At first, I had no idea what to do for my Teaching Project. I enjoy doing presentations, but did not know who to present to. Finally, I decided to do a PowerPoint presentation to my EDUG 331 Child Development class last Wednesday. My topic was “Homeless Children and Youth in America.” My audience was my Child Development class and my professor. My purpose was to find a younger audience to inform them of issues among the homeless youth and share resources within this area. Most of the students in my class are interested in becoming educators and should be aware of this issue. I used information from the book “Braving the Streets,” the book “Homeless Mothers,” my Data Exercise 2 of Homeless Counts, and a number of other resources. In the beginning, my presentation included: who are the homeless, statistics, causes, how it affects their development, and a short video. These young people are sometimes referred to as “unaccompanied” youth. One difficulty was that the video took a long time to load. The short video discussed the homeless youth living in L.A. Most of them stated how they ended up there and what they feared the most about being homeless. I believe it is important to recognize that not all stories and situations are the same. It is different for every family or child. Youth homelessness is on the rise in the United States. According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, it is almost 2 million. I also touched on homeless counts and how the problem with youth is that they are most often undercounted. Next, I included some agencies and resources in the Redlands area. These were the Youth Hope Foundation, Our House, and the Redlands Family Service Association, which I learned about from our internship presentations. I added in a section about the Homeless Outreach team of the San Bernardino County Sheriffs (HOPE) who say to call 211 if a homeless related issue. At the end, I added in a section for questions, comments, and concerns.

Thankfully, the class was very engaged and I felt like they were actually paying attention.  I believe this was a good audience to share this issue with. My professor commented and said that she enjoyed that I shared agencies and resources in the Redlands area. She also encouraged all of us to get involved in these youth agencies, especially because she believes that the youth may feel more comfortable opening up with younger people, like us. I agreed. I was glad to have a few students comment. One student discussed how he had participated in the San Bernardino Homeless Count last year. When the students finished with their comments, my professor asked the class if we were surprised at all by the large number of homeless youth. Some students said yes, but most were not surprised. I had my friend film the presentation. After class, my professor thanked me for the presentation. I was glad that I had the Child Development class and the supportive professor to share what I had learned about homelessness.

During class on Monday March 26^th, I presented my Book “B” presentation on the book “Tent City Urbanism: From Self-Organized Camps to Tiny House Villages” by Andrew Heben. This book was very unique compared to the other presentations. It introduced the tent cities and tiny houses organized by the homeless that presents a sustainable housing options and can also improve quality of life. The class and I shared an interesting discussion about this movement and its possibilities. After the presentation, I was wondering why the author did not include more information about children and their point of view living in the tents or tiny houses. He did mention that the children thought of it as “camping” and were unaware of their serious situation.

This inspired me to research more about children living in tents or tiny houses. In the article, “Everyone agrees: The Santa Ana River trail is no place to raise homeless children,” by Theresa Walker, tells the story of a mother and her children living in a shady homeless encampment located along the Santa Ana River bed. Many parents come to the river when they have no alternatives. They hide their children from Child Protective Service for fear that they might be taken away. Even though this may be an alternative, everyone in this camp believed it is no place for a child. The conditions were described as unsafe and dirty. In some instances, the mother and 11 year old daughter found syringes and needles. The daughter described it saying “I loved it here. I knew everybody, but the struggle was real.” I recognize how serious this problem is that families want to stay together, but living in this situation could be extremely unsafe for children.

https://www.ocregister.com/2017/05/16/santa-ana-river-trail-is-no-place-to-raise-children/

Last Wednesday, the class had a video presentation with Dan McGuire, CEO of Homeless Solutions in New Jersey. He talked about the history of Homeless Solutions and how it has expanded its programs over time. This program has a number of shelters. One shelter includes 85 beds for single men, women, families, and the mental health. It serves about 600 people directly every year. 40% of these people come to Homeless Solutions employed. This relates to their mission statement, “A hand up, not just a hand out.” Dan described this statement that the people who use the services also have to put in the effort to make a change, such as searching for jobs or participating in the therapy services.

I noticed that many of the agencies that our classmates are interning at also value this mission statement. I do agree that the people should put in effort, but I fear that if they are not showing any change, the agencies might release them. What could happen to those people if they are turned away because they are not making enough progress? At the agency that I work at, I have heard about people being released and not allowed to return to any of their services. These have been because of altercations or not cooperating with the staff. It upsets me that these individuals do not appreciate the help that they are being offered. I ask myself where else do these people go once they have been turned away. Thankfully, there are agencies like Homeless Solutions that change the lives of people who commit to making a change and put in the hard work.

I remember during our midterm discussion, the class talked about affordable housing solutions. Jim asked us what could be some steps we could take. I raised my hand and answered that a possible solution could be to find an area of land to build affordable housing and just start there. He argued that although it has been done, the problem with my answer is that once that housing is built, the area could become unappealing. I did not think about that at first, but unfortunately it is true.

During the summer of 2014, I volunteered at the Alameda Point Collaborative in Alameda, CA. Here, the volunteers and I built affordable housing in a rural part of the city for low income families in that area. I am curious how the city went about finding the area and funds to build it. This was before I learned about the extreme challenges with finding affordable housing and I am happy that I did my part in building it.

In the recent book presentations, it has been interesting to hear about the affordable housing solutions. Many authors have different views in regards to successful approaches. I wonder how many agencies or shelters believe in the housing first approach vs. the treatment first approach. I would hope that most would be housed first, in order to give them some stability during their struggles. I also hope that cities, like Alameda, can find areas where they can build housing for families and individuals in need.

During our oral internship progress reports, we presented how each agency serves the homeless in the community in different ways. It was interesting to hear about the language that the agencies use to refer to the people they assist. This encouraged me to research how others feel about the approach and language in regards to homelessness. An article titled, “Ever Wondered What To Say To A Homeless Person?” by Winston Ross, discussed way to acknowledge and speak to the homeless.

The article began by explaining how most people do try to avoid the homeless. Thankfully, there are those who decide to talk to the homeless and are interested in helping. I believe the right words can make a big difference. The article states that a simple “hi” or “hello” can make an impact. Regardless of what your greeting may be, it’s important to look the person in the eye when speaking. It was reassuring to hear during the presentation that one agency encourages everyone to speak at eye level. The article also exemplifies that a “how are you” can create an opportunity to provide help. “Many who live on the streets battle the feeling that they’re inadequate or nonexistent to the rest of the world.” Having a genuine conversation can reduce those emotions.

I believe all people should show respect and dignity to the homeless and to not dehumanize them. This is also something that each of the agencies value. Acknowledging these individuals and speaking with them may be a way to provide the help that he or she so desperately needs.

http://nationswell.com/homeless-america-5-things-to-say/

After reading the article, “A Homeless Camp in Our Back Yard? Please, a University Says,” by the NY Times,” I was interested to find more articles of people living in tent cities. The article, “America’s Tent Cities for the Homeless,” by Alan Taylor, tells the stories of individuals living all over America in these encampments instead of on the streets. It gave short descriptions of the individuals and how they ended up in the camps. The article also showed pictures of these individuals and their tents. One man lived in a tent within Seattle with his young son. He stated that his son “doesn’t view this as a negative thing, I mean being a little boy and resilient he looks at it as an adventure” (Taylor, 2016). The son views their situation as fun and is basically like camping. The father continues to describe how they feel safe and it is almost like this tent city creates a sense of community.

While living in the tent cities, these people still live in uncertainty, but have stability within the camps. As a child, I always enjoyed camping trips with my family, but I could not imagine doing it for months at a time. I question how this will affect the children in these situations, and what will happen to them if they are forced to relocate their camps?

Even though these individuals are in terrible situations, it is reassuring for me that each of them describe this community “like a big family.” I would hope that these people can help and support one another.

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/02/americas-tent-cities-for-the-homeless/462450/

After volunteering at a local homeless shelter, I decided to research why many homeless individuals do not want to stay in homeless shelters. Many people assume the homeless do not use shelters because of theft or drugs, but there are a number of reasons. Many of the homeless prefer to sleep on the streets and I ask myself why? Of course, one reason is that there are simply not enough beds available at shelters and a long waiting list. According to author Kylyssa Shay, “In most cities in the US, there’s space for less than 25% of the homeless people living in that city. In some cities, there is room for less than 5% of their homeless population” (Shay 2017).

Another reason why the homeless do not stay in shelters is that the disabled are not always safe. Some shelters will take away walkers, crutches, or canes while they are there. This avoids the chance of them being stolen, but leaves the disabled at a disadvantage.

The homeless do not want to go to the shelters because they have a lack of control. There are strict check-in, sleep, check-out times, etc. These strict rules and regulations can cause them stress and make them feel like they are not in control.

I was shocked to discover some reasons for not staying in a shelter. Thankfully, not all shelters include these downsides. Still, these are things many homeless people have experienced which may have caused them to later avoid using them at all. After researching this, I ask myself if there WERE enough beds available, would the homeless still want to stay in shelters?

https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/why_homeless_people_avoid_shelters

Our next course topic discusses homeless counts. During research on this topic, I came across an article titled “SF homeless count: What it’s like, and why it’s flawed” by Caille Millner. The author discusses her debates with others about if a man was indeed homeless or not during the SF homeless count. They argued that his jacket was too nice to belong to a homeless man, but the author argued that he looked like a drug addict and was obviously homeless. They debated over every person they came across. Who is to know if they are actually homeless? And how did they come to an agreement? I was curious why the coordinators told them to not ask if they were homeless.

Millner stated that the volunteers, including herself, “are forced to make judgments about other people’s poverty” (Millner, 2017). This was difficult for me to accept because I feel that these are the people who are trying to help the homeless, yet they stereotype them as well. Is there a way to count the homeless without stereotyping and judging these human beings?

Many of the books we have read in this course, tell us to stray away from this stereotype, yet these homeless counts do the opposite. I feel that volunteers participating in homeless counts need to be better educated about the homeless. I am curious if there are certain standards that a homeless person has to have to be counted. If I ever participated in a homeless count, I would wonder if I was right or wrong in my count.

After reading the chapter, “Patterns of Homelessness,” from the book Braving the Street, I could not stop thinking about the section where it discussed homeless children. It described that the cause for homelessness among families was from family disruption during their economic crisis. This deeply affected the lives of the children. In school, they were reported being fatigued, could not concentrate, and had difficulties academically and socially. This caused them to have to change schools or fall behind. These problems for the children normally occurred once the family was forced to leave their homes.

I was shocked when the author wrote that in New Hampshire “schools often close their eyes to the paperwork required for school entrance (which can take time) in an effort to minimize further loss of school experience” (24). This explains that faculty and staff ignore the suffering of the students who are obviously struggling. It is as if schools do not want to take children out of classes so that they do not fall behind in school, but how is this aiding the children in any way? Some of these children may be calling out for help, but the faculty does not want to put in the effort to do the paperwork.

This makes me look back on all of my experience volunteering in classrooms. I wonder if I had noticed a tired child who obviously was struggling, but I did not consider what was going on in their lives outside of school. How many homeless children in school go unnoticed and are in dire need of help? How can teachers see these children every day and do nothing about it?

Blog #2

After watching the documentary, “Taylor’s Campaign,” I was disturbed from the views and opinions that the people in power and the authorities had about the homeless population in that area. Even though this film took place in 1994, it worries me that the people in power still feel this way about the homeless. The people in city council were making all the decisions for the homeless. I felt that they were making it impossible for them to survive. For example, the city was telling them that they had to move away or that they could not receive food donations. I had a hard time coming up with a reason why they would take this away from them? These people in power are leaders, but are they doing what is best for the people? The horrible phrases that they used to describe the homeless were “they should not exists” and “they should be put to sleep.”

One of the core values that police departments believe in is: respect. Despite this fact, the authorities had nothing but disrespect for the homeless. I found that the authorities were quick to judge them and oppressed them. One of the most important things I have learned so far in this course is that there are a number of factors in these individuals’ lives that have caused them to be homeless, and that all people should take that into account.

I feel that a responsibility of the authorities is to protect the people, but the film shows them doing the opposite for the homeless. I am curious how the authorities view the homeless, today.