Understanding the Links Between Youth Homelessness and Educational Disconnection: New Opportunities for Prevention in the Upstream Project

ABSTRACT Educational inequities are well‐documented and highly correlated with youth homelessness and educational disconnection. The aim of this paper was to document empirical associations among threats to the well‐being of young people, discuss key educational policies and programs designed to address student homelessness, and describe the US adaptation of an international school‐based prevention program, the Upstream Project, a multi‐tiered prevention program that proactively addresses youth homelessness and educational disconnection. To address these aims, we reviewed the literature on youth homelessness and educational disconnection among young people and the educational policies and programs intended to mitigate threats associated with these phenomena. This review revealed that youth homelessness and educational disconnection are critical public health and economic concerns that warrant investments in prevention and early intervention and a shift away from reactive, crisis management approaches. We present the US adaptation of the Upstream Project as one solution to this challenge. This paper posits that education and human services systems can bolster the well‐being of young people by enacting public health prevention approaches. School personnel are uniquely positioned to assess and intervene further “upstream” to prevent and address the consequences of homelessness and educational disconnection.