Joe Willard
jwillard18.bsky.social
Joe Willard
@jwillard18.bsky.social
I work on child, youth, and family homelessness in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.
Posting again in case you missed it. More than 10,000 young children were identified as homeless in Pennsylvania, the highest total ever! Read at open.substack.com/pub/joewilla...
October 31, 2025 at 11:18 AM
We just published a summary of education data showing that there were more than 10,000 young children (ages birth to 5) who were identified as homeless in Pennsylvania. Read our latest on Substack here bit.ly/3Ws1uWy
October 30, 2025 at 2:59 PM
New Policy Brief on Young Children Identified As Homeless in PA. Read at bit.ly/3Lba89w
October 29, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Our latest Substack article highlights the numbers of children and youth identified as homeless in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The numbers increased 47% since 2019, and more than 18,000 children were identified in 2024. Read at bit.ly/3I3WCmL
September 3, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Supporting students exp homelessness succeeds at increasing graduation rates, lowering chronic truancy, and more. Read our policy brief bit.ly/47x4VSr
August 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
We are planning to release an update of our January 2025 report on the prevalence of young children identified as homeless in September. Here is one chart as a sneak preview:
August 11, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Looks like US House Appropriations Com rejected Trump proposal to block grant HUD programs. It also:
• added $100M+ to Homeless Assistance Grants;
• rejected Trump’s elimination of Project-Based and Tenant-Based rental assistance, & CDBG;
• keeps Trump elimination of HOME;
See bit.ly/4kMI7kv
July 24, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Dr. Janette Herbers of Villanova & Dr. JJ Cutuli of Nemours just published on our Yay Babies newsletter "What is the latest research on children experiencing family homelessness?" Read at bit.ly/4mZC8eJ
June 16, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Check out new national report on infants-toddlers experiencing homelessness. Read at SchoolHouse Connection -https://lnkd.in/eV3bBdvY
May 1, 2025 at 3:16 PM
We hope to inform conversations of how best to support students who are homeless/housing insecure by sharing data. This new summary shows the numbers of Pennsylvania's homeless children by county and by school district. Read at bit.ly/4cBMAUQ
April 15, 2025 at 1:18 PM
New state report on child homelessness in Pennsylvania. Read at bit.ly/4lri5VL
April 14, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Should PA fund homeless education supports with its own resources? Read at bit.ly/4iHKRQ0
April 10, 2025 at 7:06 PM
We summarized data on Pennsylvania's 46,000+ children & youth who experienced homelessness in School Year 2023. We compare data over a few years, and sort it by geographical regions. Read at bit.ly/4iHKRQ0a
March 29, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Join tomorrow's (March 21) discussion on successful strategies leading to increased rates of participation by homeless young children into high-quality early childhood education programs in Pennsylvania. Registration link is us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
March 20, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Why are children who are homeless accessing early learning at higher rates than in the past? Zoom w/ us at the 9:30 AM March 21st to hear Tracy Duarte & Grace Whitney of the PA Head Start, Denise Bermudez of Phila Office of Children and Families, & Joe Willard of HopePHL. Zoom Link: bit.ly/4l2nJxa
March 19, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Big event tomorrow! Join us ..
March 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Symposium on youth homelessness in Philadelphia - join us!
March 11, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Philadelphia identifies more than 10,000 children as homeless, an historic high. Read new report bit.ly/4kFOdUY
March 10, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Join us!
March 10, 2025 at 2:25 PM
10,000+ child and youth homelessness in Philadelphia - read our new report: bit.ly/4i0zORK
March 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Exciting new research by Dr. Annette Pic - 'Exploring the Role of Play and Family Activities Among Families Experiencing Homelessness.' Read at bit.ly/41rjhjQ
February 21, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Check our new map showing the number of children and youth experiencing homelessness by county in Pennsylvania. We advocates created this - why don't most all advocates do likewise? Read our latest Substack newsletter bit.ly/4iloFeC
December 3, 2024 at 7:17 PM
We updated our map of the number of children and youth identified as homeless by the PA Dept of Education and using their data.
December 2, 2024 at 3:08 PM
46,714 children and youth identified as homeless by PA Dept of Education; see recently posted new infographic at bit.ly/3Z9B5xz
November 27, 2024 at 1:34 PM
Press conference news coverage announcing that the School District of Philadelphia will invest $2.3M for homeless education support through to June 2025.

MSN (Inquirer): bit.ly/3Yopc6w
NBC: bit.ly/3UxlkiC
ABC: bit.ly/3UxTpin
KYW Radio: bit.ly/3UpV6i0
Yahoo: bit.ly/4f70I9c
November 27, 2024 at 12:43 PM