Every Day Counts Initiative to address absenteeism with incentives for public housing residents
The Housing Authority of the Birmingham District (HABD) announced a new initiative in partnership the City of Birmingham (COB) and Birmingham City Schools (BCS) to combat truancy. The partnership comes after BCS reported in October 2023 that nearly 25% of students are chronically absent.
Every Day Counts will aim to incentivize public housing residents to ensure school-aged children attend school regularly. Regular school attendance of school-aged children is a requirement of HABD lease agreements and state law.
Through the Every Day Counts initiative, HABD public housing residents will have access to additional resources that support regular attendance and improved literacy, like transportation assistance to and from school and homework help. Additionally, and probably most compelling, as part of Every Day Counts, HABD households whose school-aged children achieve perfect attendance for the month will be entered into a raffle where an HABD household(s) will be chosen to receive financial support toward a housing expense.
Attendance of HABD school-aged residents will be tracked and monitored as part of a new data sharing agreement between HABD and BCS. There is no set timeframe for how long the initiative will be in place, and Birmingham leaders are hopeful that it will have a positive impact on school attendance rates.
Click the button or image above to watch the announcement and below to read more about this initiative.