This week’s class meetings were very interesting. On Monday, we had speakers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office H.O.P.E Program come and talk to our class about what they are doing in the community and how their program has impacted the homeless population and the community. I really enjoyed hearing how passionate these individuals were in their work and how wonderful the program is. It was the first time I heard about the 211 call center number for homeless related calls and to find resources/organizations for this population. It seems like San Bernardino County does a good job in supplying resources for the homeless population. What I found most interesting is that on average, it takes 70 encounters with a homeless individual before they accept any form of aid or assistance. That seems like such a high number, but it makes sense to me that they would be resistant or untrusting of people reaching out to them. I also found it interesting that the San Bernardino program uses Esri technology to track and “count” homeless individuals. From what they showed us in class, it seems like a great technology that is efficient and helpful to many different people

On Wednesday, Dr. Craig Turley, founder of the Blessing Center, came to speak with our class. It was interesting to see his perspective on how homelessness has changed through the years in the Redlands area. I am relatively new to the Redlands area (3+ years), and have only experienced homeless individuals on freeway exit ramps. I didn’t know that there used to be an encampment on Redlands Blvd. for instance. Talking with Craig helped me to understand all of the politics that is involved when discussing solutions to homelessness. Overall, I gained a lot of valuable information from both of our speakers from this week. I enjoyed getting different perspectives from people who are actively trying to make a difference in our community.