or the 2011-12 school year, are 10 percent higher than the year before and 72 percent higher than before the recession. Still, the reported figure — 1,168,354 homeless students — is known to actually underestimate the number of homeless children across the United States.

Advocates for children and the homeless urged the federal government to take new steps to better protect homeless children and families.  Darla Bardine, policy director of the National Network for Youth, said in a statement:

We will make it happen, whether we use state funds, money from our private foundation or if we have to raise it through scholarships," he said.

To help with the process, the school will use a tuition management company to assess the needs of students,

The top priority is to make sure that low-income students from around the state can still attend the school,

The school currently boards 27 of its 44 students

hey plan to enroll about 75 students in the coming school year and board 37,

"It's still up in the air. The number depends on the need of all the students, and the money we have available from the state,"

It originally opened with just 19 students in 2011 on the Good Will-Hinckley campus,

The residential housing option is available through the school's parent organization, Good Will-Hinckley, which also oversees the L.C. Bates Museum and the Glenn Stratton Learning Center on the campus.

Residency requirements, guardianship requirements, delays in transfer of school records, lack of transportation, and lack of immunization records often prevent homeless children from enrolling in school

Homelessness has a devastating impact on children and youths’ educational opportunities.

while 87% of homeless youth are enrolled in school, only 77% attend school regularly.

2007-2008 school year 794,617 homeless children and youth were enrolled in public schools

Furthermore, the number does not include all preschool-age children, or any infants and toddlers.

22% lived in shelters, 65% lived with other family members or friends, 7% lived in motels, and 6% lived without shel

Homeless families move frequently due to limits to length of shelter stays, search for safe and affordable housing or employment, or to escape abusive family members. Too often, homeless children have to change schools because shelters or other temporary accommodations are not located within their school district. Homeless children and youth frequently transfer schools multiple times in a single year because of these conditions. 

According to the Institute for Children and Poverty, homeless children are nine times more likely to repeat a grade, four times more likely to drop out of school, and three times more likely to be placed in special education programs than their housed peers.

McKinney Act’s Education of Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY)

1987 in response to reports that only 57% of homeless children were enrolled in school. 

Enrollment of homeless students increased by 17% between the 2006-2007 and the 2007-2008 school years. Yet, while almost all states have revised laws and policies to improve access to education for homeless students, significant barriers to enrollment and attendence remain, including guardianship and immunization requirements, transportation problems and school fees. Barriers to success in school were found to include family mobility, poor health, and lack of food, clothing, and school supplies. [7] Many of these issues were addressed in the 2001 reauthor

Local educational agency (LEA) sub grants support a variety of activities, including identification and outreach; assistance with school enrollment and placement; transportation assistance; school supplies; coordination among local service providers; before and after school and summer educational programs; and referrals to support services.

State educational agency (SEA) funding helps support services such as toll-free hotlines; awareness raising activities for educators and service providers; preparation of educational materials for statewide distribution; technical assistance to schools, service providers, parents, and students; and enrollment assistance.

The EHCY Program provides formula grants to state educational agencies to ensure that all homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free and appropriate education, including preschool education, provided to other children and youth

ization of the McKinney-Vento Act, but due to a lack in funding, have not been fully addressed.

there was a 17% increase in homeless children and youth identified in public schools.

With numbers of homeless students nearing 800,000, states failed to provide subgrants to 41% of students identified as homeless

Yet, the EHCY program was funded at only $65 million in FY2009, less than one third of the $210 million minimum NAECHY estimates will be required to appropriately serve the rising number of homeless students in America.

43% percent of responding cities reported an increase in the overall number of homeless persons accessing emergency shelter and transitional housing programs during the last year

71% of responding cities reported increases in households with children accessing emergency shelter. 65% of these cities are predicting increases in overall requests for emergency shelter and 100% predict increases in requests for emergency shelter by households with children. Meanwhile, 52% of responding cities already report having to turn people away some or all of the time.

. The primary reason for family homelessness is the lack of affordable housing, though poverty, unemployment, low-paying jobs, family disputes, substance abuse, and other factors all play significant roles in family homelessness. Recent statistics indicate that 26% of those suffering from homelessness are considered “severely mentally ill;” 19% are employed; 15% are victims of domestic violence; 13% are physically disabled; 13 are veterans; and 2% are HIV positive.

Two subpopulations of children who face increased policy barriers to education are unaccompanied homeless youth and homeless preschoolers. Homeless youth are often prevented from enrolling in and attending school by curfew laws, liability concerns, and legal guardianship requirements. [12] Homeless preschoolers also face difficulty accessing public preschool education. Less than 16% of eligible preschool aged homeless children are enrolled in preschool programs. [13]

Congress reauthorized the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act in 2002.  It changed some of the responsibilities of school districts and states, including the requirement for each school district to have a designated homeless education liaison to build awareness in the school and community.  Despite some increase in funding to the initiative in the last few years, the program still lacks proper funding, and, therefore, cannot be adequately implemented on the state and local level.

While they are experiencing homelessness, however, it is essential that children remain in school.  School is one of the few stable, secure places in the lives of homeless children and youth -- a place where they can acquire the skills needed to help them escape poverty.

"largest temperature departure from average of any season on record."

it had rained in Mecca despite a temperature of 109 degrees,

the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009 would have marked the culmination of the global fight to slow a changing climat

George H.W. Bush, who flew in for the first conclave, Barack Obama didn't even attend.

I can say with some confidence that we're losing the fight, badly and quickly – losing it because, most of all, we remain in denial about the peril that human civilization is in.

you just need to do a little mat

Last month the world's nations, meeting in Rio for the 20th-anniversary reprise of a massive 1992 environmental summit, accomplished nothing.

Sir Nicholas Stern of Britain, called the "most important gathering since the Second World War

"This is our chance. If we miss it, it could take years before we get a new and better one. If ever."

Neither China nor the United States, which between them are responsible for 40 percent of global carbon emissions, was prepared to offer dramatic concessions, and so the conference drifted aimlessly for two weeks until world leaders jetted in for the final day

COPENHAGEN: THE MUNICH OF OUR TIMES?

"the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be below two degrees Celsius."

"we agree that deep cuts in global emissions are required... so as to hold the increase in global temperature below two degrees Celsius."

about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit – the accord ratified positions taken earlier in 2009 by the G8, and the so-called Major Economies Forum.

So far, we've raised the average temperature of the planet just under 0.8 degrees Celsius, and that has caused far more damage than most scientists expected

that two degrees is far too lenient a target.

All told, 167 countries responsible for more than 87 percent of the world's carbon emissions have signed on to the Copenhagen Accord, endorsing the two-degree target.

"Business as usual is over," he said

Haudenosaunee, or the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy

Well, they have to. Otherwise they're going to get hammered. They're going to get hammered anyway.

- if you're going to take those steel mills and put them some other place, they're going to be belching a lot of environmental damage ...

it's because of outsourcing

. I don't see it changing, because I don't see any relaxation from the executive side -- from the leadership side -- because they're making money

Where is the moral side to the shareholders on this thing?

They're not in the reality business; they're in business. I said, if you put them up there and just let them freeze for 24 hours, they would get an inkling of another power, of another authority.

If you have grandchildren and great-grandchildren, you're involved

Everything in this room came from the earth

I don't think they deal with it. I mean, their realit

This round world is finite.

of oil right now.

and what was that line?

Growth. You have one finite earth. That's the problem here

But I do think human beings -- I have always been amazed by human beings.

People have to make less money -- way, way, way less money. People have to share more of what they have.

Thanksgiving for the winds that bring the seasons and does the planting, all of that. Then we have thanksgiving for the grandfathers, the thunder and the lightning, that bring the rain --

so it's the stockholder.

the way we think and the way we handle how we feel plays a big part in mental health

People undertaking mindfulness training have shown

Mindfulness is a potentially life-changing way to alter our feelings in positive ways, and an ever-expanding body of evidence shows that it really works.

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to affect how the brain works and even its structure.

are ways of paying attention to the present moment, using techniques like meditation, breathing and yoga.

ncreased activity in the area of the brain associated with positive emotion – the pre-frontal cortex – which is generally less active in people who are depressed.

More than 100 studies have shown changes in brain wave activity during meditation and researchers have found that areas of the brain linked to emotional regulation are larger in people who have meditated regularly for five years.

recurrent depressionanxiety disorders addictive behaviour stress chronic pain chronic fatigue syndromeinsomniaplus more mental and physical problems.

Mindfulness in the workplace can improve productivity and decrease sickness absence, and increasingly employers are looking to benefit from its effect on workplace wellbeing.

Almost three-quarters of GPs think mindfulness meditation would be helpful for people with mental health problems, and a third already refer patients to MBCT on a regular basis.

including physical pain or discomfort that interferes with falling asleep or staying asleep, side effects from medications and treatments, as well as stress and anxiety

Researchers divided the participants into 2 groups, both of which followed the same standard post-treatment care plan. In addition, one group also participated in a 4-week yoga program, consisting of 2 75-minute sessions each week. The yoga regimen included physical postures as well as meditation, breathing and relaxation exercises

Yoga also helped to reduce patients’ reliance on prescription sleep medication.

410 patients with cancer, all of whom had undergone one or more types of treatment—including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy—within the past 24 months. Most of the participants (96%) were women, with an average age of 54, and 75% of participants had breast cancer. All were suffering from at least moderate levels of sleep problems.

While short-term use of sleep medication may be useful, it’s critical to identify strategies for improving sleep that don’t rely on long-term use of sleep medicines

, researchers measured sleep for both groups using questionnaires and wrist sensors worn during the night. They found both groups had improved their sleep during the 4-week period. However, the yoga group experienced significantly greater improvements to sleep compared to the non-yoga group:

The yoga group saw their average sleep quality score improve from 9.2 at the beginning of the study to 7.2 at the end. The non-yoga group’s average score improved to a lesser degree, from 9.0 to 7.9.

The yoga group experienced more significant improvements to daytime tiredness than the non-yoga group.

The yoga group reduced their use of sleep medication by 21% per week during the course of the study. The non-yoga group, on the other hand, increased their sleep medication use by 5% per week.

that the group practicing yoga improved their sleep while also reducing their reliance on sleep medication

CDC’s first-ever investigation of prescription sleep medication that reliance on prescription sleep aids is alarmingly high, with 4% of the adult population of the U.S. taking medication to sleep

After 3 months, patients who did yoga reported significant decreases in sleep disturbances, increased sleep duration, and less reliance on sleep medication, compared to a group that did not participate in the yoga regimen.

A group of patients with a variety of cancers experienced improvements to sleep and decreases to levels of stress and fatigue after an 8-week program of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). MBSR includes meditation practices designed to address both physical and psychological difficulties.

When someone tries to abstain from alcohol, they can experience significant cravings.

Belgium recently led a study to explore the relationship between SC and craving in a sample of 30 individuals undergoing alcohol detoxification

Because SC is found to be relatively high in those with depression, understanding the effect of this trait on craving could help clinicians treating those with alcohol use issues.

The participants were assessed for depression, SC, and cravings at the beginning of treatment and again at days 14 through 18. The results revealed that craving and depression both decreased significantly from day 1 to day 18

Timary discovered that the individuals with severe depression and elevated SC scores at treatment initiation had the highest level of cravings, depression, and SC at the end of the study perio

This suggests that the more self-conscious someone is, the more this trait can impact depression and, subsequently, cravings.

greater success if they employ mindfulness-based and metacognitive therapies that focus on developing nonreactive, nonjudgmental acceptance behaviors that could minimize SC and depression.

“Our results suggest that metacognitive approaches targeting SC could decrease craving and, in turn, prevent future relapses.

Batnik also noticed a difference in how these processes interacted when he compared participants with a history of fewer than two MDD episodes to those with three or more prior episodes.

For the participants with fewer than two episodes, cognitive changes had more impact on MBCT outcomes and changes in symptoms than affective changes

in the group with more than three prior episodes, affect changes had the greatest impact on symptom reduction via MBCT

“Further research is necessary to confirm these hypotheses and examine underlying mechanisms for different populations and for individuals at different stages of the illness.”

Research by Zindel Segal (Toronto), Mark Williams (Wales) and John Teasdale (Cambridge) has been investigating how meditation may help people stay well after recovery from depression.

negative mood occurs alongside negative thinking and bodily sensations of sluggishness and fatigue.

The discovery that, even when people feel well, the link between negative moods and negative thoughts remains ready to be re-activated, is of enormous importance

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy includes simple breathing meditations and yoga stretches to help participants become more aware of the present moment, including getting in touch with moment-to-moment changes in the mind and the body.

and by listening to tapes at home during the week, class participants learn the practice of mindfulness meditation

It helps break the link between negative mood and the negative thinking that it would normally have trigger

Participants develop the capacity to allow distressing mood, thoughts and sensations to come and go, without having to battle with them

Applications of mindfulness include emotional problems such as stress and anxiety; behavioral problems such as eating, parenting, and addiction; disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorders; somatic problems including psoriasis, fibromyalgia, and chronic pain.

Mindfulness is not a state of doing but a state of being in which you are fully aware of the present moment and do not evaluate your inner or outer environment.

Mindfulness is a state of self-regulation of your attention and the ability to direct it towards breathing, eating, or something else. Curiosity, openness, and acceptance are all part of being mindful.

mindfulness can be defined as paying attention in a particular way on purpose in a present moment and non-judgmentally.

People who are depressed, often have lots of negative popping thoughts about their past

A combination of mindfulness based stress reduction and cognitive therapy has been shown to be very effective for treatment of depression.

MBCT was originally developed as a relapse prevention program to help people stay free of depression once they have fully recovered fr

om an episode.

Other studies have showed that the results achieved by MBCT were equivalent to the results achieved by antidepressants. Moreover, people who have bee trained in MBCT experienced less depression and significantly improved their quality of life.3

MBCT was developed in the mid-Nineties by psychologists at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Toronto to help stabilize patients' moods during and after use of antidepressants.

Professor Williams is also the author of Mindfulness: An Eight Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World.

Concentrating on the rhythm of the breath helps produce a feeling of detachmen

, 47 per cent of patients with long-term depression suffered a relapse; the figure was 60 per cent among those taking medication alone. Other studies, including two published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, had comparable outcomes. As a result, the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has recommended MBCT since 2004