Author: Wendy

Ethnography Comments

Posted on by Wendy

Many great insights captured here team!  Some of the key takeaways for me include:

  • The role that parents play in the decision of where to go to school – even indirectly as kids strive for that approval
  • The importance of “getting it right” – by whose standards?
  • Great images of lunch hour at Clay.  It made me anxious just looking at them.  There was a recurring them of the school being uninspiring and restrictive.
  • Every school has a stereotype.  How long do these last?  What is the average length of time a school “on top” before another one becomes the top choice?
  • The correlation between parent engagement and student performance – how do we account for this for the students that do not have involved parents?
  • Loved the comparison of choosing a high school being like a game of telephone!  So true!
  • The analogous comparisons to choosing a college were great.  Many of you highlighted a wealth of resources accessed – in-person and online.  How does this compare to high school decisions?
  • Is a student enrolled in a high school really worth $65k?!?
  • Big discussion on IB v. AP – what does college admissions say on this?

Keep up the great work team!

Ethnography Comments

Posted on by Wendy

Great job with the diversity of immersions and interviews team!  There are so many interesting takeaways from your research thus far.  A few areas that stood out to me:

  • 42,500 no shows/year!!!  How much does this cost?  It seems like you could make a case that it would be less expensive to take doctor to the patient?  Or have their own “St. Joe Uber fleet” that picks people up?  Let’s challenge the orthodoxies!
  • If Medicaid is always late with getting patients to appointments, or taxis, or whomever, what incentives would make patients arrive early?  Say an hour before the appointment?
  • Kids seem like a reoccurring challenge.  Lugging them along or finding child care.
  • There appears to be a perception that buses are not safe or clean.  Is this true?  What can be done about this?
  • Uber is expensive and prohibitive to the many in this population without smart phones or credit cards.

Excellent work team!

Ethnography Comments

Posted on by Wendy

There are some very interesting insights emerging from the research posted thus far.  A few interesting topics that stood out to me:

  • The importance of connecting with others – community, pets, and especially family
  • Retirement facilities that do it well seem to have figured out how to address the retirees needs – how about the family members that aren’t there?  Are their needs met?  And how can you replicate the retirement facility “taking care of me” feeling with technology?
  • The comment around healthcare professionals being condescending.  How widespread is this feeling?  Is this a doctor?  Nurse?  Other?
  • The “sandwich generation” that cares for parents and children, in both cases, is reliant on getting information that their parents (or children) are willing to share.  And while they feel they could be more helpful with more information, this is also the element of ignorance being bliss.  The more they know, the more stressed they may be.
  • Parents today may retire wherever their kids are. What is the impact of the social needs on this?  How about on the kids that will become the destination of their parents?  How often does this happen?  I have quite a few friends here in South Bend that became the destination for their parent’s retirement.  I assumed that ND played a big role in this, but maybe not?
  • There is great pride in being independent.
  • Retirees / aging individuals are “stubborn”.  Or are they fighting for that independence?

Ethnography Summaries

Posted on by Wendy

I am awe struck at your team’s ability to see these disadvantaged individuals and to give them a voice.   I am very proud of the way you are approaching this daunting problem.  The quotes captured were very raw, personal, and humanizing.  The fact that Ed cannot even recognize a bad day anymore.  That Billy is so proud of starting school soon.  Or others that seem to not recognize the situation they are in.  It often seems that many don’t really “see”the homeless anymore.  Would it be better if we did?  Is there an area we should explore?

I would like to understand the pride factor more.  How did Billy get to this point?  Did he do it alone?  What motivated him?  I would like to understand the mentality more around “claiming a cot”.  How many go without a cot?  What is this process like?  How much time in the day is spent strategizing or lamenting this?  And your insight around the time in-between shelters and meals, coupled with a fully system of solutions, is spot on.

I look forward to reading the rest of the team’s ethnography summaries.  Keep up the great work!

Iowa Benchmark

Posted on by Wendy

Great job benchmarking with Iowa.  Is the $5 fee per trip to the club to cover the costs of transportation and food?  And are membership fees separate?  Please benchmark other clubs, even those that are not Boys and Girls Clubs.

Note that the B&G Club has a running program at Harrison Primary…

Posted on by Wendy

The 3rd Annual Pi Day 5K/10K
Registration is now open for the Annual Pi Day 5K, hosted by the Association for Women in Science and Society of Schmitt Fellows. Registration is available on the website. It costs $25 ($30 after Friday, March 10) and includes a running shirt and pie and hot cocoa after the race. Aren’t interested in running races? We also need volunteers — sign-up is also on the website — all volunteers get a T-shirt as well! All proceeds go to benefit the Boys and Girls Club running programs at Harrison Primary School in South Bend.
Saturday, March 18; 3:14 p.m. starting outside McCourtney Hall

Posted on by Wendy

The Gallery Day was very insightful because we were able to present all of our research to Michelle and then receive valuable feedback in moving forward with our project. We walked Michelle through the different aspects of our collected research starting with our Journey Map and finishing our Analogous Immersions. Michelle seemed to think that we were on the right track to solving the transportation problem and she was impressed to see that we collected research from so many outlooks.

Collectively, our team had three main walkaway points from our research pertaining to finding a solution:

  1. Sustainable budgeting/ funding is needed
  2. Awareness must be spread about current solutions because a lot of people are unaware of the current solutions
  3. Organization must become more efficient and connected between different medical offices

 

It was very helpful having Michelle come to the Gallery because she was able to create links and provide ideas within our research. Moving forward, we will use all of our collective research to come up with a sustainable solution to the huge transportation problem that exists in South Bend.

Below is photo of the team presenting their research.

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Gallery Day Reflection – Colleen Turner

Posted on by Wendy

 

Gallery day provided a great platform for us to take a step back and discuss at the big takeaways of our ethnographic research. Peter provided valuable perspective and challenging questions as we discussed our findings with him. Below are the major takeaways and gaps in our research that we want to focus on moving forward.

Takeaways

  1. The importance of connecting homeless people to substance abuse and mental health services

A common theme among the homeless was a struggle with mental health and substance abuse problems. The cause and effect is not always unidirectional; sometimes being homeless causes someone to take up drinking, and sometimes drinking leads someone into homelessness. We need to think more about out who will pay for these services – the state, charities, the city? And even if they were accessible, would our population of homeless people be willing to use them?

2.  Cultural differences that can become a barrier for exiting homelessness.

Many homeless grew up in poverty and this reflects in their attitudes and behavior. However, employers have a bias towards people who understand the middle class cultural script. This disconnect can be part of the problem of homeless being unable to get and hold jobs.

3. Idleness during day could be window of opportunity

Most of the homeless have nothing to do in between meals – the soup kitchens close down, and the shelter does not open until after dinner. The good news is that time does not need to be a constraint for homeless people. Maybe we can use this open time in their day to get them to activities/services that will benefit their health and/or help them exit homelessness.

Remaining Gaps in Research

  1. Visiting Center for the Homeless

I think it would be valuable for us to fully understand the services that CFH offers. They are known for having a great program to get people back on their feet, and it’d be great to see what they do firsthand. I also think it would be helpful to talk with some of the homeless that live there and ask about their journey to the shelter. I’d also like to better understand some of the barriers that may keep our population out of the shelter. Finally, I’m interested in where their funding comes from and how they choose to allocate it.

2. Exploring funding options

Who would pay for additional programming for the homeless? The city, state government, churches, charities? I think understanding budget constraints may help provide more guidance for our ideation & potential solutions. Moving forward, I think we should try to talk with the current soup kitchens & CFH to understand where their money comes from, and we should also talk with people involved on the city council.