Category: Projects Spring 2017

Expert Interview – Cherri Peate

Posted on by James

Ethnography Summary: Cherri Peate

Date: 2/8/17

Type: Interview

Location: Mendoza College of Business

Team Participants: Paul Cepak, Matthew McCormick, & Parker Mathes

User Characteristics:

  • Community Outreach Director — Office of the Mayor
    • 2013 – Present (4 yrs.)
  • Indiana University and DePaul graduate
    • Sociology concentration
    • Statistics/Research
  • Female
  • Passion for public policy
  • Primary focus lies in areas other than homelessness

Abstract: Cherri is was our first touchpoint. We had a 40 minute conference call in which we learned more about the parameters of our project and the problem of homeless in South Bend. We refined our scope to chronic homelessness with a specific focus on how the issues of mental health and criminal records affect individuals trying to escape homelessness and regain sustainable independence.

What is this person’s greatest asset to our project? Knowledge and Network. Through our conversation we were quickly brought up to speed on all necessary information and immediately put in touch with other individuals/organizations in the community. Leveraging Cherri’s network was an important launching pad for our project.

Top 3 Learnings:

  1. The scope of our project will focus on those categorized as being chronically homeless, addressing both how to get them out of their current state of homelessness and how to prevent them from falling back into homelessness.
    1. Perspective: Eyes of someone about to be homeless
  2. South Bend has many resources for the homeless population, including the Center for the Homeless, weather amnesty, and many soup kitchens. There are programs in place. Now how do we help drive improvement?
  3. A large percentage of chronically homeless individuals are afflicted with a mental illness, increasing the difficulty of exiting their current state of homelessness. Additionally, many also have criminal records, decreasing the likelihood of receiving sustainable future employment.

Key Insights:

  • Cherri helped us realize there are many people we can reach out to and many different volunteer/interview opportunities available on a weekly basis
  • Although seemingly obvious, many of the homeless individuals struggle with extenuating circumstances (i.e. mental illness, criminal record, & injury)
  • Point in Time statistics provide accurate numbers on SB homeless population

Memorable Quote:

“You need to step into their shoes to gather information and devise insightful solutions. Your perspective needs to be from the eyes of someone about to be homeless”

Takeaway:

  • Statistics of SB homeless population
  • Reach out to Rob Booker, director at SB corrections facility
  • Initial contact with Center for the Homeless
  • Attend soup kitchen downtown on Friday’s

 

5 “E” Framework

Entice:

  • Reach out initially over email
  • Set up phone call 4pm February 8th

Enter:

  • Do initial research on SB homeless population
  • Prepare questions for Cherri
  • Locate destination and coordinate logistics

Engage:

  • Conference call with Cherri
  • Absorb information on SB homeless population
  • Ask questions

Exit:

  • Ask Cherri for next steps
  • Rob Booker, SB corrections facility
  • Center for Homeless

Extend:

  • Begin to utilize Cherri’s network
  • Reach out Rob, set up time to meet in person
  • Attending the downtown soup kitchen, engage homeless population for firs time

Analogous Immersion

Posted on by Daniel

Initially, we planned to contact South Bend Public Schools to gain insight into how they plan their bus routes.  After several missed calls, we located a school system online that provided adequate information for us to gain a better understanding of how a school system plans their bus routes.  We thought this experience would be informative in that it would give us guidance for how St. Joseph Health System could standardize a transportation service for a diverse population

The Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools website is located here: http://www.district196.org/

 

Bus Article Summary:

  • Routes are determined by measuring the shortest distance from residencies to the school’s front door.
  • Parents receive a postcard each month with bus stop location, bus numbers, and the arrival/departure times for specific school.
  • Bus stops are determined by safety, efficiency, and distance between stops.
  • Buses are located at intersections for efficiency and safety.
  • The school system provides parents guidelines to ensure their kids have a safe and efficient bus ride

Insights gained:

  • Each parent and/or family has specific needs and preferences which makes it difficult to standardize a bus system.  I recognized this after reading through the Q/A section for parents.
  • The school system consistently assesses bus routes and stops; they say they are willing to adjust routes if needed.  This sheds light on the importance of remaining flexible throughout the process.
  • The school system’s guiding principles for planning and handling bus routes are safety and efficiency.

 

 

Ethnographic Research: Photo Journal

Posted on by Faisal

Date: March 3, 2017

Location: Clay High SchoolUsers: Student Volunteers at Clay High School

Conducted by Faisal Shariff

Escorted by Principal Eid, I went into various classrooms around the school and made a two minute announcement regarding my photo journal. I had notecards with instructions written on them and my email address and phone number for the students to send their photos to. The instructions were to take 5-10 pictures of their favorite things about Clay. I tried to leave it open ended. My hope was to get picture of people, places, and interesting objects.

     

In our experience walking around the school, talking to students, teachers, and administrators, it seems that there is a very welcoming community for people who identify as LGBTQ. Most recently, there was a play with an LGBTQ character. In our survey research, we also found that a number of students listed this community and support specific to LGBTQ issues as a reason for coming to Clay.

   

                    

It is clear that there is a lot of love for the teachers at this school.

  

An art showcase in the main hallway. As the Arts magnet, Clay attracts many talented students and they produce beautiful work. It is a core part of this school’s identity.

 

Classroom with piano keyboards. The class was learning how to produce music electronically. They first try to add small beats to the background of existing tracks and then they proceed to producing their own music.

 

 

 

The Dual credit program and the CTE(Career and Technical Education) classes. This program is extremely valuable at a high school because not everyone has a desire to pursue further education. Some people want to enter the workforce immediately. The programs in Clay are listed below. Some notable ones are Automotive technology,

    

The Sports facilities. What is notable is that athletics are not as prominent. Students from the survey and card sort research did not list athletics very highly.

 

Below is a video of me walking through Clay through the eyes of Snapchat.

 

Interview – Student Interview: Jackson Jones

Posted on by Cheong In

Ethnographic Summary

Jackson Jones

Quick Bio: Freshman at Clay High School. Wide Receiver for Freshman/JV team, and plays basketball and baseball. Attended Clay Intermediate.

Date: March 3, 2017
Location: Clay High School Cafeteria

Type of observation: Interview

Team participants: Conducted interview alone

Age: 9th grade

Why did he choose Clay High?

  • Didn’t really have much of a say; his father was a huge Clay Colonials fan and used to be a big high school athlete when he attended Clay.

Environment:

  • Last period of lunch in the Café O’ Clay, the cafeteria on campus. Less than a dozen students were actually eating something.
  • Dozen students were roughhousing nearby

Interactions:

  • Was hanging out in the cafeteria with Macey Ginzer, who is also a freshman and is deeply involved in sports like Jackson. The two are close teammates, as Macey is the quarterback who sees Jackson, the wide receiver, as his “go-to guy”.
  • His basketball coach interrupted the interview, and managed to persuade him to drop trying out for baseball this season. Wanted him to focus on basketball so he can develop into a varsity player, rather than playing JV for three different sports. Coach wants him to follow his father’s footsteps.

Notable comments:

  • Being an athlete doesn’t automatically keep you from being involved with the Fine Arts programs on campus. Jackson is definitely interested in dance, singing, and acting. While he identifies sports as the most important activity in his life, fine arts comes as a close second.
  • Teachers have been somewhat detached with his development; Jackson suffered from a concussion earlier last season and had to miss several days of school, but never received extra help to help get back on track. Ended up struggling with the course and drop down to a subpar GPA.
  • The LGBTQ community is a factor in a lot of reasons why people he knew is transferring of Clay. The transfer students are not necessarily homophobic, but LGBT students often bully others and pester others. Clay is also commonly considered to be a “gay school” according to other research.
  • Jackson doesn’t feel safe walking down certain parts of the campus. However, he’s learned which parts to avoid or how to defuse a situation whenever he’s approached by someone he doesn’t know, based on experience.

Key Insights:

  1. Sports do have some pull power when it comes to deciding schools, like it did in Jackson and his father’s case. But athletes can also be intrigued and motivated by other quality programs, like fine arts, despite the stereotypes that might counter this idea.
  2. There should be a test on how much quality teachers bring to their students. Jackson believes that a lot of students transfer out because they don’t feel attended to and begin to dislike their teachers. Jackson was grateful when one of his teachers did help him out during his injury, so being able to engage and support students in situations is a key way to retain those enrolled.

Interview write-up

Posted on by kmuya@nd.edu

Profile of participant

Name: Peter

Age: 30

Homeless status: on and off since teenage years

Employment status: unemployed

Location: Kraz Weather Amnesty Building

Date of Interview: February 16, 2017

 

Key Takeaways

He had a relatively stable background, both this parents were in the military and he his grandfather was a successful screen writer.

Has been in South Bend since last November and before that was travelling throughout the US.

His military background allowed him to travel and live in many different locations.

His life experiences have a huge influence o his personality and character. The vast amount of tattoos he has tell many different stories about his life.

(In response to what does a typical day look like for you)

“Hanging with a couple buddies, just try and get a little money and do whatever”

“I like to travel; I don’t have a home base. Its tough but my life wouldn’t make sense to me if it was any other way.”

Interview write-up

Posted on by kmuya@nd.edu

Profile of participant

Name: Eric

Age: 37

Homeless status: on and off homeless since 2003

Employment status:

Hometown: South Bend

Location: Kraz Weather Amnesty Building

Date of Interview: February 16, 2017

Key Takeaways:

The main reasons for homelessness was environment, always being surrounded by drug addicts and lifestyle that was inconsistent and unstable.  He has been in this environment since the age of 17, making him vulnerable and susceptible to friends negative influence.

He lacks a clear focus on recovery or progress and seems relatively comfortable with lifestyle and using the services south bend provides.

Evidence of pushing responsibility on to others and blaming environment.

He lacks self ownership of his problems

He lived at the center for the homeless for 2 years

Memorable quotes

“There are some people in here that are entitled and think their better than everyone else just because they have jobs”

“This is one of the few cities that have a homeless center and I can get everything I need”

 

Interactive Immersion (Card Sort) – MP

Posted on by Madison

Interactive Immersion – The Card Sort

 

The Card Sort was conducted on Friday 3/3 at Clay High School during the school day.

The set of cards included the options:

–        Safety, the Arts, CTE, Athletics, Dual Credit, Reputation, Appearance, Diversity, Community and Academics

When we conducted the card sort, myself (or Faisal or Michael) would ask a student (or occasionally a teacher or school worker) to read and order the cards, ranking them based on the question,

“What does Clay High School do best?”

Observation: We received a variety of responses from the students, in a variety of different formats. Many students were curious what we were doing and wanted to help, this means that we may have had some bias by choosing students who were interested/engaged.

The most common trends were:

  1. The Arts, CTE and Academics consistently ranked near the top of the list. This was interesting as Clay does not have a reputation for being an academic school among people in the community.
  2. Athletics and Reputation were pretty consistently near the bottom of the list. This is consistent with our other research.
  3. Safety was usually located near the center of the card sort spectrum. Sometimes appearing closer to the best and sometimes to the worst.

Below are two examples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Ethnographic Interview Weather Amnesty

Posted on by Wendy

Name: Alex

Age: 57

Homeless Status: Newly Homeless

Employment Status: Employed, Full-Time

Hometown: South Bend

Location: Kraz Weather Amnesty Building

Date of Interview: February 16, 2017

Key takeaways:

  • The main reasons for homelessness is South Bend he says was financial (lack of jobs, bad economy, etc), alcoholism, and mental health
  • Some even come from good neighborhoods like Granger Indiana and the rural areas and not the inner city
  • Heroin has had a big impact on the community starting with African Americans then Latin Americans, and then to Whites even children of White Collar
  • He got into cocaine while in college at NYU as an art major which lead to his addiction
  • Said there is a vicious cycle of going in and out of rehabs
  • He left his home, because his wife helped him do whatever he wanted and helped feed his addiction
  • ADD and OCD
  • Has a network of drug recovery people that he reaches out to daily

 

Notable Quotations

“Its nice in here, everyone behaves themselves because no one wants to get kicked out.”

“Alcoholism and drug addiction don’t discriminate against finance and economics.”

Debbie Weather Amnesty Volunteer Interview

Posted on by Wendy

Name: Debbie

Hometown: South Bend

Date of Observation: February 16, 2017

Location: Kraz Weather Amnesty Building

Type of Observation: Interview

A member of The Vineyard Church who helps out Weather Amnesty

Key Takeaways:

  • the church and the community do a lot for the homeless here in South Bend
  • There are many different programs but are not all coordinated
  • Weather Amnesty moved every year for the first years and one year it was so far away from the location that served dinner that some people would have to choose between a place to sleep and dinner
  • Weather Amnesty was started because someone froze to death
  • There are waiting lists at Hope Ministries and at The Center for the Homeless
  • Other programs will only take the people who did not get into Weather Amnesty if it is life threatening levels of cold

Ed User + Interactive Interview: Colleen Turner

Posted on by Wendy

Profile of participant:

Name: Ed King

Age: 61

Time spent homeless: 8 years

Time in weather amnesty program: 3 years

Employment status: Unemployed

Blind in left eye, needs surgery to correct

Previously Vietnam veteran & in uniform business

Date of Observation: March 2, 2017

Location: Kraz Weather Amnesty Building

Type of Observation: User + Interactive Interview

Themes

  1. Mental health & health led to homelessness

Ed went through a devastating divorce and had to quit his job to enter inpatient psychiatric services. He struggled to re-enter the job market afterwards. He cannot see out of his left eye and has difficulty walking, which makes it difficult for him to find work. He needs surgery on his left eye, but does not currently have insurance that will cover it.

2. Gave up looking for work

Ed is blind in one eye and has difficulty walking. This has deterred him from job-searching, and instead he spends his time drinking on the corner.

3. Desire for Independence

Ed went through the Center for the Homeless programming, but does not want to return because he felt they interfered with his personal life too much.

4. Isolation from family

Ed’s journey into homelessness was catalyzed by a devastating divorce. His wife left him, taking the kids, home, and money. She completely shut him out of their lives, so Ed has no family in his life right now. Missing his children left him depressed and with few people to turn to.

Memorable Quotes:

“I wish I could put family at the top, but they’re not in the picture anymore.”

“The only thing I had was my dog and my house, but she ended up taking that too.”

“I’m 62 years old. I just gotta stick it out for 2 more years until I retire.”

“Good days are all the same. I have a couple beers a day. I never drank before, but now I’m drinking a lot more than I used to cause that’s what keeps it coherent. I don’t even know what would make a bad day anymore. They’re all bad.“