Work arounds at home and in my dorm room.
Work Around #1
This work around is a towel over the gates for our dogs, so the gates do not scratch the walls.
Work Around #2
To prevent our dogs from scratching the rug, our family placed rugs over the nicer rug for our dogs to walk and sleep on. (Benji on the right and Franklin on the left).
Work Around #3
Instead of using hooks to place our flags on a standard wall, I cut slits onto the sides without holes to hang the flags on the ceiling. This allowed us to have more flags hanging in our common room.
Workaround #1: Using clips to pin posters to the wall (so you don’t have to put holes in the poster)
Workaround #2: Using the electric panel as a necklace holder
Workaround #3: Using a plastic shot glass to keep the sunscreen from spraying in his bag.
Presenting our research to our partners at the City of South Bend was definitely insightful for us, as they pointed out areas where there were gaps in our research or areas that we should focus more on. For example, we had mostly interviewed white males, and Cherri thought it would be interesting to have a greater range of interviewees that includes African Americans and women. In addition, they pointed us to other resources that the homeless population in South Bend has at its disposal, such as St. Margarets House. Using their advice, it will be interesting to see where our research goes in the future and the conclusions we reach based on a broader range of evidence.
“If I gave _____ a home to live in rent free, would that make him not homeless anymore?”- Suzanna
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:
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:
Key Insights:
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:
5 “E” Framework
Entice:
Enter:
Engage:
Exit:
Extend:
Date: 3/3/2018
Type: Interview
Location: Downtown Soup Kitchen at First United Methodist Church
User Description: Paul, Sarah, and Yuwei interviewed Bill, a homeless man living in the South Bend area. Bill shared his experiences and views on being homeless.
User Characteristic: Homeless in South Bend, Male, approximately age 50, and single.
What has been this individuals living situation?
He has been living day to day without a home for the twenty years, living in different states. He sleeps in different places that offer a him a bed in South Bend and is friends with James.
What is this person’s biggest pain?
Seeing and hearing some painful stories of other people that are homeless.
Key Takeaways:
-Three reasons for being homeless.
-Heroin is most popular drug of the homeless population for the last two years, before that was meth for three years, and before that was crack cocaine for twenty years.
– South Bend is between the drug trade between Detroit and Chicago.
– No good resources for drug addicts, most places require you to be felony free. YMCA is one organization doing good work and Hope Ministries.
-South Bend’s center for homeless is one of best in country and people travel across United States to be part of it.
– Veterans who are homeless have to wait a long time to be treated in the VA in South Bend.
– A lot of homeless are disabled and cannot work. Disability pays less than social security or other welfare programs.
– The reinstitution of debtor prisons have made more people homeless by sending them to jail for not paying bills like child support. During this time they lose their money which could have kept them in their home.
Quotes:
“Drug addicts don’t say they have a problem they just say they self medicate.” Bill’s quote highlights the problem with heroin addiction because people use it to kill their pain whether physical or emotional.
Date: 3/3/2018
Type: Interview
Location: Downtown Soup Kitchen at First United Methodist Church
User Description: Paul and Yuwei interviewed James, a homeless disabled man living in the South Bend area. James shared his experiences and views on being homeless.
User Characteristic: Homeless in South Bend, Male, approximately age 50, and single.
What has been this individuals living situation?
He has been living day to day without a home for the last fifteen years. He sleeps in different places that offer a him a bed in South Bend. On Monday and Friday he eats at the downtown food soup kitchen while on the other days he eats at Mishawaka food pantry.
What is this person’s biggest pain?
He is disabled and cannot work. His disability check is not enough to adequately live on. He gets 400 dollars a month, which he says is not enough to live and have a home.
Key Takeaways:
– A lot of homeless people are disabled and cannot work. People with a disability receive less money than those on social security.
– The homeless in South Bend do not go hungry since there are many places to get food like the downtown food pantry in South Bend or the Mishawaka food pantry.
– People come from everywhere to be part of the homeless center in South Bend. States people from different cities are given bus tickets to South Bend.
-Takes a long time to apply for social security in Indiana and often requires lawyers if you are homeless.
– People with felonies cannot get social assistance like social security.
– If you have a felony you require a payee, a trusted person who will give you money to make sure you are not spending it on drugs
Memorable Quotes
“A lot of people choose to be homeless, they got money.” Here James explains that people with drug addictions or felonies do not have access to the center for the homeless and other facilities.
Interview with Rob Booker
Sarah, Matthew, Parker, and Amanda interviewed Rob Booker, an employee from Saint Joseph’s County Community Corrections. This interview focused on the issue of chronic homelessness in St. Joseph County, specifically, and his perspective on the topic.
Date: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017
Location: Mendoza College of Business
Participants: Parker Mathes, Amanda Berusch, Sarah Riehl, and Matthew McCormick
Profile of Interviewee:
Male, mid 40’s.
Has worked in community corrections for over 15 years. Began working directly out of college.
Helps facilitate various programs within the correctional facility. Has regular interaction with people in need of support and resources in the community.
Profile of St. Joseph County Community Corrections:
Capacity is 108 “residents” and the center is usually the last option before someone goes to jail or prison. Work release folks are from St. Joseph County. Looking for non-violent, first time offenders. Everyone in the program is required to work and they have to pay $100-$300 a week to be there. Includes housing, food, substance abuse counseling, employment teams, case managers, etc. People usually stay at facility for six months to two years. No juveniles are housed at the facility.
What is this person about – what drives him?
Rob has a very strong commitment to bettering the lives of people in his community. This is shown through almost two decades of dedication to St. Joseph County Community Corrections.
Memorable Quote from Interview:
“It would be nice if people could get adequate treatment and services sooner. It would be nice if they didn’t fall into crisis before someone realizes they have a problem.”
Top 3 Learnings:
Key Insight:
Homelessness among struggling people in the community occurs because of a number of different issues. There is rarely one reason as to why someone is without a home. A combination of drug abuse, unemployment, lack of personal support, and many other factors can lead to this problem. The resources allocated to helping drug abusers and those with mental illnesses are not enough. If there is one thing that Rob would change about the system, it would be to increase the financial resources available to those with drug problems and/or a mental illness in order to help them before their reach the point of homelessness or imprisonment.
Date of Immersion: 2/17/17 and 3/3/17
Location: United Methodist Church
Type: Immersion Experience
Event: Soup Kitchen
Event Description: This church in South Bend serves as a soup kitchen on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It serves people in need, whether they are homeless or not. Food is prepped on location in the kitchen, and donations are taken from local establishments such as Martin’s Supermarket and Panera Bread. From 12:00 to 12:45 pm, soup, drinks, and other foods are distributed to individuals. Additionally, individuals are allowed to take food from a small food pantry on the side of the room and may also take soup to take away.
Key Takeaways:
Role of Nutrition
There are an abundance of resources to provide food for the homeless population in South Bend. There are several soup kitchens like this one, as well as food banks. Both people who are homeless and who are not go to the soup kitchen to get food. Since they cannot afford nutritious meals, the food banks are the best way to eat more healthily. If they do not go to the soup kitchen, they are likely to eat at fast food restaurants. We noticed that many of the individuals would go back for seconds and thirds, as well as take food from the food bank and take a to-go bag of chili for later in the day. It is important for the soup kitchens to provide these people with meals that will keep the homeless population full for more than just that day.
Lack of Woman in Relation to Men
From our observations, many of the individuals who show up to eat at the soup kitchen were male. Although there were a few women and one family that came both times, they were in the minority. We were unsure if there were less women because they feel unsafe or uncomfortable, but there is a good chance that there are less homeless women in South Bend because of the danger posed against them. Additionally, they may use this resource less often than men because we found some of the men were taking food back to their wives—wherever they might be staying.
Time of the Month
Our first immersion occurred in the middle of February, which was much busier than when we visited again in the first week of March. After asking pastor Robert Powell as well as some of the regular volunteers, Marty and Paul, we found that visitation of the soup kitchen fluctuates depending on the time of the month. The beginning of each month, individuals receive paychecks, either welfare, disability, or from their jobs; therefore, they have more money to spend on food and other resources. Meanwhile, more people come during the middle of the month because they have either used up their checks or their funds have reached too low to pay for food.
On Friday, Parker, Matt and I interviewed Daniel, a chronically homeless man that is usually on the corner of S Bend Ave and Ironwood.
Ethnography Summary: Daniel
Date: 3/3/17
Type: Interview
Location: Corner of S Bend Ave and Ironwood, where he was sitting/walking around asking for money
Team Participants: Sarah Riehl, Matthew McCormick, Parker Mathes
User Characteristics:
What is this person’s biggest point of pain? He is physically disabled, he had seizures which led to a buildup of fluids in his legs, causing nerve damage and loss of feeling in both feet. Therefore, he cannot get a job and cannot get the funding needed for an apartment (need first and last month’s rent plus security deposit).
Top 3 Learnings:
Key Insight:
Activities:
Environment:
Interactions:
Objects:
Users: