Cincinnati school district to open 'Safe Sleep' lot for unhoused families

The safe parking lot is part of Project Connect, a district-led initiative that provides services to students and families.

1 minute read

April 16, 2026, 7:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Color-blocked facade of elementary school in CIncinnati, Ohio.

The safe parking lot is on the grounds of Taft Elementary School in Cincinnati, Ohio. | Whittlebsw, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons

A service project from Cincinnati Public Schools will start offering district families experiencing homelessness a safe place to sleep in their cars starting April 30, reports Robin Gee in CityBeat.

The Safe Sleep initiative will allow students and families to spend the night in a lot at Taft Elementary School. Rebeka Beach, program manager for Project Connect, said " want to say we don’t look at this necessarily as a solution. But the fact is we do have families who are sleeping in their vehicles, and we want to provide them with dignity and respect. We also want to provide them with safety."

Over 8,000 Cincinnati children experience homelessness every year, according to nonprofit Upspring. The city has the second worst child poverty rate of the nation's largest cities, at 53.1%. Project Connect, created in 1996, provides services and resources for unhoused students and their families including a food pantry, school supplies and other household items, and connections with job training and legal services. "Safe Sleep is the latest addition to the Project Connect program, and it directly addresses the immediate needs of families sleeping in cars."

Wednesday, April 15, 2026 in Cincinnati CityBeat

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