A Podcast on Student Well-Being, Stability, and School Success
Every student brings unique strengths and assets into the classroom. What does it take for every student to succeed – especially those facing the greatest challenges?
Formerly I Will Be Your Voice: Stories of Homelessness and Hope, this podcast has expanded to explore a broader range of topics affecting students and families. Join Youth Development staff at the Center for Schools and Communities as they explore practices, programs, and partnerships shaping outcomes for students and their families.
Featuring voices and stories from education, human services, community organizations, and advocates, this podcast examines topics including housing instability, foster care, out-of-school time, school mobility, higher education, career readiness, school climate, mental health, and access to opportunity.
Each episode delivers practical insights, real-world strategies, and powerful stories that highlight how we can remove barriers and create pathways for student success.
Subscribe and listen to learn more and help amplify solutions that support the whole child – and the systems that surround them.
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Episodes
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Listen to Episode 23: Recognizing Risk, Building Support: Schools’ Role in Addressing Youth Human Trafficking
In this episode, we sit down with Zozan Küçükaydın, anti-human trafficking services coordinator, to discuss the critical intersection of youth homelessness, housing instability, and human trafficking, and how schools can play a vital role in recognizing risk and supporting students.
Learn about the development of the PA ECYEH program’s Youth Human Trafficking Toolkit for Educators, a trauma-informed resource created to help school-based professionals identify warning signs, understand vulnerabilities, and respond with care. Through collaboration with experts at the Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect (PCAR), this conversation highlights practical strategies for creating safer, more supportive school environments where students can access connection, resources, and pathways to success.
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Meet Our Co-Hosts
Matt Butensky is the youth development program manager with Center for Schools and Communities (CSC). Since joining CSC in 2016, Matt has worked on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department of Education on several statewide programs that support special student populations including students experiencing homelessness, students experiencing foster care, and refugee students. During his time with CSC, Matt has also received certifications in trauma-skilled education, education policy, and leadership.
Taylor Teichman is the youth development coordinator for Pennsylvania’s Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness (ECYEH) program where she provides training and program support to eight regional ECYEH teams and local education agencies statewide. Prior to joining CSC, Taylor worked for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center providing national training, ongoing technical assistance, resource development, and program management. From her early grassroots days as an education advocate for her local domestic and sexual violence center, to working at both the national and state level, she carries with her over 17 years of involvement in anti-violence, education, and nonprofit programming.