Author: Matthew

Date: Tuesday, March 7th, 2017

Summary:

On my visit to the Mishawaka Food Pantry, I first talked to the director, Mike Hayes. After a long conversation, he introduced me to a man by the name of Pat (I did not ask for a last name). Pat works in the back “warehouse” area of the food pantry and assists with the day to day operations of food intake. He was around 60 years old and suffered from type 2 diabetes. He used to be married without children, until alcoholism took over his life and his wife divorced him. Now he travels from couch to couch as he can not stay healthy or clean enough to hold a job. Mike even mentioned that Pat will pass out from time to time in the back and they have to take him to the hospital via ambulance. Interestingly, Pat has no desire to find a job and reconnect with society. He said that he enjoyed being “off the grid” and did not enjoy the societal pressures that he used to feel. This was an interesting perspective that I had not yet heard from our other interviews.

Presenting our research to our partners from the City of South Bend was a very rewarding experience for the team. I feel that we did a very good job of presenting our research in a colorful and organized manner, and the feedback that we received was also helpful. Out of the various comments that Cherri made, I felt that the most important was their recommendation to narrow down the scope of what we define as “homelessness.” This was similar to the advice of Mike Hayes from the Mishawaka Food Pantry, because people have their own definitions of the word and might not define themselves as such, when they really are homeless. Cherri also mentioned that it is important to consider all demographics of homeless people and to inquire if they have an ID or not. These are factors that will give us more widespread data and hopefully lead us to a propose a more suitable solution.

Location: Mishawaka Food Pantry 

Date: Tuesday, March 7th, 2017

Participants: Matthew McCormick 

Interviewee: Michael Hayes, Director 

Summary:

To gain further insight on what other cities might be doing to help the problem of chronic homelessness, I traveled to the Mishawaka Food Pantry. Upon my arrival, I was introduced to Mike Hayes, Director of the food pantry. Mike and I spent about 45 minutes discussing the scope of the project that we are working on for the city of South Bend and information that he could provide to aid us moving forward.

Mike has spent several years on the Mishawaka City Council in addition to his time at the food pantry, and has a strong relationship with the government on tackling this issue. I explained that at this point in the project, we are still in discovery mode, but will soon be narrowing our scope. He then gave two main points that I feel are very important to our project at this time.

1. Most people that he sees regularly all have separate, individual problems. There is not just one solution that can solve homelessness. For this reason, we have to segment our solution and focus on one area. For example, focus on homeless people receiving adequate medical attention, or assist in finding job opportunities for homeless people with a criminal record.
2. It is important to define what homelessness is, and figure out how South Bend defines it. His experience in Mishawaka is that if you ask the city how many homeless people there are, they will probably say none because when they find one, they immediately take them to a shelter and do not count them. Most recently, he saw a number that said 11 homeless people in Mishawaka. However, he feels that there are many more who go “couch to couch” and do not consider themselves homeless but really indeed are. This is something that we should take into consideration when looking at South Bend specifically.

My time with Mike was very beneficial. He was open to helping out the team moving forward if we have any more questions and even said he has experience writing grants if we ever come to that point in our solution. He was a wealth of knowledge and I am very thankful that he took the time to speak with me.

Analogous Immersion: Homeless System Simulation  

Date: March 2^nd, 2017

Participants: Amanda Berusch, Sarah Reihl, Matthew McCormick, Paul Cepak, Yuwei Tu, and Parker Mathes

Simulation Summary:

The Homeless System Simulation is an activity that is meant to help participants understand how the homeless assistance system works. Moreover, this simulation aims to show participants the struggles and complexities of working most effectively to help a homeless population with limited resources. This simulation incorporates actual data extracted from homeless systems all around the country. We chose this option for our analogous immersion because we have information from the user (homeless population), however we felt that gaining insight from the perspective of the “system” would be beneficial, as well.

The Way it Works:

Each player is assigned a certain position within the homeless assistance system. These positions are represented in the form of cards, which include Intake, Emergency Shelter, Rapid Re-Housing, Outreach, Transitional Housing, and Permanent Housing. The homeless population is represented by a number of beads on each card. Through different rules and strategies implemented in the simulation, each player’s goal is to have the least amount of beads on their card by moving their population to permanent housing. Player actions can include adding a program, opening a diversion column, or converting a program. Total beads on each player’s card are tallied up at the end of each round.

Key Insights:

Solving the problem of chronic homelessness is not easy, especially from the side of the “assistance system”. There are such limited resources to the point that moving people to permanent housing becomes a strong challenge. This game has showed us that not only are resources scarce, but also that there are variables that can change the way you allocate them at any time. This ambiguity increases the challenge of moving people to permanent housing even more. We must have a resolution in times of uncertainty in our solution/proposal.

 

 

1. We do not have a refrigerator on our third floor of our house, so we use a pot with ice in it to keep things cold.
2. We use our Christmas tree “wrap around” lights because we don’t have lights in our hangout room.
3. On our boat in Cancun, people used a line hook as a cup holder.

Interview with Rob Booker

Sarah, Matthew, Parker, and Amanda interviewed Rob Booker, an employee from Saint Joseph’s County Community Corrections. This interview focused on the issue of chronic homelessness in St. Joseph County, specifically, and his perspective on the topic.

Date: Wednesday, February 22^nd, 2017

Location: Mendoza College of Business

Participants: Parker Mathes, Amanda Berusch, Sarah Riehl, and Matthew McCormick

Profile of Interviewee:

Male, mid 40’s.

Has worked in community corrections for over 15 years. Began working directly out of college.

Helps facilitate various programs within the correctional facility. Has regular interaction with people in need of support and resources in the community.

Profile of St. Joseph County Community Corrections:

Capacity is 108 “residents” and the center is usually the last option before someone goes to jail or prison. Work release folks are from St. Joseph County. Looking for non-violent, first time offenders. Everyone in the program is required to work and they have to pay $100-$300 a week to be there. Includes housing, food, substance abuse counseling, employment teams, case managers, etc. People usually stay at facility for six months to two years.  No juveniles are housed at the facility.

What is this person about – what drives him?

Rob has a very strong commitment to bettering the lives of people in his community. This is shown through almost two decades of dedication to St. Joseph County Community Corrections.

Memorable Quote from Interview:

“It would be nice if people could get adequate treatment and services sooner. It would be nice if they didn’t fall into crisis before someone realizes they have a problem.”

Top 3 Learnings:

1. The biggest need right now in our community (from this perspective) is substance abuse programing. In the last dozen years, opioid abuse has become really out of control.
2. Drug abuse leads to a slippery slope of problems. If you can’t stay clean, you can’t stay employed. If you can’t stay employed, you can’t keep your house, etc.
3. Underlying mental health issues are a major part of drug abuse in the St. Joseph community.

Key Insight:

Homelessness among struggling people in the community occurs because of a number of different issues. There is rarely one reason as to why someone is without a home. A combination of drug abuse, unemployment, lack of personal support, and many other factors can lead to this problem. The resources allocated to helping drug abusers and those with mental illnesses are not enough. If there is one thing that Rob would change about the system, it would be to increase the financial resources available to those with drug problems and/or a mental illness in order to help them before their reach the point of homelessness or imprisonment.