Today’s guest post is written by Addie Ellis, an advocate for children experiencing homelessness. Her passion is service to others. Throughout her career she has worked with vulnerable populations.  She has worked as a high school guidance counselor, high school administrator and a charter school developer. Currently she is a doctoral student at Drexel University and a volunteer at Mustard Seed School, an emergency school for children experiencing homelessness. One of her goals is to spearhead educational reform to serve children affected by homelessness.  She blogs at: http://unheard-and-unseen.blogspot.com/.

“My entire life I wanted to be the power behind the power - the anonymous influencer - always allowing my supervisors to take credit for the work I had done. Being in front was a place of fear.  I saw strength in working behind the scenes to impact the words said. First, as counselor at a traditional high school, my ideas for reform were voiced even whilst my voice was unheard.  As co-founder of a charter school I viewed it as powerful to have my concepts brought to visible reality while I remained in the background, always allowing others to take credit for work I had done. To be unseen guaranteed anonymity; being unheard and unseen as my agenda was carried out was my comfort zone.

I lived this fiction-filled, power behind the power fantasy for 40 years until June 3, 2010.  The curtain of being unheard and unseen that I stood behind was torn away when I found myself jobless - terminated from the school in which I started.  After eleven years working in the same school district, allowing others to use my voice and vision as their own, I was unemployed.  I felt exposed.  I developed a new appreciation and desire for having the plethora of my talents seen and the power of my voice heard.

As I searched for answers, I stumbled into a community that embodies unheard and unseen.  Their silence was not self-inflicted.  The cloak of invisibility cast upon them was imposed by others.  I discovered a portion of this community at Mustard Seed School, an emergency school serving children experiencing homelessness in the Sacramento region.

How could I continue in my silence knowing there are approximately 1.5 million homeless children in the United States(cite)?  How could I consciously operate in the shadows when there are over 950,000 homeless school-age children? How could I be satisfied with being a so-called power behind the power when 41% of these children are behind grade level in math and 33% lag in English Language Arts skills (cite)?

I have come to the realization that I can no longer operate in the role of silent influencer.  The community of homeless children is truly the unheard and unseen. They need a voice of someone that is willing to be the power on their behalf.  I am committed to being that voice!

Humanity cannot continue to walk by children, our country's future, with ears muted to their cries, eyes clouded to their pain. The time is now!  To hear, see, and recognize the plight of the Unheard and Unseen.” You can help in many ways:

1. Donate to Mustard Seed School or other programs that serve children experiencing homelessness
2. Volunteer.  Every community has programs that assist children and teens experiencing homelessness
3. Be an advocate.  Lend your voice to help educate others about the Unheard and Unseen.

Mustard Seed School can be found on Facebook