Fort Worth families facing housing instability now have a new ally. The Morris Foundation and Fort Worth Housing Solutions launched the Housing × Education Initiative to link stable homes with school success. By targeting elementary students in Fort Worth ISD and Lake Worth ISD who had the highest absenteeism rates in the 2024‑25 school year, the program aimed to break the chain of instability that leads from missed buses to missed opportunities.
How the program works
Each participating student received a dedicated grant manager who met with the family to identify the exact barriers to stable housing and regular school attendance. Assistance ranged from rent and utility payments to transportation, furniture, and even help negotiating flexible work schedules with employers. The approach was individualized, recognizing that every family’s challenges are unique.
Results after one year
After twelve months the data showed dramatic improvement. Truancy among the intervention group fell from a full 100% to just 27%, while a comparable control group that did not receive assistance saw truancy drop only to 67%. Academic outcomes followed suit: 93% of the participating students passed all core classes, compared with 56% in the control group, and none of the intervention students failed more than one core class.
Community impact and next steps
The initiative spent roughly $91,700 on direct assistance, covering rent, move‑in costs, transportation, utilities and furniture. Yet many families required little or no cash; most needed help establishing a reliable morning routine or speaking with an employer about schedule adjustments. This underscores the importance of looking beyond institutional silos—housing agencies, schools and employers must work together to serve families as whole units.
Mary‑Margaret Lemons, president of Fort Worth Housing Solutions, emphasized that the success of this pilot demonstrates the power of collaboration. “When we connect the systems that already exist around the people they are intended to serve, we create outcomes that no single agency could achieve alone,” she said.
Why it matters for Fort Worth
Stable housing is not just a shelter issue; it is an education issue, a workforce issue, and a community issue. By ensuring families have a roof over their heads, Fort Worth can improve school attendance, raise academic achievement, and ultimately strengthen the local labor pool. The city’s many nonprofits, businesses and civic leaders now have a model to expand, potentially scaling the program to more schools and neighborhoods.
As Fort Worth continues to grow, the Housing × Education Initiative offers a blueprint for how faith‑based groups, philanthropists and public agencies can join forces to lift families out of hardship and set children on a path to brighter futures.
Original reporting: Fort Worth Report — read the source article.
