Volunteering at YouthHope this past semester has been an eyeopening and rewarding experience. It’s unbelievable to think that just before this semester, I was completely unaware of a national epidemic targeting youth. Whenever I pictured homelessness, i saw a poor older man, with dirty clothing and an unkept beard. I pictured a man that chose that harsh lifestyle, that was ungrateful for any help offered. However, as we have learned in this class, that is not always the case; in fact it’s not even often the case.  Every year, the statistics of youth homelessness is growing at an alarming rate. That being said, YouthHope is doing its part in helping to prevent youth homelessness. YouthHope, an organization that seeks to aid homeless and at risk youth ages 14-24, was established in 2009. Heidi Meyer, the director, works diligently to provide services and support to these youth. Heidi began YouthHope when she saw potential in an individual who had a difficult life. Since then, Heidi has been devoted to helping each youth find their own potential. From my experience volunteering there, the youth are so diverse in their backgrounds and personal stories. Many of the youth come from families who live in poverty, and simply cannot provide for the youth. These youth then do not have access to resources, such as stable housing, adequate nutrition or even clean clothing. When youth lack basic necessities, it makes every other task more difficult. Many of the youth stress for their parents, and wish that they could work to help pay bills. The problem with that , is that many of them also want to go to school.  Other youth come to YouthHope because they had lived   Difficult lives, which led them to living on the streets or addicted to drugs or alcohol. YouthHope and its staff are great in the way that they welcome all who enter, regardless of who they are or what they may have done. YouthHope gives them all the opportunity to better themselves and overcome obstacles. YouthHope does this in providing support for youth in all areas possible. YouthHope provides a food pantry that the youth can take from as they please. They’re is also a clothing closet, which I have witnessed being an asset as El Niño has come into play this year. YouthHope also provides tutoring and GED help so that students can graduate high school and go on to work or college. Another service they offer is buss passes so youth can get to school and work. The way they can receive these is by providing attendance sheets and old bus passes. The youth always express how thankful they are for what YouthHope does for them, and love going to the new building. The youth at YouthHope are a closely knit group, and seem to all know each other very well. They treat each other like family, staff and volunteers included. I especially see the youth benefit from this, because many have expressed how they don’t have family or support.   Overall, I believe YouthHope is truly benefitting the youth it serves, even if it’s a bit unorganized at times. Many of the youth have expressed that they would like to become a director or volunteer of a youth shelter one day because of the positive experience that they have had. This alone demonstrates that the youth love YouthHope and what it does for them and their families. I myself have enjoyed volunteering at YouthHope and I m looking  forward on continuing my internship with them and learning more about YouthHope.

My internship was at Redlands Family Services.  Their mission is to alleviate poverty, encourage self-sufficiency, and promote the dignity of all.  In my first progress report I mentioned that I was supposed to be working with case management.  However, my job consisted mainly of busy work at the front desk.  For example, I would make copies, information packets, flyers, stamp folders, alphabetize folders/name cards, and file documents.  I never actually got to case management.  I continued to do the little tasks that were busy work nobody actually wanted to do.  I think that the closest thing I did that involved case management was when one of the newest case managers wanted to show me how to input a new family into their system.  Using a particular database, she showed me what to look for in the new family’s file and where to submit it on the computer.  She explained to me that this was done for every person/family.  I assume that these are updated at least every year considering people have children or their conditions get better or worse.

Although I mostly did busy work while being at the front desk, I was also able to help clients sign in.  I also recorded on paper when people needed to get clothing.  When clients go to get clothing we have to write down their case number (assigned to them when they join Redlands Family Services), their ethnicity, what city they reside in, the number of people in their family, and the ages of each person in their family.  I actually don’t know why this is recorded instead of services like food and what not, but I think it is because the agency is a non-profit that receives funding from the government.

One thing that I noticed that Redlands Family Services was good at was that no matter what their client’s condition was, they were always willing to find a solution.  For example, a family came in looking to receive services from the agency.  They did not know how to go about receiving services so we called one of the case managers up to the front desk.  One of the things that Redlands Family Services requires in order to receive help is proof of income.  The family looking for help was a woman who did not speak English and her daughter who was about 15 years old.  The 15 year old explained that everything her dad receives is in cash so figuring out what kind of document to bring in as proof of income was hard to find.  However, the case manager was able to find out that she could bring in a phone bill and that would count as proof of insurance.  I found it fascinating that they would accept this.  I thought it was really cool that they helped this family in any way that they could.  I don’t think that many agencies would have taken the time or have had the patience to help a 15 year old find proof of insurance for her family.

Who here like me has walked by a homeless person with an animal and either felt sorry for the homeless pet or wondered whether the animal was just a way for the homeless person to get more money panhandling? These are two common ways the public thinks about homeless pet ownership. Many people even go as far as to cut the leash and take the dog to give them a better life. Police have even been known to take dogs from the homeless if they do not have the correct proof of ownership forms. I recently came across an article that broke down this criticism of dogs with homeless owners and explained some new study findings. The study suggested that homeless pet owners who stay with their pets are less likely to suffer from depression while on the streets. With only about nine percent of shelters catering to dog owners these homeless populations who do not wish to separate from their dog usually end up on the street. While dogs aid their owner’s mental health they also serve a vehicle for motivation for the owner to get their pet and themselves off the streets. So maybe next time you see a homeless person with a pet you may think differently about the pet’s purpose and the owner’s intention. Perhaps there should be more shelters aimed at homeless pet owners. Take a look at the interesting article and tell me what you think!

https://www.good.is/articles/homeless-people-pets-bias

Since I didn’t talk about my experiences in my presentation I’d like to focus on that for a portion of this blog post, for which I will not name the organization. Overall I’ve had a great experience with my organization, I’m at a point where I can walk in there on practically any day at any time and there’ll be someone I know there who I can talk to or that knows me. Watching the presentations today made me really reflect on my organization because most of the others seemed quite professional and very well structured, where as mine felt more like a group of friends trying to do what they believe to be right. When you ask who is in charge the answer you’ll get is that nobody is in charge, that everyone is there because they want to help other people. I think the lack of structure is actually a strength because it goes to show just how far compassion and care go, that all it takes to get something done is will power. That being said it feels like this group of friends is trying really hard to push themselves to the next level of being a well-structured, highly effective agency, and I look forward to seeing the progress they’ll make. I learned a lot about what it takes to manage and maintain a non-profit organization from this internship. My first time trying to volunteer there I was rejected because I hadn’t gotten their early enough, I had to fill out some paperwork about what I wanted to do there and give them personal information; it was very different and much more serious from what I was expecting, I thought I could just show up and help out. That was when I realized that volunteering is no joke, social work is no joke, and having to put up with all of negative stereotypes and seemingly mindless reasons for keeping poor people down is no joke. Most of all this internship has taught me an invaluable respect for the people who dedicate themselves to changing the lives of others as well as those who use the services of these organizations, and I believe it is this respect that will help make a significant change in the lives of millions of Americans if it can introduced to public opinion on homelessness.

Right now this organization is having relatively the same major issue of lack of staff as most other non-profits; like I stated in my presentation there are no paid staff members, and therefore if volunteers don’t show up they must close their doors to the public. In addition they’re struggling with space. A nearby school is planning on moving out in the coming months, and this organization is going to try their best to get the land for their own operations. The school would be three times the square footage of the current facility, have more buildings for more smooth, less crowded services, and would be a big step in establishing themselves as a major contributor to the alleviation of poverty.

I found an article from almost six years ago talking about a homeless encampment in Redlands. At first glance I didn’t think it was going to be of any relevance, but I found a couple useful ties to our class in it despite its length.

The main thing highlighted in this article is the idea of homeless people being pushed around (the leaf blower effect). We’ve learned about how cities don’t want their homeless people to be in public view, and I think the negative public view of homeless people is portrayed in the article with the author’s use of language; when he says “a homeless encampment set up along the train tracks in Redlands,” that doesn’t tell the reader where the homeless people are, that’s like giving directions and saying “go downtown” without actually describing how to get there. Whether or not the author intended it this way we can see the social stigma engrained in our language.

The next thing I found interesting was the police being reluctant to enforce laws forbidding homeless folks to sleep in public. I have no idea if this encampment still exists, and we’ve talked about how the Redlands Police Department hasn’t handled this issue in the most effective way so I’m curious as to whether the police are actually turning a blind eye and letting the encampment stay or if this was just for positive media attention.

Overall what struck me the most was the fact that there was an encampment in Redlands at some point. Personally I don’t see very many homeless people in parks or really at all on the street, maybe every now and then I’ll see a couple, but its rare. Nor do I see them in groups, most often they’re by themselves which made this article that much more insightful for me because  it helped solidify the reality that they are homeless people in Redlands, and they are blown around like leaves. Again this could be due to being a part of the isolated student demographic, it just resonated with me when I found an online article confirming what’s usually just comments in our class that add meaning to a bigger point.

Towards the end of January I first set foot on the grounds of a non-profit, religiously affiliated mission, and was greeted by a supportive and friendly staff.  Knowing that this organization had a religious affiliation, I was skeptical.  I had the feeling that the staff would try to force faith onto me and it’s clients.  However, the religious aspect of the organization was minimal, and it was clear that its main mission was to give the local homeless population a pathway to recovery.

I use the term “pathway” because that is really what the organization seeks to create.  This is not a day and day homeless shelter, in which anyone can use the services and sleep inside the congregation.  There is a fairly lengthy intake that each client must go through before he starts receiving the services.  In addition to a background check (primarily making sure that the client does not have a record of any sexual crimes) he must work with a case manager to create a set of goals or benchmarks.   As the case managers have told me, “We need to see something from them that shows us they want to improve.”  After hearing this, I was concerned that they might have overly harsh policies towards their clients.  These goals might include finding employment, getting proper identification to apply for social benefits, or getting in touch with family to find permanent and sustainable housing.  This organization has many success stories.  However, there is a 70 person cap, and the shelter cannot take in everyone.  What they do especially well is give advise to those who they cannot shelter.  They keep good ties with other nearby non-profit organizations that provide similar services.

Two case managers deal with all the clients.  This is my main critique of the organization as a whole.  I found them to be understaffed.  Of course, they likely do not have the funds to hire more, but I could see that the two of them often times suffered from burnout.  There are typically around 70 clients that are enrolled in the shelter’s programs.  Along with regular clients are resident volunteers, who receive full access to all the shelter’s services in exchange for volunteer work on the grounds (primarily janitorial services).  I found that the resident volunteers played an important role in the dynamics of the organization.  They were able to provide guidance for the other clients, because they have all lived on the streets before, but are sheltered and nourished.  These resident volunteers were very welcoming to me and were supportive of my internship.

Some of the regular clients were approachable, and others were not.  Some were quiet, and others could talk for hours.  Most of the clients I interacted with hated to be labeled “homeless.”  The felt that it ruined their identity to be labeled that way.  Labeling people, however, is part of normal human cognition.  We always tend to categorize people into groups, and because of that we negatively stigmatize people.  Its amazing how by simply hearing these client’s stories, the “homeless” tag that these clients had on them didn’t exist.  This first hand personalization is why I value my time spent at this organization.

A few days ago, I was going out to eat with my roommate at chipotle and as we were walking in the doors, we passed by a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk in corner outside the restaurant. He did not disturb us at all and we proceeded to walk in to order our dinner. When we were standing in line, my roommate told me she wanted to buy that homeless man a burrito bowl because she felt bad that he was sitting outside a restaurant with nothing to eat. So, she bought him a burrito bowl, and as we were leaving she walked up to him and offered him the food. But to her surprise he actually rejected her, saying that he already had food and that he wanted money instead. It became pretty obvious to us that he was intoxicated in some way. My roommate was taken aback by this and preceded to leave the food next to him and walked away. Back in the car, she made a very interesting comment to me. She said “that is the reason why no one wants to help them. All they want is money for drugs”

On our drive back to school I thought a lot about what she had said. It got me thinking again about society’s perception of the homeless. How they are portrayed as drunks and druggies. From being in this class, we know that the majority of the homeless are neither drunks nor druggies. But the rest of the world’s knowledge about the homeless comes from their 2 or 3 second interactions with them on the streets. So when they run into a drunken man or one who appears to be strung out on drugs, they then assume that all homeless people are one in the same. One bad experience can deter people from desiring to help. This is the problem! One drunk man does not define the whole of the homeless population. Just like one white person does not define all of American or one NBA player does not define the whole national basketball league. We cannot confine ourselves to these constricted views of our world, but especially of the homeless. It is stereotyped views like these that hinder the rest of the homeless from being trusted to hold a job or receive assistance. It hinders them essentially from being able to be apart of society because no one wants to hire a drunk or a druggie.

This weekend i went to las vegas with my fraternity and when i was walking around las vegas during the day and the night sometimes off the strip and on the strip. I really noticed something that there really is not that many homeless people or of this population that seem to  be around this area. I saw a few homeless people and just watched them for a couple minuets just looking at them and their body language and what not it was really weird what came to my mind as i watched and observed several of them i thought about the homeless population here and how huge it is and how the homeless people here act. When i thought about that i just thought about how the homeless population or some homeless people will just come up to you and ask you for change or something and when i was in vegas i walked past a couple homeless people at different times and i assumed they were going to ask for some money or spare change but surprisingly they did not and this sort of made me think about the different cultures and the different areas and why most people here in California will go out of their way to ask and the people of las vegas really don’t or just do not want to bother people. This was just my observation of some homeless people on my trip to las vegas. Its really crazy because before taking this class i would never have thought about this and took my time out of my weekend to do this and actually be so curious about it.