All posts by Samantha

#F*ckThePoor Campaign: Put your money where your mouth is

Anti-Poverty Programs, International, Organizations, Related topics

Yes, this sounds bad; however, this campaign is a great example of how society hinders itself from solving a problem that they are concerned about. On April 7th, 2014, The Pilion Trust Charity asked Londoners to “put their money where their mouths are” by filming their reactions to a man wearing a “F*ck the poor” sign. The video on their blog shows that the Londoners weren’t fans of the statement. However, when the man flipped his sign over to read “Help the poor” and held a donations cup, he was completely ignored by the public. This controversial campaign is the wake up call that not only London society needs, but that all societies dealing with poverty need to be aware of. Their campaign is message is: “We know you care. Please care enough to give”.  What’s the point in caring and being offended by a sign that says “F*ck the poor” if they are doing just that when ignoring a sign that wants to help? We are part of the problem and that is why is it still prevalent today.

Share this campaign and open eyes, because deep down, we all do care and that should be enough motivation to give. Here’s the link to the Pilion Trust’s Blog with the video: http://piliontrust.com.

Final Internship Report: A for Advantageous

Local organizations, Organizations, Related topics

In the last 7 weeks, I have spent 35.5 hours interning at local youth shelter in order to gain both a deeper understanding of how they operate and some experiences to take back and share with my class. It is a small run agency that functions solely for the clients and to reach their ultimate goal of family reunification. Now, how is it that the shelter is able to accomplish such a goal? Like all other processes, there are steps that are taken, however, it isn’t refined enough to be called a smooth operation.

The shelter provides the clients with a shelter manager, a youth advocate, and eleven staff members to assist them during their stay within the program. The shelter manager and youth advocate are key factors in determining how the shelter is run and how the daily schedules are planned. The daily schedule is what keeps both the clients and staff on track for the day, making sure that they have regular meals, chores are getting done, and productive activities are taking place.

With the intern and volunteer program being relatively new, the shelter staff tends to under utilize what the volunteers are capable of doing, leaving them to either hover over the clients or complete the little tasks that have been left untouched by the staff. I have spent the majority of my time at the shelter supervising and participating with the clients in their positive reinforcing activities.

These positive reinforcing activities, such as morning check in, life skills, and group circle, allow the clients to learn healthier ways for dealing with their situations and in becoming the best possible version of their selves. However, these activities also promote a self-blaming quality in the clients that is an apparent theme throughout the individuals and in the activities. It also doesn’t help that some of the staff promote the societal expectations that they have so far have yet to understand. This program may have good intentions, but it is still focusing on the individual rather than the over arching structural problems that they are definitely aware of.

Although the shelter is very successful in returning majority of clients to their families, rather than another safe environment, there needs to be a deeper understanding of the structural problems that lead to the issues clients face for the staff. The shelter manager and youth advocate are more than capable of providing the insight into this if they were only aware of that this knowledge needed to be shared.  This is one area where I had tried to step up and force them to utilize me because taking this class also has provided me with the awareness of structural problems that they do not posses.

Overall, the shelter has a good track record for completing their mission time and time again for an agency that has only been around for three years. I would give the shelter an A for advantageous because that is what they give their clients; the advantage to take the cruel world head on and be successful.

If not in our backyard, then where?

Homelessness, News link, Related topics, Solutions to Homelessness

An editorial in the Los Angeles Times, “A missed chance for L.A.’s homeless” discusses the need for permanent supportive housing to help the city’s homeless. However, it is too costly to provide this kind of housing. The Cecil Hotel is mention to be able to hold up to 384 homeless people, yet the opportunity will not be taken advantage of.  The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council opposed this opportunity because of the area’s historic core and argument’s of the issue that affordable housing has already begun in the “backyards”.  The initial problem here is the factor of location. As long as it is “not in my backyard”, then the people of L.A. are supportive of this plan.  But if it is not taking place in anyone’s “backyard” then there will be no hope in getting these people of the street. One cannot solve a problem if they are not willing to take the necessary steps, such as accepting affordable housing in more locations, to achieve their goal. If there first priority is to get people housed, officials and the community must support this. Sadly, in this case they are not. This is an extremely frustrating situation, and there is no one to blame but our own selves. We need to be the change, not hinder it.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-cecil-hotel-homeless-housing-skid-row-20140407,0,5093130.story#axzz2yD8CakV3,

‘Jesus The Homeless’ Sculpture Rejected By Catholic Churches In Toronto, New York

Homelessness, News link, Related topics, Religion, Uncategorized

In the Huffington Post article, Meredith Bennett-Smith begins her article with “the statue is haunting and uncomfortable, depicting a darkly shrouded figure lying huddled on a long park bench”. For me this statement actively depicts the emotional stigma that accompanies members of homeless communities. Timothy Schmalz’s “Homeless Jesus” statue has not only depicted the emotions described in the previous quote, but has stirred up controversy within the city of Toronto and the Catholic Register.

homelessjesus

Inspired by a homeless man, Schmalz discussed that it was jarring to come back to Toronto and to see so many homeless people on its corners and benches. For Schmalz, the statue was meant as a permanent reminder of the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25:31-46, where Jesus tells his disciples that they help the sick, the tired, the homeless, and they also help him [Jesus]. This would seem to be a powerful message to the city of Toronto, yet the statue was rejected by two high-profile cathedrals.

Is it because Schmalz’s statue hit too close to home for the city (no pun intended)? Or perhaps associating Jesus with the stigma of homelessness isn’t appropriate in the Catholic perspective? Although the initial fears of controversy and vagueness might have stemmed the Catholic leaders’ reaction, shouldn’t this push the Catholic
community to do more to help the homeless?

See the artiicle for yourself here.

 

Solving Homelessness or the Homeless Blemish?

Homelessness, How we should treat each other, News link, Reflections on our Reading, Solutions to Homelessness

There is a “dash movement taking place in Santa Cruz, California. According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel article, “’Dash’ deployed for solving Santa Cruz Country Homelessness”,  the multi-agency cooperative 180/180 Initiative has a goal of offering “180 people a 180 degree life change” by a deadline of July 1st. A secondary goal was also created to place 25 of the city’s most visible homeless people, along with a group of 12 from Watsonville, on a course towards permanent supportive housing within 100 days by May 7th.  The 100-day dash plan is a specialized tool that gives partnering agencies and officials who wouldn’t usually get involved a finite timeline and achievable goal.

 

Although this project sounds promising, with 8 people currently being helped and two already housed in Watsonville, there seems to be the same lingering goal to get the chronically homeless away from the downtown commercial areas where they reside. Homeless Services Center Executive Director Monica Martinez is even quoted in the article saying “Everybody has their reason why (they want to get the homeless off the streets), but we all agree we want it to happen.” This reminds me of Wasserman and Clair’s book  At Home on the Street: People, Poverty, and a Hidden Culture of Homelessness, and how their participants discussed how the programs shouldn’t be pushed upon them and that they should be choices. My interpretation of this article seems as if this plan isn’t entirely for the homeless’ best interest, but to remove them from living in commercial areas where their presence isn’t wanted, which was an issue also raised in the book. These chronically homeless people they are “helping” are not being seen as people, but as a blemish on the downtowns of Santa Cruz and Watsonville. As much as this would like help out the homeless community, I fear that it is not enough to solve the chronic problem.

Homelessness and Respect

Books and Films, Homelessness, Reflections on our Reading

In Jason Adam Wasserman and Jeffrey Michael Clair’s book At Home on the Street: People, Poverty, and a Hidden Culture of Homelessness, they provide a thorough recount of their ethnographic methodology and findings. In their second chapter, Accessing a Hidden Population,  it is discussed how important it was for Wasserman and Clair to be accepted into the homelessness community’s “private property” of Birmingham, Alabama’s, Catchout Corner. Although Catchout Corner is the city’s public property, this was the first time I had ever heard of a homeless community referred to as having private property. How can they have private property of they cannot afford it? Yet, the researchers had this understanding that this space did, in fact, belong to their homeless participants and they had to be accepted into their homes.

This was almost threatened by the drug dealers that provided and employed some of the homeless participants. Not only did the dealers believe that the researchers would harm their business, but the homeless participants also advised for them to leave the Corner. Luckily, Wasserman and Clair were not intimidated and decided to return to the homeless community. That is how they gained the participants’ respect. I felt that this bit of information about their approach and experience represents the way they went about their entire project. It was interesting to see the homeless participants in a position of respect, instead of pity or other negative emotions that are usually seen. It made me wonder if people viewed the homeless as worthy of respect, how much of a difference that would make in decisions that are made for them.

Internship Progress Report

Uncategorized

For about the last month, I have had the experience of interning at a local youth shelter. The shelter’s goal is to provide a safe environment for it’s clients and to assist them with the issues they face. With the client’s willingness and participation, the shelter strives to achieve reunification between the client and their family at the end of their program. Until then, the clients are provided with scheduled days that allow them not only to keep busy, but to help them realize their potential. The clients are never caught off guard as to what their day entails and always have something to do.

The schedule not only keeps the clients on track, but the staff as well. The shelter is currently under staffed and has just begun implementing volunteer and internship programs. Therefore, they are struggling with getting the interns and volunteers fully trained in things such as answering phones, paperwork, and the intake process of new clients. It can be frustrating at times, but client’s daily schedule board helps to keep everything running smoothly. The clients are the first priority, and therefore, keeping them on schedule is always first on the staff’s to-do list. The schedule is quite impressive. From the moment the clients wake up, they are occupied until the two hours of free time they receive before lights out. The clients are always aware of what their meals will be and the duration of every activity. The activities include school work, counseling sessions, exercise, art as therapy, and volunteering. And if something doesn’t go according to plan, there is always a group circle as a back-up.

Circle is one way that has allowed a closer glimpse at the clients I interact with. The group focuses on a feeling or theme and expresses how it has affect them at some point, whether it be positive or negative. Both clients and some staff members participate. The clients are usually reluctant at first, but once the sharing begins there is more of a willingness to be heard. That is what the clients aren’t used to; being heard and supported. The circle is a safe place where everyone in the group matters and is respected.

                Although the first week at the youth shelter consisted of reading training manuals and becoming a Mandated Reporter, it showed the heavy importance on providing a safe environment. Everything I read provided me with what I needed to know to be able to contribute to the environment that is surrounding the clients. Many staff members are working at Our House in order to provide the environment since some have overcome similar issues and know how necessary it is.  I have noticed the impact it has on the clients as I see them continue with the program. The clients arrive lost and frustrated and leave with a lighter load and a sense of hope to take with them. For a shelter that has only been around for three years and has some minor kinks, I’d say they are achieving their goals and changing lives.

Homeless for a Night

Homelessness, News link

This past weekend, dozens of students in Birmingham, Alabama participated in a project called “Cardboard Connect” that provides students with an idea of what it feels like to be homeless. The students then spend the night without the comforts of home and then are given the opportunity to discuss issues of homelessness and how to take active leadership roles in trying to solve the issues. The students ended up giving back to the homeless community by collecting hygiene products.

After reading this short article posted on March 8th, there were three comments following it. Two of the three comments expressed negative feelings towards this project and how it doesn’t “truly” teach the students about homelessness. On even expressed that the students should have attended drug abuse counseling in order to learn about the addiction and the cost of taking drugs. However, like the students participating in the project, do these commenters have any idea about what it is like to be homeless? The one comment about drug abuse was only mentioned based off a possible statistic that homeless people are drug addicts or have mental issues, which are common stereotypes associated with homeless people. Yet with the other comment, there was a good point made that this project doesn’t show the reality that homeless people experience daily. Although this project allowed students to become more aware of what is taking place, do you think that this project is an effective exercise and learning experience on homelessness? Or do your thoughts linger towards agreement with the mentioned comments?

To read the article and comments visit:  http://www.abc3340.com/story/24923385/birmingham-teens-spend-the-night-out-to-learn-about-homelessness

How Utah Will Soon End Chronic Homelessness: A First Step?

Causes of Homelessness, Causes of Poverty, Homelessness, Solutions to Homelessness, Solutions to Poverty, Uncategorized

Our Data Exercise #3 assignment pushed my level of being overwhelmed to a new height. When we ended class on Thursday with thinking about ways to possibly end these causes, I had no idea where to start or even which one to choose. Therefore, I decided to focus this week’s blog on what others are doing to end these causes. Affordable housing was one of the most common causes that were seen from Jenck’s 1980s research and the class’ updated research.
In focusing on affordable housing, a 2011 article on The Huffington Post surfaced and discussed How Utah Will Soon End Chronic Homelessness. The state of Utah has had a 26 percent drop in homelessness since 2010 and credited it to its “Ten-Year Strategic Action Plan to End Chronic Homelessness”. According to this plan, Utah will reach its goal of eliminating chronic poverty by 2014 by implementing Housingworks programs. With the Housingworks programs, the state is giving the homeless access to their own apartments that tenants will pay 30 percent of their state-facilitated income for rent, so the housing isn’t freely given. The state will also provide job training and social services to assist in keeping a job and social life. Huffington Post Blogger Anna Bahr also reports that Utah’s homelessness is at a four year low, as of 2011.
It seems that this plan had been showing progress and would help with other causes of homelessness besides just affordable housing. Does this mean we cannot just focus on eliminating one cause at a time? That these causes of homelessness are too related? In further research to see how Utah’s plan has either been successful or unsuccessful, my research fell flat. But is Utah’s plan the first step to ending these causes?

Causes and Luck

Causes of Homelessness, Homelessness, Reflections on our Reading

After reading the overview of Jencks: The Homeless, I was reminded of the some of the causes that lead to the numerous homeless people who were discussed in the book group presentations in class. The most interesting for me was concerning marriages, the crack epidemic, social skills and family ties. I never would have thought of marriage as a cause for homelessness and how that affects women more than men. Jencks thoughtfully groups marriage and joblessness together, which makes perfect sense. If the working partner loses their job, in Jencks’s case the husband, that could cause strife in the relationship and leave the couple homeless, especially in this case, the woman who has a smaller probability of getting a job. With social skills and family ties, those are huge factors that would have also never occurred to me. One would think that living alone would be cheaper, yet it is not. And when there are no family ties to keep homeless people from living alone then the end result may be the streets.

However, the most well-known cause out of the ones I mentioned is the one that ends up being centered on the idea of luck. The chapter summary on The Crack Epidemic poses some important questions surrounding what most homeless people are stereotyped with as the cause of their current situation. It is asked “how does luck – bad luck for the homeless, good luck for the affluent – play a role in explaining individual outcomes?” That question right there is exactly what the problem tends to be – luck, or circumstance, not drugs and alcohol. If I have learned one thing from combining all of the book presentations, is that not one thing, especially stereotypic, is the cause of one’s homelessness. For those who believe that our lives are run by luck, then any number of us can end up on the street in a single moment. Some of us are just not as lucky as others. Should a concept as fickle as luck create a barrier between human beings?

Here’s the course site link to the University of Maryland’s Reeve Vanneman’s online summary of Christopher Jencks’ The Homeless.