Jan often thinks about the professional development meeting she attended in 2005 when she and a group of fellow teachers learned about the extent of poverty and homelessness in their school district. They were all shocked to learn that in their community of 26,000 people, 21were homeless. Students in the community were reaching out to teachers and cafeteria workers for basic necessities like winter coats and extra food to take home for the weekend so they didn’t go hungry. “This is unacceptable. We have to do something about it,” Jan, a long time high school English teacher, shared with her coworkers.