Brenda Dowdy, homeless education project manager for San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, will receive the 2019 Sandra Neese Lifetime Achievement Award at a national conference in Washington, D.C.

Dowdy will be honored at the 31st annual National Association for the Education of Homeless Children Conference on Nov. 3.

For the past 13 years, Dowdy has worked in County Schools’ Children Deserve Success program, working with liaisons of the county’s 33 school districts in homeless education to provide services for students from pre-kindergarten through college.

San Bernardino County is home to more than 33,000 students identified as homeless as defined by the federal McKinney-Vento Act.

Dowdy has led efforts through County Schools to provide backpacks with school supplies, clothing, emergency food and personal hygiene items for students. She has run tutoring programs to help students with homework. She also has helped raise and coordinate distribution of college scholarships for high school graduates annually.

For the past 14 years, Children Deserve Success partners with community organizations to host an annual holiday celebration for more than 200 students and their families.