DALLAS – Two SMU professors have designed a comic book to help counselors, teachers and school administrators understand homeless students and help them get the resources they need.
The 16-page comic, titled “Uprooted,” is based on nearly ten years of data and academic research and focuses on the issues facing homeless students in a very different and creative way.
“One of our colleagues, Dr. Kessa Roberts, came up with the idea of Uprooted. The image of the school is the root, so to speak, but homeless children tend to move very often. They not only change the place where they sleep at night, but also the school,” said Alexandra Pavlakis, associate professor of education at SMU.
Pavlakis and his colleague Meredith Richards, an associate professor at SMU, compiled the book along with Kessa Roberts of Utah State University and Austin-based artist Kcy McKinney.
“These are four intersecting stories. Students experience homelessness in very different ways. One is in a shelter, one is living on the streets, in a car, one is living with his extended family because his father is in prison. All of these stories show how these students can hide, but also how hard it is for them to even get to school,” Richards said.
The group decided to make a comic book out of it to help people better understand the characters’ stories.
It is designed for people who work with children.
“We’re not just talking about teachers and principals, but also bus drivers, employees in our cafeterias, and people who work in nonprofit organizations like cram schools and community centers. We hope this will be a helpful tool for professional development and training,” Pavlakis said.
The authors hope the book will shed light on the 1.2 million known K-12 students across the country who have experienced homelessness. According to their data, there are 100,000 homeless students in Texas and about 20,000 in Dallas-Fort Worth.
“Schools are the hub of social services for these students. By raising awareness in schools, we will hopefully improve the ways schools can continue to help these children,” Richards said.
Uprooted is available for free online and is being distributed nationwide to school districts, nonprofits and other groups working with homeless students.
