Category: IMANI UNIDAD

Ethnography Summary

Wen-Cong Toh interviewed George Lowe, The Director of Resident Services at The Center in Asbury Park.
The Center in Asbury Park is a volunteer based New Jersey not-for-profit service organization, providing support services for people living with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers. They have nutritional programs as well as housing programs like Center House, which houses 25 permanent residents with HIV, many of whom are formerly incarcerated.

Date: 3/7/15

Type: Expert Interview

Location: Phone Call

Team participants: Conducted interview alone

User Characteristics:  

He is a gay white male in his 50’s and 60’s, and is responsible for Center House (residential arm of the organization) and their emergency placement program for homeless individuals.

What is this person about – what drives him/her?  He is very driven to help the HIV-infected population. He ran community health centers in New York City. He is still working in healthcare, just with a homeless population now.

What is this person’s biggest point of pain?  Not having enough funding to support all of their clients, clients being overly concerned about social stigmas, navigating the unique intersecting health (HIV and mental), housing, and incarceration issues for each resident.

Memorable quotes from interview:

“Housing is Healthcare.”

“If you have a felony, a lot of people won’t rent to you, if you have been convicted of the distribution or manufacturing of drugs, you can’t get any benefits through social service. Employers won’t hire you. We want to keep them in care but that’s impossible if they’re not housed properly. It is not fair; a felony can be just contempt of the court. Upon release, they are not supposed to be discriminated against, but they are.”

“It is difficult to get apartment owner/landlords to accept these people because they’re often undesirables of community, who do come with a relatively high level of risk.”

“The law creates the stigma, both against the HIV population and ex-convicts. With the HIV population, if they are asymptomatic (through medication) and use condoms, there is a zero percent chance of transmitting the infection, so they feel like they shouldn’t have to disclose (to sexual partners).”

“The biggest barrier is within the community with rent, we must pay market price to house our clients.”

Top 3 Learnings:

1. There are actually a lot of grants that non-profits can apply for to help this specific population as people are worried about the potential outbreak of HIV. When housing clients in motels/apartments, the center pays for all rent and amenities. The center takes responsibility for their clients if anything goes wrong, so the program is set up to be safer and profitable for the landlords.
2. Mental health is another major issue; many clients grow to feel that they don’t deserve employment or housing and are very concerned about the stigma around both being incarcerated and having HIV. They develop conditions like depression and bipolar disorder. Suicidal clients are especially common when they first enter the cycle of drug abuse/incarceration and homelessness/re-incarceration.
3. The center does have pretty strict rules for their residents. While letting in most ex-felons, they don’t house major sex offenders and they have strict rules against using drugs while living in the center. Clients with substance abuse issues must stick to a treatment plan set out by their counselor.

Key Insight – (1) Imani Unidad can apply for federal grants to start up a housing program for their clients with HIV, or just obtain funds to help clients pay for emergency housing and amenities. This would make landlords in the area much more receptive to the idea of accepting formerly incarcerated individuals, many of whom probably have very low incomes as well. (2) There should be more emphasis placed on treating the mental health issues among this population, as that may be a root cause to why so many struggle to find housing or employment. If they don’t have the self-confidence or mental stability to represent and stand up for themselves well, it makes it easier for the community to marginalize them

Activities:

• Plans, directs and coordinates activities necessary to centralize case management across multiple agencies with multiple disciplines
• Applies for grants
• Determines the best use of funding to help the most individuals
• Negotiates with landlords and apartment complexes in their area to accept their clients as tenants
• Determines where to place the homeless clients in their emergency housing program
• Leads the process for new residents to move into Center House
• Ensuring that the medical and physical (food/shelter) needs of their clients are met.

Environment

• Asbury Park, Monmouth County, NJ
• A wealthy, generally liberal town, located on the Jersey Shore
• Can be very depressing and seem hopeless at times. A recent client committed suicide recently before they could house him at Center House.
• The Center has been described as: friendly, helpful, and informed but nonjudgmental.

Interactions:  

• Helping clients infected with HIV (Both residents and nonresidents).
• Many of these individuals also have been incarcerated, homeless, and/or drug abusers.
• Appealing to federal and state officials for funding, especially those from the CDC and State Department of Health.
• Other non-profit organizations (such as those that focus on the homeless)
• Educating community leaders and business owners
• Directing their employees at The Center in Asbury Park.

Objects:

• The Center
• Transportation
• Shelter
• Computer and phone

Users:

• Clients (residents and nonresidents) with HIV
• HIV-infected individual who is homeless/formerly incarcerated.
• People in the community
• Government officials.

Ethnography Summary

Wen-Cong Toh interviewed Greg Anderson, the co-owner of andersonNDrentals.
AndersonNDrentals has been providing off-campus housing for Notre Dame and St. Mary’s students for over 35 years. They also provide housing for a few Memorial Hospital students and employees.

Date: 3/7/15

Type: Individual Interview

Location: Wen-Cong’s house on East Marion Street (one of andersonNDrentals’ properties).

Team participants: Conducted interview alone

User Characteristics:  

He is a white male in his 60’s, co-owner of andersonNDrentals, and rents about 20 houses to ND and SMC students every year. He has been in the business for over 35 years.

What is this person about – what drives him/her?  He is driven to make a living from renting out properties to students. He also enjoys the relationships he forms with tenants. This has evolved from a side-job to become his full-time profession.

What is this person’s biggest point of pain?  Dealing with the turnover every school year and making sure all of their houses are rented out. Maintenance issues during the year.

Memorable quotes from interview:

“When I go to landlord association meetings in South Bend, most people just complained about tenants who didn’t pay rent or moved out/ran away in the middle of the night. They don’t really bring up the issue of crime itself; but being formerly incarcerated definitely gives us an impression of being untrustworthy.”

“I read in the paper about meth houses, and about how it can permeate the walls and be very expensive for owners.”

“I wouldn’t take on any risk that would endanger my business. While I would love to help, we are a business first, not a charity.”

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Their company does not ask potential tenants about their criminal record or do background checks because since their renters are all educated young college students, they assume that they don’t have a history and are pretty safe. Even if they found out that one of them was formerly incarcerated, they wouldn’t have a problem renting to him/her because they trust them as Notre Dame students and through their association with the larger friend group in the house.
2. However, they would be wary to rent to formerly incarcerated individuals in the community (non-students). They have heard about negative experiences from other landlords regarding renting to this population. Their main goal is to make a living by collecting rent each month and the less drama the better. Also, Greg would be worried about how the community views his business and properties if they do rent to more dangerous ex-convicts. He said it definitely does depend on the crime though.
3. Greg is unsure about the feasibility of partnering with a nonprofit housing program, as their properties are pretty expensive, and the non-profit would have to pay market value. However, there are pros if the non-profit behaves similarly to Memorial Hospital, and provides their own cleaning services while maintaining the turnaround for them.

Key Insights – (1) While non-profits may try to appeal to their charitable sides, landlords are trying to make a living as well. They will generally take the safer option, such as students whose parents will pay rent every month. They may be more willing to rent to formerly incarcerated individuals though, if rent is guaranteed by a non-profit. (2) Students get a lot more benefit of the doubt due to their education level and age; this is a class issue. Educated ex-convicts are more likely to be granted second chances from landlords as they seem more trustworthy.

Activities:

• Maintains houses throughout the year, provides repair if anything breaks.
• Provides tours of the houses and tries to rent out each one to students every year.
• Develops relationships with tenants.
• Attends landlord association meetings in South Bend.

Environment

• South Bend, IN, a college town.
• The houses are all large and spacious, decorated and designed for 6-8 students.

Interactions:  

• Constant contact with current tenants to make sure everything is going smoothly
• Recruiting prospective renters for future years.
• Works with wife.
• Communicates with other landlords in the area to stay informed.

Objects:

• Houses
• Transportation
• Computer and phone

Users:

• Current student renters
• Prospective student renters
• Neighbors around each of the houses they own.

Ethnography Summary

Grace Hasbun and Victoria Velasquez interviewed Debra Stanley, the founder and manager of Imani Unidad. Debra was in company of Bayay, Peer to Peer group coordinator, and Andy, intern.

 ^ Debra’s contagious laughter

Date: March 3, 2017

Type: Expert Interview

Location: 914 Lincoln Way West, Colfax Cultural Center, first floor

Team participants: Victoria Velazques & Grace Hasbun

User Characteristics:  Female, age 50s, 60s

Passionate. Founder and manager of Imani Unidad, a charitable, non-profit organization whose goal is to provide community education and advocacy efforts to its members, who are strongly stigmatized by both society and themselves.

GH and VV interviewed Debra concerning the main issues Imani Unidad addresses. Information involved the organization’s mission, goals, structure, members, and services. Focusing on what Debra believes is the main problems or barriers the members encounter when interacting with the community. Specifically, barriers involving housing and employment due to society’s stigmas.

Members of Imani Unidad (target users): The organization includes HIV/AIDS and/or formerly incarcerated individuals, Individuals with substance abuse history.

Personal Development Portion: Personal Development Portion helps reduce the stigmas that are self-imposed by the members. Imani Unidad unlike other agencies focuses on the internal development piece of the individuals and the community education about their situation. This focus is due to a gap Debra saw in the other regular services, whose focus is merely on external re-installation. The organization includes Individual and Group Level Services for Personal Development. This is an essential piece for HIV+, former incarcerated, and/or individuals with substance abuse; this service is “very much tailored to the individual, and our whole goal is to help them get to the place where they become their own best advocate”.

Community Education Portion: The Community Education Portion seeks to help members against societal stigmas and barriers for to HIV+, former incarcerated, and/or individuals with substance abuse issues.  Including City Council, County Council, Landlords, Employers. Who pose barriers and stigmas towards the individuals.

Top 3 learnings:

(1) Imani Unidad offers personal development services that are tailored to the individual’s needs and to impulse the personal desires of improving. Also, it allow them to grow on the community/group/peer support.

(2) The community education part requires a lot of work, considering the current situation stigmatization. Specifically, for the target group it is hard to find housing, employment and even healthcare. Thus, it becomes a cyclical/vicious cycle that leads them to falling again in substance abuse, and/or homelessness, and not able to personally develop.

(3) At this juncture Debra and Imani Unidad are trying to formulate the “talking points” that speak specifically to the community.  Formulate what exactly are the barriers/situations, stigmas/discrimination, and laws/corruption that are currently negatively impacting both Imani Unidad members and society as a whole.
Differentiate between the believed vs actual consequences/results of these barriers built.

Key Insight: Imani Unidad deals with marginalized people. Their goal is making sure that these individuals become their best advocates, and to educate the community so that they don’t build barriers that discriminate this group unnecessarily.

 

QUOTES

“We are the, what I consider, the personal development piece… allowing them to get to the place where they could become their own best advocate”

“…so it is very individualized, no box or pattern, and different people want different things, and that’s what we are all about.”

“Why are they (government officials) allowing substandard structures to exist..”

“you end up discriminating against people, unnecessarily”
“part of the education is trying to build people up”

(…topic: individuals speaking up for their rights…)
“There is always this fear that the adverse impact is going to be greater is I say something”
“This allows people who discriminate, even greater power over people”
“That’s why education with folks is so important; creating this sense of community and support… so they don’t have to feel so alone.”

Activities:

• Debra had arrived to SB 3 days before, arriving from California.
• Grace called Debra to confirm appointment, nice and welcoming she gave directions
• At the time of the meeting Debra was working in her office, and guided to a larger “meeting room” with Andy.
• Introduced Bayay and Andy
• Grace took pictures and recorded the conversation

Environment

• 12:00-1:30pm
• “meeting room” had bright, lively orange walls, and animal/forest paintings that students had painted as a service for Imani Unidad.
• Red brick buiding was a large and “antique”
• First floor, large room with long crocodile shaped carved wood.

Interactions:

• Individuals in the building guided Grace to Debra’s office
• Input and further insights from Bayay, Andy
• Debra was passionate, loud, and has a contagious laughter

Objects:

• Large table to sit around
• paper, pen, glasses
• Office room, with computers, many files
• GH and VV labtops
• Phone’s video camara

Users:

• Debra Stanley
• Bayay
• Andy
• Grace Hasbun
• Victoria Velazquez

Ethnography Summary

Victoria Velasquez participated in an analogous immersion by researching what it would be like for students post-graduation if they had committed crimes on private college campuses if these crime records were made accessible to the public.

Date: 3/5/17

Type: Analogous Immersion

Location: N/A done through research online

Team participants: Conducted analogous immersion alone

 

User Characteristics: “All-American Athlete”

Male, 21 years old

Great GPA, super involved in clubs on campus, applying for full-time jobs for after graduation

What is this person about – what drives him/her? Driven to graduate from ND and get a job at a prestigious financial services firm.

What is this person’s biggest point of pain? This person was found guilty of sexual assault on Notre Dame’s campus, and the Indiana Supreme Court recently ruled that Notre Dame needs to make its records of NDSP reports and investigations public. If police reports and investigations are made public, there is a chance that wrongdoings committed in college will follow students after graduation and adversely impact their opportunities for success in the future.

Related quotes from news articles: “…Turner’s once-promising future remains uncertain. But his extraordinary yet brief swim career is now tarnished, like a rusting trophy” (Washington Post). “Turner’s life and career were upended during a night of drinking” (Washington Post). “’…She is considered a victim while he goes [from] Stanford student and Olympic hopeful to registered sex offender for the rest of his life once he gets out of prison’” (Washington Post). “His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life” (letter from Dan Turner, Brock Turner’s dad, to the judge in the case).

 

Top 3 Learnings:

1. ND and other private institutions worry about the privacy of their students if they make their police reports public. They fear that minor disciplinary incidents (i.e. being too drunk at a football game) will be made public.
2. Private schools throughout the country are selective in the crimes that they report to the student body for fear of violating students’ privacy.
3. The media painted Brock Turner, an individual convicted of committing sexual assault at Stanford, as this all-American boy whose future was destroyed by his actions when he was heavily intoxicate.

Key Insight – (1) People will sympathize with someone they feel made a mistake that they have learned from. (2) There are major incongruences in how people perceive individuals who have committed crimes. It seems as if people are less reluctant to give those with privilege and promising futures a second chance at starting over. If Brock Turner had been a Black male at a community college, the public outcry surrounding his light sentencing might have been louder and more profound.

 

In the case of Brock Turner, his crime was made public because it was handled by public law enforcement. However, he was convicted of three felonies and sent to jail. He will always suffer the consequences of his actions. What he did was abhorrent, and any similar behavior done by individuals on other college campuses should be punished similarly and made public record.

This analogous immersion helped me understand why it’s important that Imani Unidad help marginalized communities become their own best advocates. This practice of denying people housing based on their criminal history could result in unfairly discriminating against lower income—and consequently, minority individuals—because they don’t have the luxury of having their crimes protected by privacy laws. While a property manager in downtown South Bend might not want to rent to someone on the sex offender list, a property manager in downtown Chicago might not realize that he or she is renting a luxury apartment to a person who was found guilty of committing rape on a private college campus.

Ethnography Summary

Victoria Velasquez interviewed Henry of CES Property Management and then asked him to participate in a card sort.

Date: 3/6/17

Type: Interactive – Card Sort

Location: Victoria’s house in Irish Crossings

Team participants: Conducted interview alone

User Characteristics:

Owner of CES Property Management

 

Male, age 60s

Used to manage about 12 properties in a lower income neighborhood of downtown South Bend

Had bad experiences renting to low income individuals

About 12 years ago he got back into property management full time when Dublin Village was built

What is this person about – what drives him/her? Henry is driven by the trust that property owners place in him to rent out their properties and maintain them.

What is this person’s biggest point of pain? He feels like going through students’ applications for housing is a waste of his time.

 

Memorable quote from interview: “I had three properties set on fire.” “I had small claims files about a foot high that I was trying to collect on.” “I’m always one to give people a second chance.”

 

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Henry can overlook past financial circumstances that might otherwise negatively affect someone applying for housing (i.e. history of bankruptcy, credit score, income). This is because most of the rent at his unit is paid by parents of ND students.
2. Applicants with a prior criminal history, substance abuse history, or eviction history would automatically be disqualified from getting housing in Henry’s properties.
3. The things that are deal breakers for Henry aren’t necessarily deal breakers for all property managers (i.e. Section 8 Housing vouchers).

Key Insight – (1) It’s less so that the property managers are weary of individuals with criminal history and more so that they worry what others in the living community will think. (2) Aside from any red flags (i.e. substance abuse history, registered sex offender, convicted criminal), Henry is basically looking to fill his units with students who will pay their rent every month.

 

Activities:

• Stopped at Victoria’s house during his daily routine of stopping by tenants’ units to fix any problems that arise.
• Answered my questions about his experiences as a property manager.
• Participated in a card sort made by Victoria.
• Separated cards with information that could be asked on a housing application into 4 piles: very important, semi-important, unimportant, and irrelevant.
• Asked a lot of questions to clarify what each pile meant.

 

Environment

• Monday afternoon around 3:30 pm in Victoria’s kitchen.
• Kitchen table was cleared off to give Henry space to sort cards.
• Quiet as Victoria stopped asking questions and let Henry think and sort through cards.

 

Interactions:

• Henry answered Victoria’s questions about property management.
• Victoria explained the card sort to Henry and demonstrated what to do
• Henry sorted through the cards. He did a lot of shuffling around with the cards and made a bunch of small piles before finally placing them into the four categories.
• Henry told Victoria that he could continue to help her throughout the project and to feel free to text him questions whenever.

 

Objects:

• Henry’s reading glasses
• Henry’s phone sitting on the kitchen table
• Cards written on regular paper that was cut into fourths

 

Users:

• Henry
• Victoria
• Victoria’s roommates

Ethnography Summary

Victoria Velasquez interviewed Henry Catalino, the owner of CES Property Management (a property management company that rents out over 50 properties to Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross students). Victoria interviewed him about the concerns of renting to individuals with a criminal history.

Date: 3/6/17

Type: Individual Interview

Location: Victoria’s house in Irish Crossings

Team participants: Conducted interview alone

User Characteristics:

Owner of CES Property management; rents over 50 properties out to ND/SMC/HC students every year

 

Male, age 60s

 

Has been in realty for almost 40 years

Started out as a real estate agent, but the economy was in a recession and he couldn’t support his family so he got into property management and financial advising

What is this person about – what drives him? Henry is driven by the students that he interacts with everyday.

What is this person’s biggest point of pain? Balancing his commitment to the owners of his properties with his commitment to the students he rents to. His owners are his #1 priority. He wants to make sure the students who live in these homes are respectful of the property and the community that they are living in.

 

Memorable quotes from interview: “When people ask me why I rent to students, I tell them that I love that I don’t have to chase rent.” “It was not a good experience renting in low income areas.” “People wouldn’t feel comfortable if there was a serial rapist living next door.”

 

Top 3 Learnings:

1. At the end of the day Henry wants to earn an income. He can do this a lot easier by renting to students whose parents have no problem meeting monthly rent ($625-1025/person/month).
2. Whether or not someone will rent to individuals with a criminal history is highly dependent upon the circumstances in which the person is renting. For example, Henry is renting properties that belong to someone else out to students. Another person who has to relocate for work for 3 years might rent their home out while they are gone.
3. As a property manager, Henry feels that he has a fiduciary responsibility to the owners of the property and to the population of the community where the property is located.

Key Insight – (1) People aren’t renting properties out of the goodness of their hearts to provide shelter to people. They are doing it as a means to make ends meet. (2) We can change people’s minds about renting to individuals with criminal history by focusing on their financial responsibility.

 

Activities:

• Stopped by my house while making his away around the neighborhood attending to tenants’ needs.
• En route to fix the electrical wiring in another tenant’s kitchen in an Irish Crossings home.
• Was coming from a house in Wexford Place where the washing machine needed repairs.
• Answering my questions and making small talk about Spring Break.

 

Environment

• Irish Crossings home on Burdette St.
• Just Henry and Victoria sitting at the kitchen table
• Room was kind of dark because shutters were drawn closed
• It was around 3:10 pm.
• House was a mess

 

Interactions:

• Henry texted Victoria when he was here.
• Normally he knocks and then lets himself in if no one answers the door after a few seconds. This time he rang the doorbell and waited for me to run upstairs from my room in the basement to let him in.
• He has a rule that we have to take our shoes off in the house, but he didn’t take his shoes off.
• We talked about our Spring Break plans. He is leaving on Wednesday for Mexico with his wife. I am leaving on Friday for the Caribbean.
• His phone kept buzzing as he was getting text messages and he was looking at them while talking to me.

 

Objects:

• Had his glasses in his pocket.
• Had his phone in his hand and then placed it on the table.

 

Users:

• Henry
• Victoria
• Victoria’s roommates

Great start team!  Love the life-sized photos of the team 🙂