Category: Projects Spring 2017

Silas User + Interactive Interview: Colleen Turner

Posted on by Wendy

Profile of participant:

Name: Silas Elliott

Age: 27

Time spent homeless: 3 years

Current employment status: Unemployed

Has a love for pets

Date of Observation: March 3, 2017

Location: Weather Amnesty Shelter

Type of Observation: User + Interactive Interview

 

Themes:

1. Denial of drug addiction

Silas has used drugs since the age of 14. He has been to rehab twice, but continues to use drugs. He does not think of himself as an addict, but he was intoxicated at the time of the interview to the point where he was incoherent.

2. Spending the day on the corner

Silas says he spends most of his day standing on the corner asking for money. Sometimes he also looks for work and other ways to make money, but he is currently unemployed.

3. Lacking self-awareness

Silas described himself as “hard working” and “disciplined.” This seemed to contradict his behaviors of drug use and begging on the corner.

Memorable Quotes:

“I was not on the verge of ‘addicacy.’ I’m not an addict, not technically. I’m like half and half.”

“My mom thinks I’m an addict. But I know that I don’t have a problem. It’s been bad before, but right now, I’m not an addict.”

“During the day, I stand on the corner and ask for money.”

Card Sort Results:

Prompt

Sort into words that describe you & words that do not. Rank from best to least descriptive in each category.

Response

Words Silas believes describes him:

  1. Hard working
  2. Persistent
  3. Disciplined
  4. Independent
  5. Open minded
  6. Daring
  7. Resourceful
  8. Caring
  9. Outgoing

Words he does not believe describe him:

  1. Introverted/shy
  2. Stubborn

 

 

David – User Interview #1: Colleen Turner

Posted on by Wendy

Profile of participant:

Name: David Fayne

Age: 58

Time spent homeless: 6 years

Time in weather amnesty program: 3 weeks

Hometown: Elkhart

Employment status: Unemployed

Date of Observation: February 16, 2017

Location: Kraz Weather Amnesty Building

Type of Observation: Interview

 

Themes:

1. South Bend services are insufficient.

David previously lived in Salt Lake City and experienced the Housing First model. He feels there need to be more accessible services similar to this. He does not like that there are so many barriers to entering the shelter programs. He also dislikes that the weather amnesty shelter is temporary, and it is only accessible from 8pm to 8am.

2. The drive for improvement

David showed a passion for improving the homeless community. He dreamed of creating a 24-hour shelter/center for the homeless that would choose to help, rather than turn away, people with issues like substance abuse.  He was determined to talk to local politicians, churches, and university resources about his idea.

3. Optimism for the future

David felt confident in himself that he would be able to find a job and housing soon and start implementing his ideas for improvement.

Memorable Quotes

“Having a place where people could stay 24 hours would be more sufficient than spending money on these seasonal programs because we could get to deal with people and we could get to place people.”

“By people jumping around like popcorn, they’re never going to get the help they need. They’re never going to be in the facility long enough to figure out what their problem is.

“You’re gonna have to let the drug addicts in if you want to help them.”

Immersion: Homelessness Colleen Turner

Posted on by Wendy

For my immersion experience, I visited the weather amnesty shelter in the Kraz building in downtown South Bend. Below is a summary of my experience outlined in the Compelling Experience Framework:

Entice:

-No strings attached

The weather amnesty program differs from the other downtown shelters in two major ways: it is temporary (only in cold winter months) and it has very few requirements for entry. The weather amnesty is open to any homeless male, regardless of if he is drunk, high, pursuing jobs, or not. The tolerance of the shelter is what makes it so appealing for many homeless. The Center for the Homeless and HOPE ministries have requirements for anyone who enters the shelter, including a long-term commitment to their programming and staying free of drugs/alcohol. These rules can become barriers for homeless that are not ready to make those commitments.

-Provides warmth, shelter, snacks for free

The weather amnesty program provided about 30 simple cots and blankets on the floor in the back room. While it was nothing fancy, it would certainly be better than sleeping on the street. I felt safe while I was there, knowing that the staff are there to provide protection and to screen for any weapons before other homeless enter.

    

-Convenient location

The weather amnesty building is located downtown right next to the soup kitchen that provides dinner, making it a two minute, easy walk.

Enter:

-Staff checks for illict items

Anyone who wants to use the shelter must surrender any drugs or weapons before entering. This is for the safety of everyone in the shelter.

-Claim a cot

Typically, the homeless person will claim their cot after they enter to make sure that they get one before the shelter fills up.

-Giveaway of donated clothing items

The staff will pass out donated items, such as jeans, t-shirts, and coats, to whoever needs it.

Engage:

 

-Snacks

-TV / VCR

-Fellowship

-Prayer & reflection led by volunteers

-Sleeping in the room

The common room was set up with chairs, a TV with a VCR, and a table for snacks. Volunteers from a local church brought in oranges, popcorn, and coffee for the snack, and they led the group in prayer. About half of the people there went to the prayer, and several specifically asked to be prayed over. The volunteers played euchre with two of the homeless men. Most other people watched TV, spent time on their phones (if they had one), or just ate their snack and kept to themselves. Some of the people there were outgoing and friendly, some were very introverted and irritable, others were high. There wasn’t a sense of larger tight-knit community, but some of the men had become friends and were chatting in the common room.

Exit:

-Leave by 8AM

All homeless must leave the building by 8am. They typically walk down the street to a local church for free breakfast.

Extend:

-Spread by word of mouth

Homeless people typically learn about resources, like the weather amnesty shelter, through word of mouth from other homeless who have used it. The people at the shelter can spread word to other people in the homeless community this way.

Analogous Immersion (High School) – MP

Posted on by Madison

Analogous Immersion – Madi’s College Decision

The Process:

When I sit down to think about my college decision I remember it being quite the process.

Stage 1: I hadn’t put a lot of thought into the decision prior to High School, and in the first two years of High School I also didn’t think about it a lot – I only knew I wanted to succeed, and that I had a few schools that to me equaled success.

Stage 2: Over the summer before junior year, I remember incessant googling.

–          Best colleges in the United States… in Michigan… in the East… etc.

–          Best colleges for Business… for Liberal Arts… etc.

–          Most beautiful college campuses

–          If you can think it, I googled it. And after lots of googling, you start to notice patterns.

Stage 3: Then junior year we were faced with the decision at the end of the year, and the apps at the beginning of the year.

I was noticing patterns, and compiling lists of all the schools I was considering. I compiled criteria and tried to narrow down long lists. I talked to counselors, teachers, friends, and pulled out the common app and started to fill out essays. Then, once I had a decent sized list formed, I wanted to talk to people, so the school visits began.

Stage 4: I visited schools on the East Coast, the University of Michigan, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, and Michigan State University.

The visits entailed me learning a lot more about what each institution offered, what life was like on campus

I wrote up spreadsheets, and tried to figure out where I “fit”. The following are the criteria I considered in my spreadsheets:

The Factors:

–          Price

–          Faith Life

–          Academics

–          Job Prospects

–          Alumni Network

–          Location

–          My Parent’s Opinions

–          Safety

–          Ratings

–          Reputation

 

The Options:

–          I applied to eight different schools, and remember thinking that I could have applied to so many more.

–          I was so indecisive, and despite having tons of criteria and spreadsheets and reflections, it still felt like I wasn’t sure I had done enough.

–          I felt highly informed, but like there was still so much I did not know, and could not know until I attended any of these places as a school.

The Emotions:

–          Falling in love with places over and over again. Looking around, and feeling shock and awe that I would be privileged enough to attend these kinds of places – this is a feeling that students deciding between a lot of schools might feel, but slightly less relatable.

–          Being fascinated by the college students and their lives – this could be equivalent to how intermediate school students feel visiting high schools.

–          Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information, or disappointed by the lack of proper information – I’m sure intermediate parents and students feel this.

–          Nervous that I wouldn’t fit in or have friends.

–          I was fighting with my parents a little bit over where to go, and over my procrastination of the decision. I’m sure some students feel tension with their parents when making the decision.

–          Worried about every aspect listed above under factors.

 

Five E Framework:

Entice – online articles, word of mouth, reputation, media, books, common app,

Enter – common app (we do not know anything about what it is like to actually choose a school or register for a school? Must add to our research questions.)

Engage – filling out the common app, finding letters of recommendation, etc.

 

For the purposes of this project, I think that Entice, Enter, and Engage are probably going to be foci of the project, so I only cover those three here.

Interview 9 – Parent Interview: Mrs. Mirza

Posted on by Faisal

Date: March 3, 2017

Location: Mirza Residence

Interview type: Interactive

Team Participants: Interview conducted by Faisal individually.

User characteristics:

  • Married, mother of three boys ages 14, 16, 19
  • College educated
  • Runs a bed and breakfast
  • Husband is professor at University of Notre Dame

 

 

  • When and How did you come to the decision on which high school to send your children?
    • Discussed it as a family
    • Looked at what each school had to offer. We had heard about Penn, so there was the option to go back to that. But we had a few reasons to try something different. We were deciding between Clay, Adams, Riley, Washington, and St. Joe. We made the decision on public school partly because of the cost factor, and they had attended public school in California and we had a good experience with it.
    • Adams stuck out because of the IB program and its diversity. Penn was large but didn’t really have competition in the district because its only one high school. We thought it might be difficult to get into certain classes. We had heard good things about Adams from Notre Dame faculty that my husband worked with.
    • The sports program at Adams was good for cross country and track. It was competitive and that was important to Momin.
    • Additionally, Adams had good extracurricular programs in Model UN, Mock Trial and those things were important to Momin’s little brother Sami.
    • We felt that the IB program was well-rounded, challenging, and good preparation for college.
    • To be honest, for Clay, it was a minor thing, but the “Colonials” mascot kind of turned us off.
    • One thing we kept in mind was that test scores and numbers could be misleading with regard to the quality of the school in the sense that Penn is a very good academically but it is feeding a very specific demographic and is therefore not as diverse because it is predominantly white and middle class.
      • We wanted them to be exposed to more diversity. You learn life lessons from people who don’t think like you or believe the same things that you do.
  • How did you do your research?
    • My husband did a lot of the groundwork on the internet. He surfed the school’s websites to see what options they had.. where the district boundaries were and what schools served what neighborhood. Mom used athleticnet.com to look into the track timings of the high schools in the area to see where he could fit in and be competitive. After we were kind of settled on Adams, I made a few phone calls to the IB director to get other logistical things figured out.
  • How do you feel now?
    • Happy with the decision to send them to Adams. Moving was difficult, obviously. But I don’t think I regret not sending them to Penn or another place.

Ethnographic Research — Individual Interview #2

Posted on by Jonah

Jonah Shainberg interviewed Robin Levine Shainberg, his mom, on her plan for retirement, proactivity in monitoring her health, and comfortability with technology.

  • Date: March 5, 2017
  • Type: FaceTime Interview
  • Location: Lives in Rye, NY
  • Team participants: Conducted alone
  • User Characteristics:
    • Gender: Female
    • Age: 50
    • Occupation: Elementary school teacher
    • Education: B.A. George Washington ‘88, and Manhattanville Master’s in Education ‘06
  • Memorable Quotes:
    • “I’m more conscious about [my health] now that I can track it, but I haven’t really tracked it much. I walk because I have Leo… it’s a social activity… I meet people and see other dog owners and see the neighborhood. It opens up conversation.”
    • “The things I feel like I’m not in control of, I get checked every year.”
    • “I’d be willing to help my doctor track my health, and I wouldn’t find it invasive, but I’m not worried about anything because I don’t drink or smoke and I’m aware of how to stay healthy.”
    • “I’m a needs-based person.”
    • “There’s more knowledge coming out every year and people are more open to discussing health with their family.”
    • “I haven’t thought about it yet. I don’t know what my plans for retirement are.”
    • “[Moving] depends where you guys are living. I’d want to be close to wherever you guys are. It’s hard to age without a support system”
  • Key insights: Some people need to wait for a shock to begin monitoring their health, reliance on others to encourage motivation, each generation handles healthcare differently (culture-wise) too
  • Patterns: Another person emphasizing the importance of socialization, the expectation that family cannot provide all the support

How involved are you with your dad’s health right now?

  • “He’s also been lucky with his health”
  • “I ask how he’s doing all the time”
  • “He’s young, he’s 73.”
  • “I see more things mentally than physically”

Would you want to be more involved in his health?

  • “If Mimi isn’t here. She’s the first line of defense”
  • “There’s more knowledge coming out every year and people are more open to discussing health with their family”

How would you help him?

  • “I’d start with the doctors he has now”
  • “They’ve already been proactive- their building has an elevator and a gym and he doesn’t have to shovel”
  • “If he had a medical issue, I’d move him to the Osborn [assisted facility in Rye] but it depends on him because he’s very stubborn”
  • “We’ve never talked about it because he’s still young and independent”

Are you technologically savvy?

  • “Yes, I am savvy”
  • “I know how to download apps”

How do you use technology for your health?

  • “I have a Fitbit but I use it in the summer. I also have the Health app on my iPhone”
    • “I feel like I’m working most of the time and I know my average habits, don’t need it all the time”
    • “I used the nutrition thing and it depressed me”
    • “I use other apps for recipes and news”
  • “I look at it all the time to see what I did during the week. I walked 7 miles per day at ND over JPW!”
  • “I’m more conscious about it now that I can track it, but I haven’t really tracked it much. I walk because I have Leo… it’s a social activity… I meet people and see other dog owners and see the neighborhood. It opens up conversation”

What would you like to do for your health in the future?

  • “even now I’m trying to eat more salad and do more things. I make an attempt to eat healthy and enjoy treats in moderation”
  • “the things I feel like I’m not in control of, I get checked every year” (cancer)

How often do you exercise?

  • “Everyday. I walk 3 miles per day and I have an active job, plus pilates once per twice per week”

Would you like your doctor to be more proactively involved in your day-to-day health?

  • “I don’t have a good relationship with my doctor… I doubt she’s missing me”
  • “If I got an email saying it’s time for my checkup, I’d like that”
  • “I wouldn’t mind sending my Fitbit data to the doctor to track it”
    • “I’d be willing to help my doctor track my health, I wouldn’t find it invasive, but I’m not worried about anything because I don’t drink or smoke and I’m aware”
  • “I’m a needs based person”

How often do you see a doctor?

  • “Once every two years for a regular doctor because I consider myself healthy plus specialists once per year”

Do you think about your health often?

  • “I think about it all the time. My mother died when she was 5 years older than me. Could I eat more fruit? Yes. Could I eat less candy? Yes. But that’s why I walk a lot and monitor my diet”
  • “all the moms who are home all those years play yoga and have routines but I work and watched you guys and walk the dog”
  • “exercise is social and I like that”

What are your plans post-retirement?

  • “I haven’t thought about it yet. I don’t know what my plans are”
  • “It depends where you guys are living. I’d want to be close to wherever you guys are. It’s hard to age without a support system”
  • “Avoid the sandwich generation”
  • “I wouldn’t keep anything from parents or children. That doesn’t benefit anybody”
  • “I’d wait until I had a complete story about my health. Doesn’t help anyone to worry”
Robin and Leo

Interview 7 – Student Interview: Momin Mirza

Posted on by Faisal

 

Momin Mirza

Date: March 3, 207

Type: Interactive Interview

Location: Momin’s house

Interviewer: Faisal Shariff

Video Recording

User Characteristics:

Male

Junior at Adams High School

Athlete: Track and Cross Country

Father is Professor of Islamic Studies at Notre Dame

Lives in South Bend, IN

Used to live in Granger earlier in childhood. Family moved to Berkley for 5-6 years, and now moved back to South Bend.

 

 

Who is Momin?

Momin is a smart, driven, athletic individual. Academics are important to him. He wants to do well in the classroom and be challenged but he also wants to compete at a high level in track and cross country.

What made the difference?

I think that if Clay’s athletic teams were stronger than Momin might have been more inclined to attend Clay.

 

  • How have you liked Adams?
    • It was an adjustment moving from Berkley and joining at the beginning of my junior year. It is academically challenging. The IB program especially, there are a lot of guidelines and you have to express your ideas well. The track and cross country teams have been welcoming.
  • What made you decide to come to Adams?
    • I was choosing between Penn, St. Joe, Clay, Marian, Adams, Riley. IT came down to Adams and Riley. The academics were important and sports were also important to me. I ran cross country in California and was looking for a similar level of competition and team that would push me to improve.
    • Some of the decision was based on the fact that IB diploma would look best to colleges
    • I used the internet and visited the school websites to see what the campuses were like. I also looked up the timings of the track team to see where I would fit in.
    • Proximity of the school to our home and my dad’s work was also something considered.
  • Why not Clay?
    • Sports teams were lacking, and academics were not as rigorous from what I heard, but one minor thing was my parents didn’t appreciate the mascot being the colonials.
  • Imagine for a second that you had lived in the same place for your childhood and had to come to a decision regarding high school choice, how would things be different?
    • I think that I would have more friends that are knowledgeable. I would have talked to them more and gotten a better understanding of the school in the area.
  • Talk a little bit about diversity and how important it is to you.
    • It was a concern of mine. Especially coming from Berkley where I was surrounded by such diversity coming to more conservative Indiana. I felt that Adams was going to be very diverse.
  • Did you ever take into consideration the arts when making your decision?
    • Not really interested in the Arts

Key quotes:

“Some of the decision was based on the fact that IB diploma would look best to colleges”

“At Clay the sports teams were lacking and the academics were not as rigorous from what I had heard”

Personal Immersion: High School Choice Faisal Shariff

Posted on by Faisal

Faisal Shariff

Age: 21

Hometown: Granger, IN

Senior Science-Business major, Poverty Studies minor

Middle School: Private – The Montessori Academy at Edison Lakes

When choosing a high school to attend, my parents and I did quite a bit of exploration of both the public and private schools in the area. I shadowed at Adams and Trinity while taking a tour of St. Joe and Penn. My parents wanted an academically rigorous school that would prepare me for college. But they also wanted a school with diversity and a decently-sized student body. My middle school had a graduating class of ten. Clay was an option as well but never really under serious consideration.

Adams seemed like the logical choice in South Bend given the IB program. I had a lot of friends from my middle school who were Adams-bound. The school felt diverse, the mock trial team was known to be amazing. I had heard about one teacher, Mr. Longenecker, a science teacher who was supposed to be phenomenal.

Trinity is a small catholic private school. It wasn’t particularly diverse. But we had friends that were enrolled at the school and had heard good things about it. It was clear that the students got  lot of individual attention. I think I didn’t end up choosing Trinity because I wanted something different from my middle school experience.

St. Joseph also seemed like a good option with rigorous academics and a strong science program. It had a medium sized student body. It wasn’t particularly diverse socioeconomically given that it was a private school. This turned my parents off a bit I believe.

Penn: People call this school, Penn University because it has a student body of 3,600 students. This fact could be intimidating but also a taste of the real world and could provide an enriching environment to learn in from people with different backgrounds. It has a plethora of resources and countless activities and clubs. Additionally, it is known to be pretty competitive. This school was also in my district.

 

In the end, I think academic rigor was the priority along with safety and a rich learning environment. Penn, St. Joe and Adams were the finalists. I think we realized that we could get as good of an education at public schools so it might not be necessary to pay the high private school tuition, even though my family is financially stable. Further, with Penn being in my district, transportation wouldn’t be a big issue. We did go against the grain a bit in terms of not listening to peer-reviews of the high school, however, which is unique from most situations according to the literature.

Interview 8 – Expert Interview: Professor Maria McKenna

Posted on by Faisal

Date: March 3, 2017

Type: Expert Interview

Location: Phone Interview

Expert: Dr. Maria McKenna

Expert/User Characteristics:

  • Senior Associate Director of Education, Schooling, and Society.
  •  Assistant Professor of the Practice for Education, Schooling, and Society and the Department of Africana Studies. She is also a Faculty Fellow with the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame.
  • Married, mother of four, two children in High School at Adams
  • PhD
  • Mother

http://iei.nd.edu/people/iei-fellows/maria-mckenna/

Faisal Shariff interviewed Dr. Maria McKenna on the phone.

Faisal: What factors do you think most parents consider when making a high school choice? Is a choice made or is it assumed?

Professor Maria McKenna: “First of all, I don’t think you can think about this situation from a deficit-minded perspective. Parents are working with whatever knowledge they have..the history of South Bend and their own children. You have to assume that every parent is trying to make the best decision for their child with the information that they have available.

The decision-making process has to do a great deal with the information they have available. Parents will tell you that they want a school that’s safe, that is going to push their child-this will be said in a lot of different ways: “rigorous, a place with high expectations, make him do his work, pushing child to be best C

 of themselves”

  1. Safety
  2. High Expectations/Rigor
  3. Programs to keep students busy/out of trouble

Literature on school choice says that parents choose schools based on word of mouth and what friends say.

“Choosing a school in South Bend is like a game of telephone”

F: What do you know about Clay High school?

MM:

  • “Its a vibrant viable school not just for the arts but for students also interested in AP courses and the AP track to allow them to earn dual credit”
  • “School in what many people would say is a pretty stable neighborhood”
  • “School with enormous potential to own its identity”
  • “As someone who does a lot of research on schools, and school choice, I was equally impressed with Clay as with Adams when talking with guidance counsellors and school leaders. What’s striking is how much I might not have known if I had not reached out and called the guidance office.”

“Parents who are pleased with the program are the best mechanism for bringing people into the door that you have”

F: What do you personally consider as a parent?

MM: “Three things. Strong leadership- a visionary leader at the front, you walk into the building and feel like they are gonna care about my kid and know who they are. When you walk around the school, you see teachers laughing and joking around with each other versus disciplining them. Third, whatever academic institution it is, I want it to be academically rigorous. When we were choosing, we let the kids pick with a little bit of coaching. But if I had a choice, I would have put them in clay. It was the most impressive in terms of the full package – arts, athletics, caring community, and dual credits. My kids chose something different because their friends chose something different, which we respected and were fine with.

 

  • “Clay is underselling itself”
  • “Clay is one of the best kept secrets in south bend, and we need to crack open the nut and not have it be a secret”

What do we need?

  • The thing that I have that other parents might not is the access and wherewithal to get information. Others don’t have the same social capital or networking potential.

Thoughts on South Ben School Corporation

  • South Bend has to sell diversity as a strength
  • Clay needs to stop being afraid, and need to stop trying to be like adams
  • Play up the fact that its an arts institution
  • “Parents need to know where there are safe places for there kids to be that are diverse”
  • Demographics of South Bend: 70% on free/reduced unch
    • More than 60% are students of color
  • “Clay is a unique and proud place for children to grow”
  • “Need to play up the fact that they have dual credit program to the parents who do have the option to pay for private schools”

Thoughts on how to reach out to parents, students, recruitment

  • Need to realize that some of the parents are not high school graduates or are English language learners
    • Tailor the print materials to that
    • Readability of actual text
    • Key talking points that parents can walk away and remember
    • Ex: That’s how Trump won. He had a clear, concise, defined message

Key takeways

  1. Assume that every parent is making their best effort to equip their children to succeed.
  2. Clay is not second fiddle to Adams. It is a good school with a lot to offer academically, extracurricularly, diversity-wise, and with the arts. It has a good community and would be a great place for a student to learn and grow.
  3. Understand your target. Target all of the middle schools in the SBSC. Clay needs to build the reputation of the school where all those students want to go.

Key quotes:

“You have to assume that every parent is trying to make the best decision for their child with the information that they have available.”

“Parents pick schools based on word of mouth, based on what their friends say”

“Choosing a school in South Bend is like a game of telephone”

“Have to figure out a way to get information out into all pockets of the community to show them what Clay is about”

“Parents who are pleased with the program are the best mechanism for bringing people into the door that you’ve got”

“Clay is underselling itself. Clay is one of the best kept secrets in South Bend”

“Learn a lesson in precision and concise thinking from Trump and this most recent election”

Ethnographic Interviews: Adam, Billy, and Marty

Posted on by Wendy

Adam Interview : “You just have to keep moving forward man.”

29 from south bend

Date of Observation: 3/4/17

Location: Weather Amnesty

Type of Observation: Casual Interview

Newly Homeless

Adam has recently turned to homelessness. Unlike many, he has never been addicted to drugs or alcohol. He recently lost his house and quit his job. He told him that God had told him to not worry about letting go of all of his material possessions and just to trust Him.

Troubles at work

Until recently, Adam worked with mental health patients. I am not sure of what his exact title was but he said that he enjoyed forming relationships with his patients a lot better than interacting with his coworkers. After some of his patients passed, he said that he quit his job because he felt that he could not give his patients his best self and had too much going on with his family. After quitting his job he shortly lost his house as well.

Religion

Adam told us that when his house and all of his other possessions started to slip away, God told him just to let go and that everything would be ok. Adam was very emotional throughout this whole interview almost coming to tears multiple times. When I asked what he thought God had in store for him next, he said that he had no idea and was just trying to take it day by day.

Interactive Card Sort:

I did an Interactive Card sort with Adam. He seemed very confident in what he thought that the order of his words were. The card sort that we gave him was a bunch of words and we asked him what words he thought described himself the best. To my surprise, towards the top he put outgoing, which was odd to me because he was quite shy. I guess that talking to complete strangers is something that most people wouldn’t do.

The main takeaway that I took from Adam was that he was really mentally shaken about his situation. When I talked with him about how he became homeless, he really got emotional and almost broke out into tears. He is clearly someone that would need some sort of counseling help to get his mind right again. He is an example of a cause of homelessness that didn’t cross our minds from the beginning.

Marty:  “There are a lot of mean people around here. There is just no reason for that”

47 years old from Niles

Same Location as above

Not a Regular

2nd night at the weather amnesty center. He seems to have some kind of problem at home and left the house. Used to be a very heaving drinker, which has led him to have scerosis, spinal injury, and many other health issues. Grew up in California where his father was a belligerent drunk.

Been through a lot

Other than his father being an abusive drunk, his mother recently died of cancer and his girlfriend has MS. He has a spinal injury where he is unable to move his right arm without assistance. He has scerosis from excessive drinking and smoking. He also has 3 kids that are 16,15, and 7 with different women.

Intelligence

Marty claims to be a very quick learner. He seemed to want to talk about every subject that he could. His next steps were trying to find a job where he can support his family better. He also wanted to get an operation on his spine so he can use his right arm again.

 

Billy: “I’ve heard of these people that do drugs and help kids now, that’s where I wanna be.”

53 from Houston, involved in Gangs and Drug Trafficking

Rough Upbringing

Didn’t have a father and didn’t have a good relationship with his mother so he got involved with a gang when he was in middle school.

Prison

Has spent 30 of 53 years in prison for drugs, attempted murder, and various other gang related charges. He is on parole and involved with Hope because he was selling cocaine in South Bend. Brought a stripper back to his room and she was tryin to by cocaine from him, he refused and she tipped the cops. He has been in jail for 2 and ½ years and now graduated hope program and done in December.

New Life

When I asked if he was glad that it happened he at first said no but then responded yes because it allowed him to get out of his vicious cycle of selling drugs and gangs. He is now enrolled in school and wants to go around to schools and help kids in Houston with the same problems he had. Every chance he gets he kept showing me his school ID on his phone and was very excited to start school in April.

Expert Interview: Randy

Junior High Teacher

How He Got Started with this Work

Randy is a junior high teacher at the Montessori school. He has been a long time volunteer with the Center for the Homeless and he actually brings a group of 8th graders to the center every Wednesday to help with the Pre-k program at the Center. He started this by knowing Steve, which gave him the connection to start this program through the school. He said that this program really helps educate his kids, himself, as well as obviously help educate the children that are at the Center for the Homeless.

His thoughts on Barriers

He had two main barriers for people choosing to stay homeless. 1) drug and alcohol abuse is extreme. He said that he doesn’t think that everyone is ready to get the help that they need and they refuse to get off of the streets because they know that they can use their substances there without any pushback. 2) Capacity. He said that there are so many people that come to the Center and use similar resources that there are just not enough for the whole homeless population. He also put a special emphasis on families and the fact that families may not want to come into the Center because they men and women will get split up at night because of the rules of the Center.

Randy gave a very valuable perspective about his view on the homeless situation. From the view of a volunteer who also has some experience working with city councils and such, he seemed to want to stress a housing first method but was  unsure how to educate taxpayers how this method will reduce costs in the long run while keeping homeless people off the streets. He understood that not everyone has the most empathy towards homeless people and wanted to figure a way to educate the average person on the situation.

Immersion:

For my immersion I went to the bridge site where tent city had been previously set up this past summer. What I witnessed there was quite similar to what I imagined there would be. There were broken bottles of alcohol lying next to empty bags of chips and other various types of packaged food. There was a large cardboard box torn open and dirty with some alcohol bottles,a syringe, and some tattered clothes. As I was walking around taking pictures (which for some reason I am unable to upload because it is saying that the files are too big) a group of homeless people were sitting around in a circle. They seemed to be boozing it up and once they spotted me, they started shouting and cussing. I promptly went back into my car and drove away.

Analogous Immersion- Dan Speers

So for my analogous immersion I interviewed one of my teammates that is from Great Britain. WE thought that a foreign student would be a good person to interview because it is similar in the way that they may not be aware of the resources that they have available and that they may have to deal with a major cultural difference moving to a different country. The main takeaways that I had from Dan’s interview and his experience going to school in a different country is that he definitely had a big adjustment to being a student athlete at in America. It was crucial for him to learn about the resources that he needed to help him succeed. He also said that the cultural difference was a slight barrier but for the major part the cultures are rather similar and not a huge barrier for his success in America.

The major takeaway from this is that the education of resources for Dan was essential. Education plays a major role in our problem because we need to educate the homeless about the available resources but also we need to educate the citizens of South Bend that there is a huge cost advantage to giving these homeless people the help that they need now in order to get them to stop using resources and tax money in the future.

Takeaways from research

This research showed me that these people don’t want to be a spectacle. It made me realize that they are just regular people with some not regular problems. At one point all of them were just regular school kids doing things that I used to do when I was younger. Homeless people come from all types of backgrounds. Whether they were affluent or poor, had both parents or none, or graduated college or didn’t make it our of the 5th grade, the important thing is that they are people too and should be treated like so. I feel we are guilty of treating homeless people as some kind of spectacle or just something that we try not to make eye contact with at a stoplight. The only way that this problem will be solved is if we treat homeless people not as some circus act, but as if they were our own friends who just made a few bad decisions.