essentials. This year's back-to-school pop-up equipped 180 students with clothing and backpacks. Kubesh adds: “We do a lot of funding efforts.”

One of those recent efforts resulted in a five-figure financial boost from 100 Women Who Care – Grand Traverse and Leelanau, which awarded the program an $11,000 grant at the start of the school year.

Kubesh says that while they try to focus on specific goals when applying for funding, priorities can shift quickly. Support might be needed for anything from covering the cost of driver's training and sports fees for students who can’t afford to participate to restocking the “Caring Closets” in each TCAPS school.

Those discreet closets, stocked with clothing and hygiene products, provide immediate help for students in need. “Sometimes parents are afraid to ask for help and that's OK. But we want to be available to all kids that are learning,” says Kubesh. “For a child to sit in class all day and be hungry or have clothes that they've worn every day for a week or didn’t have a shower for a week, it's hard. It’s hard to focus. In today’s competitive world, we need to give them a leg up. And if their basic needs aren’t being met, then we know that nothing else is,” she says.