Project Cool

For children dealing with the daily chaos of homelessness, school can be an important source of stability. For over 33 years, Project Cool has supported more than 36,500 homeless students.

Every fall through Project Cool, Coalition members and volunteers make sure that hundreds of unhoused students start the school year off right with the supplies they need.

In addition to school supplies for students, the Coalition also regularly provides training for staff working with youth and unaccompanied minors to help them advocate for and support the educational rights of homeless students.

Project Cool 2023 will still help hundreds of homeless students – but differently.

Despite all the changes with the pandemic, Project Cool is on track to support over 1,400 students in local public schools with backpacks and new school supplies this year. Although we will not be accepting supplies from individuals or hosted supply drives, we still need some help!

How you can help this year

Sponsor Project Cool

This year we need to pay for all supplies and backpacks delivered to students. Please consider becoming a Project Cool Sponsor with a gift of $250, $500, $1,000 or more to help cover our higher-than-normal expenses in this anything-but-normal year. We will be delighted to recognize sponsors in a variety of ways.

$60 will provide 1 student with a new backpack, filled with quality school supplies, age-appropriate books, and key basic health items.
$100 will allow 25 high school 9th graders to write their first high school essays in new spiral notebooks.
$200 will color the lives of 30 young students as they begin kindergarten with new crayons, markers, colored pencils.

Volunteer

We have very limited in-person volunteer opportunities for Project Cool this year. If you have availability in July or August and would like to help us distribute backpacks and supplies, please let us know!

Subscribe to our Helping Homeless Students email list to get updates about future sponsorships, book drives, and volunteer opportunities!

Check out our 2016 Project Cool Report
View our 2016 Annual Report poster includes Project Cool, One Night Count, Voter Registration, Education, & Advocacy.