All posts by Cara

Teaching Project (Joline and Cara)

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We gave our presentation on Homelessness in America to our sorority sisters. Coming into our presentation some people had negative stereotypes on homeless people and some were more empathetic, but no one really knew about all of the structural causes. This was a great opportunity for us to instill in them all that we know about the structural causes of homelessness.

We first went into detail about how housing loss, job market changes, hospital closures, and lowered social supports are all structural causes, which have taken part in causing homelessness. We then posed a question for them to think about, “In what degree have these structural conditions contributed to the increase of homelessness?” We helped them to understand this question by answering it with examples of the structural causes we mentioned earlier. We quickly realized that our audience was responding well to our presentation and it seemed as if they were really grasping the concept of structural versus individual causes.

The next part of our presentation we discussed the idea of raising awareness through Point in Time (PIT) Counts. We explained that PIT Counts are counts of homeless people in cities that are conducted by volunteers. Many people seemed interested in this particular section because there were many questions about the accuracy of the PIT Counts and their results.

Our next topic was on minimum wage and we started by asking our audience, “Do you think it is possible to live off of minimum wage?” Most of them answered with no, so it seemed as if they had enough knowledge on that because they are absolutely correct. We broke down some numbers showing the weekly, monthly, and annual income of those living off of minimum wage would be. Our audience was able to see how people cannot live off of minimum wage. Another example we gave was of the Barbara Ehrenreich book, Nickel and Dimed. We gave a brief overview of Ehrenreich’s experience working for minimum wage. During this part of our presentation we saw a change in our audience, we saw them grasping the concept of homelessness and that it is a bigger problem than they could have imagined. We could see this clearly because this is exactly what we went through when we first started taking this course.

The last part of our presentation was explaining our internship this semester at The Blessing Center. However, we explained that our example at The Blessing Center is on a very micro scale that does not reduce homelessness.  The Blessing Center does not help change the structural issues that cause homelessness but it does give hope to the community.

At the end of our presentation we gave our audience an opportunity to ask any questions.  Many of the questions that were asked were about our personal opinions and this was a struggle because we did not want to give a biased opinion of what we thought were the right things. Overall we feel that we gave an informative presentation to our peers and they felt like they learned more about homelessness, which was our main goal. We believe that we raised awareness within our sorority and we hope that they saw a new side to homelessness that they were unaware of before.

Affordable Housing Organization

Organizations, Solutions to Homelessness

On Tuesday, April 8th we had a Skype phone call with a man who works at a non-profit organization in New Jersey. This organization was founded in 1983 and they build affordable housing in multiple cities in New Jersey. This organization has gown tremendously, they have created shelters, transitional housing, and apartments. Eighty percent of their donations come from private donations, which has given them the opportunity to create some options for those who are in need of affordable housing.

One of their shelters is a renovated nursing home and it has 85 beds in it. They have a senior women’s shelter that actually started in the 1920’s. They have 57 apartments spread throughout four different towns. They also have transitional housing; the houses are built in several different locations as well. The rent of the apartments and houses depends on the income of the family and the size of the family.

Most people think that affordable housing means a house that is barely standing in a bad area, but not this organization’s affordable housing. This organization does an outstanding job of building houses that include all amenities for a low utilities bill. Some of the features include solar panels, bamboo flooring, heat pumps, and water efficient sinks, toilets and showers. The outside of these houses also matches the theme of the surrounding houses often with the same height of the actual house.

I was surprised to hear that the neighbors were not upset about these affordable houses coming into their neighborhood. This is because the members of this organization reach out to the neighbors and engage with the community. This organization seems as if it is benefiting those who would otherwise be homeless in New Jersey by providing a place for them to stay and to get back on their own.

Final Internship Report

Local organizations, Religion

After volunteering at this religiously affiliated non-profit organization for a little over twenty hours now I have learned a lot about the organization and its mission. This organization receives food and clothing donations to give out to clients who cannot afford these amenities. The clients can come in to receive these services up to three times per month. They also provide medical services, dental services, and job trainings. This organization requires hard work and dedication in order to keep it running. With this hard work and dedication they are constantly restoring hope in the community by giving them benefits.

With the small community of volunteers at my internship, there are opportunities to really get to know the other volunteers. There are no criteria to follow to volunteer at this religiously affiliated organization, so there is a broad spectrum with all types of people volunteering. One general theme that I have caught onto is that everyone volunteering here believes in God and discusses their beliefs and how they came about them. While working with other volunteers we have the chance to interact and to get to know each other better. The volunteers of this organization are what make this organization function. While the jobs vary the exposure to clients varies as well. Depending what station you are working at you will get more or less exposure with the clients. While this organization is attempting to operate as smooth and efficient as possible, it lacks having relationships with its clients.

This organization claims to be accepting of all Christian beliefs and that they do not only represent one church. Their hope is to serve as a combination of churches and beliefs systems so that everyone can express themselves in one place together. Everyone is coming together, no matter from what background, for the common cause of serving others. It is apparent to me that this non-profit center has given hope not only to the clients but to the volunteers too, who sometimes were or are clients themselves.

The volunteers are accepting and non-judgmental of anyone that comes to receive services and they do not put the blame on them. This is a reflection on this organization that they understand that these situations are not typically the individuals fault. However, they are not doing anything to challenge the structural issues that are causing hunger. While this organization is doing a lot of work it is on a very small scale.

My volunteer work at this organization has given me an in into how the organization functions and how it effects lives positively. From what I have seen they are helping families in need by carrying out their mission. I have volunteered enough to understand how this organization operates and who it operates with, including other volunteers and the people receiving services. I feel that with my volunteering at this ministry I have not only observed the organization but I have also assisted them. While there are always ways to improve this organization’s services, they are working efficiently together to carry out their mission.

View on Poverty: America vs. Cambodia

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On Tuesday, April 1st, our class had a speaker come and discuss her volunteer work in Cambodia. Her volunteer work included her starting a school for the impoverished children in Cambodia. She discussed her story of how she came about this position and it was very inspiring. Her story encouraged me in knowing that anyone who is passionate about their work can accomplish something truly amazing.

During her presentation a student asked about how these children and families, who are living in poverty, view poverty. This question is important because here in America everyone talks about poverty and their thoughts on it. And we wanted to get an understanding about what these people in Cambodia think about poverty, especially because so many of them are living in it.

The speaker said that although, the people in Cambodia know that they are living in poverty, they do not fixate on it as much as we do in America. The families in Cambodia are basically in survival mode because of the situation they are in. They are more focused on making it through the day rather than looking towards the future. In contrast to that, Americans are typically focusing our thoughts on the next day and on the future. The speaker talked about how happy the people in Cambodia are regardless of their impoverished situations. She thinks this is due to the fact that they are just happy to get through one day. From what I have seen in America, Americans are always focused on the future rather than one day at a time and it makes us unhappy because we constantly want more. Although it is good to look forward, if the people in Cambodia looked to the future more they might get depressed at their situation too.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation

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In Kenan Heis’ The Book of the Poor he discusses organizations that are taking steps in order to reduce or end poverty. He brings up several specific organizations in which he focuses on who are attempting to end homelessness. One organization in particular that stands out to me is The Annie E. Casey Foundation. This organization has been active in building better futures for disadvantaged families in the United States since 1948.

Jim Casey, a previous executive officer of UPS, established this foundation. Casey states, “What is needed is a renewed determination to think creatively, to learn from what has succeeded and what has failed, and, perhaps most important, to foster a sense of common commitment among all those concerned with the welfare of children” (Casey 176). One part of their mission at The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s is attempting to live up to this quote.  

Heis worked for this foundation for over eighteen years and in his book he discusses several of the programs that the foundation provides. Some of the programs include distributing grants to non-profit organizations, research on the status of children in the United States, and a diverse support group. As I researched this foundations current state of progress, they have grown tremendously and look as if they will continue to do so. They have multiplied in their services offered and they have spread all over the United States.

It is promising to hear about an organization like this because it gives hope to the children and families that are trying to get out of poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation is an example a successful organization doing its job to end poverty.

Link to The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s website:

http://www.aecf.org/

“Homeless Seen as Deviant”

Homelessness, Reflections on our Reading

Vincent Lyon-Callo’s, Inequality, Poverty, and Neoliberal Governance, discusses some of the structural issues that cause homelessness. One particular issue that stuck out to me was the second chapter discussing “Medicalizing Homelessness”. Medicalizing homelessness basically means that homelessness is a disease that cannot be cured and that it is the individual’s fault that they are homeless. We often think that shelters are constructed to reduce homelessness; however, some of the times the shelters are perpetuating homelessness.

For example, shelters often create step by step programs for homeless who are drug or alcohol addicts. As helpful as they are to get people off these substances, they are not getting them away from the main source of distribution, which are the streets. These step by step programs are not helping these addicts get off the streets so that they can get away from the easy accessible drugs on the streets.

In addition, shelters individualize homeless by telling them that they are homeless because of something that has happened in their lives, whether it was by choice or not. For example, some homeless are being told that they are homeless because they were sexually abused. This is not something that they chose, also it is not the reason they are homeless. These shelters are saying to the homeless that they are trying to fix them.

Lyon-Callo writes, “These practices produce “the homeless” as deviant” (Lyon-Callo 59). The homeless are being individualized to the point where they are considered deviant from the rest of society. This is partially caused by the ways in which shelters are running their services.

Reflection on Martha Burt’s “Strategies for Reducing Street Homelessness”

Homelessness, Reflections on our Reading, Solutions to Homelessness

After reading Strategies for Reducing Chronic Street Homelessness by Martha Burt I have a better understanding of what we, as a community should do to lower the number of homeless.  This report goes through and thoroughly discusses steps to take in order to reduce homelessness. Some questions asked to make sure that communities are trying to reduce their number of homeless. For example, does the community have a long-term plan, is there an approach implemented, how is the approach funded, does implementation include efforts of community members? These questions enhance the information that the HUD is attempting to understand.

The HUD believes that if they can receive information to these questions they will better understand what needs to be done in each community to reduce chronic homelessness. The answer to each of these questions will determine what the community can do to lower their number of homeless people. If a community is serious about these steps and focuses on these questions they will most likely reduce their community’s chronic homelessness.

There were seven communities studied in this project where many community members were interviewed. During this study they found five key elements that were prevalent in each community, which explained their chronic street homelessness. One key element was that across the board there was a shift in the goals of homeless assistance programs. I believe this should be the main concern of the HUD. The old goals of the assistance programs were to provide transitional housing and emergency shelters, with no real intention of ending homelessness. The paradigm shift has happened in several of the communities studied, which is more of a focus on ending homelessness by getting others involved to help such as businesses and public agencies.

This report helps us to see what needs to be accomplished to get closer to ending chronic street homelessness. It displays communities who are working in the right direction and also communities that need to put in more effort.

Link to reading : http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1000775.pdf

Internship Progress Report

Hunger, Local organizations, Organizations

I have been volunteering at a Christian ministry that provides services for people in need. I have learned a lot about this organization and its mission. Their mission is to follow the verse from The Bible, Matthew 25, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you clothed me”. They do this by providing free food and clothes to people in need. In addition, they have free medical, dental services and free job training services. This organization provides around 900 families per week with food and clothing. From what I have seen they are helping families in need by carrying out their mission. I recently saw a quote written in the building from a family who receives services from here that states, “Family miracles are happening in my life! Thank you for your faith, hope, and love” (unknown). A leader at this organization who is also a pastor does a group prayer right before they open. In his prayer he discusses that God has provided us with the resources to give to those who are needy. He always says that because we believe in God we will receive everything we need. Many of the volunteers and other leaders at this organization are believers of God as well.

Donations are what make this organization’s food distribution possible. They receive food donations from local grocery stores along with some local farms. If it weren’t for these donations this organization would not be running. Grocery stores donate items that are not likely to be sold in their store or that are expired. Although, these are not high-end donations they are edible for those who are hungry.

The volunteers at this ministry are what make this organization function. There are several volunteers on any given day. After volunteering for the past month I have come to realize that just about every volunteer here lives by a Christian belief system. I noticed this most prevalently when we did our group prayer and several volunteers added to the prayer and some were participating with responsorial. I also noticed it simply by overhearing conversations between volunteers and conversing with them. The environment at this organization is filled with Christian beliefs, especially from the volunteers.

The number of people who come to receive food and clothing can depend on several factors such as weather and time of day. The people who come to this ministry to receive our services vary from different races, different genders, and different backgrounds. The main goal is to give to all who are in need.

My volunteer work at this organization has given me the opportunity to step in and understand how the organization functions. I have volunteered enough to understand how this organization operates and who it operates with, including other volunteers and the people receiving services. I feel that with my volunteering at this ministry I have not only observed the organization but I have also assisted them.

“Reckoning with Homelessness”

Homelessness

Kim Hopper’s book, Reckoning with Homelessness, discusses his ethnographic fieldwork of homeless people from 1979-1982. During his fieldwork he did not tell the homeless people who he encountered that he was an ethnographer studying them. He felt that he received very real stories from the homeless men when he made it seem like he was one of them. Hopper focuses mainly on homeless men because historically they were the first to be seen homeless.

Hopper talks with men who are living in shelters, on the streets, in airports, and at train stations. Often there were shelters for these men to go to; however they would rather be on the streets than the shelters. One man explained life in the shelters, “The shelter and flophouses were lousy, unsafe, dirty places, where brutality was common. Your cloths were stolen and your life threatened. Maintaining your respectability or cleanliness was impossible in such a setting” (Monroe 93).  Although living on the streets is not an easy way of living, especially when you are constantly being told that you can’t stay where you are and you have to move, the shelters were believed to be even worse than the streets. Airports seemed to be a common place of shelter for homeless. Homeless were attracted to airports because they have clean restrooms and drinking fountains for free water. Homeless would occupy the airports anywhere from three days to three years.

I find it interesting that Hopper focuses on men because we seem to mainly focus on women and families. What about the men who do not have any family or any ties? Men are a large percentage of the homeless population and they are just as important as the homeless women and children.

Jencks’ Ideas Remain Consistent

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Although Christopher Jencks’ book, The Homeless, is twenty years old, his ideas still remain constant today. Jencks outlines factors such as personal susceptibility such as alcoholism, tragedy, disability, and mental illness. However, he focuses more on the structural conditions, which include; job market changes, housing loss, hospital closure, lowered social support, and drug epidemics. His main point is to explain how and to what degree have these structural conditions caused a rise in homelessness.

Job market changes are still linked to homelessness today. Minimum wages are low to the point where people cannot afford to live off them. We saw in our Data Exercise #1 that it is almost impossible to live off minimum wage, in conclusion people are becoming homeless. Housing loss also remains as a cause for homelessness. This was very apparent in between 2008 and 2009 when many houses went into foreclosure because people could not afford their houses with their minimum wage jobs and the rise of the housing market. Hospital closure is still apparent today and is linked to the cause of homelessness. Mentally ill people who are at hospitals are often put in a taxi and taken to skid row because there is no one who claims to be responsible for them. We saw evidence of this in a video shown in class of mentally ill hospital patients getting taken to skid row in Los Angeles. Lowered social support is also a consistent cause of homelessness. Public assistance such as health care and welfare is not always implemented with the poor and homeless in mind. When these support programs are lowered the people under the poverty line suffer. In addition, drugs have displayed contributions to homelessness. Especially in 1984 when the crack epidemic broke out, which is what Jencks discusses in his book as a major cause to homelessness. Today, we still see a link between drugs and homelessness.

While Jencks’ book discusses social structures as being the driving force of homelessness twenty years ago, we still see these as major causes today.

http://moodle.redlands.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=135210

http://nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/employment.html

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/why.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeGFIL4BD_M