I lead a discussion and interactive presentation on the Real Structural Causes of Homelessness with my classmate Sam in our Intentional Integral Living Learning Community on our University’s Campus. To advertise our event we made an announcement at a community meeting which 70 people attended, a facebook event, which we invited 350 students, we made posters and we sent out 2 community emails, a week before and a reminder the day of the event. Despite this, only 3 people attended our event. This was disappointing because we worked very hard on our presentation and wanted to have a community discussion on the important real structural causes of homelessness and solutions.
Presentation Outline:
- Visualization living on the street homeless
- Real Structural Causes: Neoliberal Governance, Hegemony: Dominance Model, Social Inequality: Race, Gender, Class
- Ethnography of Systemic Inequality
- Causes of Homelessness
- Stereotypes
- Discrimination and Recurring Trends throughout history
- African American Civil War, Civil Rights
- Women’s Liberation Movement
- Solutions given from Homeless People
- Public Policy Solutions
- Local Solutions:
- My Internship at Homeless Youth Shelter
- Sam’s internship at Salvation Army
- State of CA solutions
- National Solutions
- What can we do? Discussion and Q/A
During the visualization one of the students was brought back to past experiences in low in come neighborhoods and on the street in DC. He shared he remembered distinct smells, and busy business people quickly walking through the streets. Hes watched people rush past homeless people asking for money. He also stated that most people would rather give their money to larger organizations then give money to people they meet on the street.
During our discussion one of the students shared her experience on Skid Row in LA, working with her Church to serve meals. While working there she heard a homeless person’s story. The man she met received a college education, had a job as a computer software designer but went into severe debt from surgeries for his health conditions. This is an example of a person, who simply needs affordable health care to survive. This is a policy issue. I believe everyone should be given free socialized health care which is similar to healthcare in countries in Europe.
After the presentation I felt frustrated no Community members attended the event. This community when I arrived as a freshman, was very activism and social justice focused. 2 Years later their are new community members with different interests. I am disappointed that I was not encouraged or supported my Community for this event. This was a big wake up call! As an activist I want to reach out to all people, especially as a student to other students. Its hard to get students on campus interested and care about social justice, a lot harder than I expected. Students would rather go to Community parties and play video games together than go to a Discussion Group on REAL ISSUES.