Frederick County Officials Announce Expansion of Program to Help Homeless Students

County Executive Announced on Thursday the expansion of a program to help homeless students.


Frederick, MD. (TY) – County Executive Jan Gardner announced in a public information briefing on Thursday about the expansion of a program to help homeless students in Frederick County.

“These children deserve the same chances to be successful as all their other classmates,” Gardner said.

The Student Homelessness Initiative Partnership (S.H.I.P) launched a pilot program 3 years ago with the intention of giving homeless youth opportunities to develop life skills and earn money over the summer. The program was called New Horizons and every year has added a new Frederick County school to its growing list of participants.

“This announcement is about launching the New Horizons Academy,” Gardner said. “A five week program that will serve a total of 60 students from five area high schools.”

New Horizons Academy is being partially funded by a $40,000 Community Partnership Grant provided by Frederick County. The program will start July 1 with Catoctin, Frederick, Governor Thomas Johnson, Tuscarora and Walkersville High School participating in the program. The courses will be hosted at Frederick High School with transportation being provided by the schools.

During the school year, 828 students in the Frederick County school system experienced homelessness with 150 of them having no adult caretaker.

For more information on SHIP and the New Horizons Program, go to shipfrederick.com