Students Experiencing Homelessness: A Conditional Cash Transfer Pilot (Basic Needs Stipend Pilot)
New Mexico Appleseed, a child-poverty nonprofit, designed and ran a conditional cash transfer pilot in the 2020-21 school year for high school students experiencing homelessness in Cuba Independent School District and West Las Vegas School District. 53 students received $500 monthly stipends for about eight months, conditioned on 90% school attendance, 90% completed classwork, and weekly tutoring/check-in participation. The pilot was funded by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Foundation, which gave roughly $120,000 to each district to cover family stipends, tutoring, and staff costs. New Mexico Appleseed published a June 2022 evaluation report and later used the pilot's results (a 93% graduation rate among seniors) to advocate successfully for a larger, state-funded expansion ("GPA") beginning in 2025.
Homeless students, Conditional cash transfer, K-12 education, Rural districts, Indigenous-serving district, Guaranteed Income Community of Practice (GICP) member
Headquarters
- Organization Name
- New Mexico Appleseed
- City
- Albuquerque
- State / Province
- New Mexico
- Country
- United States
Contact
- Website
- https://www.nmappleseed.org/
- Phone
- +1 505 814 1200
- Social media links
Status & Funding
- Organization status
- Active
- Program status
- Inactive
- Application status
- Timed
- Number of recipients
- 53
- Funding type
- Government, Philanthropic
Benefits
- Currency Type
- Fiat
- Currency
- USD
- Total Amount
- 4,000 USD
- Avg. Per Month
- 500 USD
- Payment frequency
- Monthly
- How long the program lasts
- 8 months
- Benefit details
Families of participating students received $500 per month for approximately eight months during the 2020-21 school year, tied to meeting 90% attendance, 90% classwork completion, and weekly tutoring/wraparound check-in requirements. New Mexico Appleseed created a 'Compassionate Exception' to relax conditions when instability made full compliance difficult. LANL Foundation funding (about $120,000 to each participating district) also covered tutoring and district staff costs, not just direct family stipends.
Eligibility
Overview
- Eligibility details
Eligible participants were high school students meeting the federal (McKinney-Vento) definition of experiencing homelessness or housing instability, enrolled in Cuba Independent School District or West Las Vegas School District. Students were identified through district homelessness liaisons rather than through a public application process.
Demographics
- Education level
- High School
Housing
- Housing status
- Homeless
Geography
- US states covered
- New Mexico
- Countries covered
- United States
- Cities covered
- Cuba, Las Vegas
- Counties covered
- Sandoval, San Miguel
- Residency of Target Geography
- Yes
Participation
- Research / data sharing
- Required
- Complementary program enrollment required
- Weekly tutoring and wraparound counseling/support sessions were required alongside the cash stipend.
- Research / participation requirements
New Mexico Appleseed designed, implemented, and evaluated the pilot in partnership with the LANL Foundation (funder), Cuba Independent School District, and West Las Vegas School District. Findings were published in a June 2022 evaluation report ('Students Experiencing Homelessness: A Conditional Cash Transfer Pilot'), which found 13 of 14 participating seniors graduated (93%, versus a roughly 50-51% statewide graduation rate for homeless students) and that grades and school engagement improved broadly among participants.
Application Process
- How to apply
No public application; eligible students were identified and enrolled by their school district's McKinney-Vento homeless liaison as part of the pilot cohort in Cuba ISD and West Las Vegas SD.
- Selection process
Students meeting the federal definition of homelessness/housing instability in the two participating districts were identified by district homeless-liaison staff and enrolled in the pilot; no open competitive application process was documented.
