The Challenge
Nevada faces one of the highest rates of youth homelessness in the country, with a 16% increase in recent years affecting students across more than 400,000 learners in 773 schools statewide. The Nevada Department of Education (NDE), through its Office of Student and School Supports (OSSS), needed a way to better identify, enroll, and support homeless children and youth, many of whom face significant barriers to accessing education, housing, food, medical care, and other essential services.
Information about shelters, food banks, and support services was fragmented across local systems, slowing response times and making compliance with the federal McKinney-Vento Act difficult. NDE needed a unified digital tool to connect students, families, school liaisons, and service providers in real time. They wanted a modern, accessible solution that could centralize resources, improve awareness, and help vulnerable students get support when and where they needed it most.
Our Approach
GovWebworks partnered with NDE to design and build Nevada COMPASS, a cloud-based, mobile- and web-accessible application that serves as a centralized hub for services supporting homeless children and youth. Using a user-centered design process, the team developed low- and high-fidelity wireframes, a comprehensive style guide, and a clear feature roadmap to ensure the platform was intuitive, accessible, and compliant with WCAG, NIST, and HIPAA considerations.
The solution combines a Drupal-based backend powered by GovWebworks’ CiviServ platform with a cross-platform mobile application built using Expo and React Native. Service providers can onboard directly, manage and update listings, and ensure resources remain current, while users can search by category or proximity, view details, access maps and directions, and provide feedback. Robust APIs, analytics, GIS mapping, and CI/CD pipelines support real-time data delivery, security, and scalability, while extensive testing, training, and onboarding ensure readiness for statewide adoption.
The Result
The resulting Nevada COMPASS application provides a single, real-time digital front door for connecting homeless children, youth, and families with critical services and educational support. School liaisons and service providers can more easily identify and enroll students, track referrals, and coordinate care, while families and youth gain faster access to shelters, food, healthcare, and school enrollment resources—helping remove barriers that often delay or prevent support.
Beyond immediate access, the platform strengthens compliance with the McKinney-Vento Act and establishes a scalable foundation for future growth. With secure infrastructure, analytics-driven insight, and a user-friendly mobile experience available on Android, iOS, and the web, NDE is better equipped to respond to homelessness statewide, delivering timely, equitable support and improving outcomes for some of Nevada’s most vulnerable students.
