Homeless Potential: Project Proposal

There are many reasons why individuals are forced into homelessness. The issue of poverty obviously goes hand-in-hand with homelessness, since it is difficult not to be in some state of poverty and be homeless. Sadly, 18 percent of the Madison community lives in poverty. ^[1] The other main reasons for living homeless is violence or the threat of violence, which is experienced by 36 percent of families in Madison, and mental health problems, which 49 percent of homeless single women in Madison experience. ^[1] There are many other reasons why individuals and families are forced into homelessness, including illness, physical disability, divorce and other unique life situations.

Despite the aforementioned facts, many people believe the majority of individuals can control whether or not they become homeless. In fact, based on an online survey I conducted (viewed here), over half of the respondents reported this exact sentiment.  Not only did respondents blame homeless individuals for the situation they were in, they stigmatized them. When asked to describe homeless individuals, nearly three quarters of respondents labeled them as “substance abusers” and over half labeled them as “lazy.”  While respondents seem to have concrete labels and perceptions of the homeless, ironically enough, 92 percent of respondents have never pursued information on homelessness and well over half the respondents did not personally know a single homeless individual. ^[5]  It became crystal clear that stereotypes and stigmas of homeless individuals exist, but more concerning was the fact that most of these assumptions are from a misinformed or disinterested public. People simply don’t have the proper facts or don’t care enough to find them. That is where I come in.

Originally, I wanted to find a sustainable solution to homelessness. I thought of all the ways I could help. I could give money, volunteer at a soup kitchen or shelter. I even considered taking a homeless individual off the streets and allowing him or her to live in my house, which is an idea I doubt my roommates would have warmed up to. The more I thought about how I could help and talked to people about my ideas, I began to realize the fundamental problem with how people view the homeless. Even though I didn’t personally have a stigma against them, I found, from my survey above, that many do. Sure, giving money would help in the short-term, but the whole idea of this project was to create sustainability long-term, which requires a productive action that a mass population is able to consistently repeat. Without breaking the stigma of homeless individuals, a consistent feeling of generosity towards them can’t possibly exist. In this sense, I would “just be one person” trying to fix a problem suffered by millions. However, changing the perception of the homeless can be reciprocated easier than calling people to physical action. It is easier to change minds and thoughts than it is to change people’s actions. The goal is that the former will lead to the latter.

I had my goal in place to breakdown the stereotyping and stigmas of homeless people by educating and engaging the public. I knew I could not delve into this endeavor on my own, so I began to reach out to anyone and everyone I thought could help me. The first person I talked to was Maurice Gattis, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social Work. Maurice had little experience with the issue of homelessness in Madison, but he did extensive research in Toronto, Canada on the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) homeless populations. Enamored by this interesting double-minority situation, I became all ears from the second I walked into Maurice’s office. The minutes went by like seconds and before I knew it, I had been listening to Maurice’s stories for nearly an hour. Neither of us were concerned though, as we shared our thoughts on the situation. A statistic he informed me of, which I will never forget, is that 26 percent of gay teens, who come out to their parents, are forced to leave their home and live on the streets. ^[2] This is sad, because 20 to 40 percent of all homeless youth identifies as GBLT. ^[3] The facts didn’t stop there as we started to delve into the stereotypes that homeless individuals are faced with. The most ground-breaking stereotype that he refuted was the myth that the majority of the homeless population were substance abusers. The truth is that roughly 35 percent of Madison’s homeless population has reported having alcohol and drug abuse issues. ^[2] While that number is definitely notable, it is certainly not the majority, as my survey respondents loosely suggested.

As the conversation was coming to an end, Maurice left me with a perspective that has changed the way I look at the homeless situation. He described homelessness as an invisible problem in the sense that the majority of those who break the stereotypes of substance abusers and “moochers” are on the move, living in their vehicle, away from the public eye. Maurice admitted it is an individual choice to give money to someone on the streets. However, if you choose not to give because you feel they deserve the position they are in, then maybe you are giving to the wrong person. It becomes a matter of figuring out who to give to, rather than if you should give at all. This epiphany led me to find a way to get in contact with the “invisible” homeless people and give them a voice. For this, Maurice put me in contact with Donna Asif, who was described in an article by the Isthmus as a “tireless advocate for the homeless in Madison.” ^[5] Donna would end up being the catalyst to my entire project.

Donna Asif, leader of the Madison Homelessness Intiative

Donna runs a non-profit group called Madison Homelessness Initiative, which puts an emphasis on helping one homeless individual at a time in order to give them the proper attention they so desperately need. The majority of Donna’s time and energy goes towards advocating for the Madison homeless community in any way she can, even if that means whistle-blowing. Any way Donna can get the attention of the media, public and local business, she does. When Donna is not wearing her cape out in the public eye, she runs two programs for the homeless (Project Bubbles and Shower Power). The former was created to allow homeless individuals to wash their dirty clothes at a local laundry mat and the latter program, which I am currently volunteering my time, allows homeless individuals to bathe themselves in a private shower stall in the basement of the First United Methodist Church in downtown Madison. Like a true hero, much of her work is behind the scenes, going unseen by the public.

Immediately after meeting Donna, she convinced me to volunteer my time at the shower program.  I volunteer on as many Wednesdays and Fridays as I can from 10 am to 12 pm. The interaction with the homeless community is definitely a worthwhile experience, but I learned a valuable lesson about where my skills and motivation would be best utilized. After one of the shower programs, I informed her that, while I enjoyed getting to know everyone on an individual level and being on the scene to help those in need, I was becoming increasingly disturbed by the despair that many of these people showed as I would help them. On one hand, I felt good about providing showers and support for those in need, but on the other hand, I couldn’t ignore the harsh reality of their situations. It was frustrating to face the realization that many of them had nowhere to go. The last straw came when I met a man who lost his job, was evicted from his apartment and had his girlfriend move to another state, taking their daughter with her. He said all he wanted to do was see his daughter. He was no different than you or I; he was just handed bad breaks. He repeated this fact over and over and admitted that he had few people to turn to for help, as most just assumed he was a substance abuser or somehow responsible for his current lifestyle. I wanted to help him, but money was not enough to save this man. He was broken by his unfortunate turn of events and the stereotypes that kept him down. For the first time in my brief experience with homeless individuals, I realized the true potential each and every one of these people possessed. When I told Donna of my “ah-ha” moment, it sparked an idea in her head for what would end up being my project.

Donna and I realized that, while I would continue to volunteer at the shower program, I carried a passion to change the public perception of homelessness. She informed me of the National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day vigil and service, which is held in various cities, Madison being one of them. It is held every year on December 21, the first day of winter, the longest night of the year and its purpose is to remember those whose lives are lost due to homelessness. In fact, the mortality rate among homeless populations is nearly four times that of the general population. ^[4] She suggested that her and I put together a local awareness campaign for the event. Our goal for the campaign was to encourage those other than homeless individuals to come out for the event, while making sure to encourage the homeless to come as well. After all, the event is meant for them. But, ultimately our purpose is to promote the idea that all human life is equal and deserves remembrance, while also promoting awareness to the harshness of winter for those who are homeless.

To implement our plan, we decided that utilizing social media, specifically Facebook, would be the most effective way to reach the broadest audience. This fit into my skills as a journalism major, since I am well-versed on the effects of mass communication and have over 700 “friends,” many of whom are linked to the Madison community.

To jump-start the campaign, I started a Facebook event (found here). I invited every one of my 706 Facebook “friends” and shared a link to the event on my profile page. Within the first week of posting the event, to my surprise, there were four people who wrote on the event wall, 14 people listed as attending the event, 18 listed as “maybe” attending the event and 65 who declined to attend the event. The specific numbers of who planned on attending and who declined to attend was not what surprised me. It was the sheer fact that my event garnered nearly 100 responses within a day that excited me. By just simply uploading the event page, viewers are exposed to the content posted on the wall. Throughout the week leading up to the event, I will post quotes, videos and articles to inform and raise awareness to the harshness of homelessness.

To bring other people from the public to the Facebook event, we created and distributed over 50 posters around campus and nearby Madison areas. We wanted to make sure that our campaign hit a diverse target audience. We had to make sure that our campaign spoke to the homeless community, which may not have a computer to access Facebook.

Homeless Persons' Memorial Day event poster that was distributed on campus

I guess this is the point where I determine how successful my project was. The thing is, my project is not done. What my project was “supposed” to be is nearing an end and I suppose I could evaluate the number of people I was able to recruit to attend the upcoming memorial event, but that would be missing the big picture. Of course, I want everyone to attend the event but ultimately this event is being used as a springboard for our “big idea,” which is breaking stereotypes and stigmas with our “homeless potential” campaign.

You may be asking what “homeless potential” is? It is the image I would like to have the local public shift to, instead of stereotyping and discrimination. “Homeless potential” is the potential each homeless individual has to contribute to society in a positive manner. After the memorial service on December 21, we will launch our “homeless potential” campaign on Facebook by posting personal stories of local homeless individuals who have changed their lives around in a positive way. We will also post national stories of famous people such as the Green Bay Packers’ Donald Driver, who grew up in homelessness  and turned their life around for the better.

Before we can shift people’s frame of mind to the potential of homeless people, we must break the stigma and dehumanization of homeless people, which is widely perpetuated by a negative representation in the media. This will also be accomplished by using personal stories, but they will be told through a darker lens to grab people’s attention and stir emotions.

I understand this was suppose to just be a semester-long project for ILS 252, but I was so inspired by this project topic and where it took me that I have decided to make it an indefinite goal of mine to change the perception of homelessness in downtown Madison. This is no small task and, quite honestly, we have a very steep hill to climb, but I have formed too strong of a connection with Donna and her mission to simply stop. This project has certainly transcended the confines of the academic setting.

We will see where the project will go from here. All I know is that after being exposed to the harsh realty of homelessness first hand,  I can’t just abruptly end this project and turn my cheek to injustice that happens on a daily basis on the streets of our campus. I firmly believe in what Donna and I are trying to accomplish and I am confident that by changing people’s perspective of homelessness, the willingness to help will soon follow. As a matter of fact, my survey shows evidence that this is true. Exactly 60 percent of respondents admitted that they would give money to a homeless person depending on certain situations. These “certain situations” were described mainly as safety, attitudes of homeless person and knowing how they would spend the money, all of which are attributes influenced by stereotypes. Moreover, nearly 70 percent of respondents admitted to feeling sorry for homeless individuals when they walked by them on the street. ^[5]

People want to do the right thing. They just need to be motivated to do so. Most people need the reassurance of knowing that what they are giving, whether it’s money, time or energy, will actually make a difference. Showing the success of past homeless people can shed light on the potential that current homeless people have.

And so, our “homeless potential” campaign begins.

*PDF Version of this paper can be found here.

References

1.http://www.porchlightinc.org/documents/homeless_summary_memo_2008.pdf

2.     www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/lgbtq.html

3.      www.thetaskforce.org/…/HomelessYouth_ExecutiveSummary.pdf

4.     Concurrent Resolution in the Senate of the United States. H. Con. Reslorraine C. Miller. 3 December 2010.

5.    Initial_Report (primary research survey results)

Homeless Potential: Introduction

I currently attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where I was also born and raised. I have lived in other cities, such as Chicago and Minneapolis, for short periods of time but none of them compare to my hometown, which I have grown to know and love. Where else can you experience the social life of a big city, without the hustle and bustle or corporate feeling, combined with the tranquility of nature paths, lakes and wildlife? Nothing beats the Memorial Union during the summer, where you can go sailing, sit by the pier or relax and enjoy a local Wisconsin brew on the infamous Union chairs. Of course, you have to take the good with the bad if you live in Madison. The state of Wisconsin, including Madison, experiences some of the coldest winters in the United States, with temperatures ranging from an average low of nine degrees Fahrenheit to record a low of 37 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.^[1] It can get pretty rough as a student having to walk twenty minutes to class every day and sleeping with no central heat in my house. But, this is what I like to call “privileged problems.” After all, over 3,500 individuals experience homelessness each year.^[2] In itself, homelessness is a very unsustainable problem, and when you factor in the frigid Wisconsin winter, it can be deadly. In 2008, over 94 percent of individuals in Madison’s homeless community (95 percent of them being in homeless families) were turned away from shelters due to the lack of space, forcing the majority of homeless individuals into survival of the fittest.^[2]

There are many reasons why individuals are forced into homelessness. Poverty plays a major role, with over 18 percent people in the Madison community are considered to be living in poverty.^[2] The other two main reasons for living homeless is violence or the threat of violence (36 percent of families in Madison) and mental health (49 percent of homeless single women in Madison).^[2] There are many other reasons why individuals and families are forced into homelessness, including illness, physical disability, divorce and many other unique life situations. However, for whatever reason, there is a public perception of homeless individuals as “lazy” and uninterested in permanent work.^[3] Many people want to make assumptions about homelessness, but don’t have the proper information. That is where I come in.

My goal is to start a local movement to change the stereotypes of homelessness, at least in downtown Madison, Wisconsin. I want the local public to be informed about homelessness and ultimately take it a step further and provide them with a framework for how to help. Too many times we are given facts and made aware of situations without a call-to-action or practical way to implement change. I knew I would not be able to accomplish all of this on my own, so I began networking.

The first person I talked to was Maurice Gattis, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social Work. I chose to talk to Maurice because he offered a unique perspective of homelessness. Although he had little experience with the issue of homelessness in Madison, he did extensive research in Toronto, Canada on GLBT homeless populations. His primary work focused on the role of contextual factors (i.e. family, peers, school, stigma and discrimination) on negative psychosocial outcomes (i.e. mental health, substance use, sexual risk taking).^[4] Maurice has played a prominent role in helping me break the stereotypes of the local homeless community. We talked in great length about general assumptions that people have of homeless individuals. For instance, many people are hesitant to give money to a homeless person, because they are afraid the homeless person will go spend it on alcohol or drugs. There are two problems with this train of thought. First, roughly 35 percent of Madison’s homeless population has reported having alcohol and drug abuse issues². While that number is definitely notable, it is certainly not the majority. Second, many of the people who are in the most need of money are on the move or away from the public eye. Homelessness is often an invisible problem. Maurice admitted it is an individual choice to give money to someone on the streets. However, if you choose not to give because you feel they deserve the position they are in, then maybe you are giving to the wrong person. After all, a 2007 survey of New Yorkers found 67 percent of respondents said most homeless people were without shelter because of “circumstances beyond their control.”^[6] It becomes a matter of figuring out who to give to, rather than if you should give at all.

While Maurice provided me with a substantial amount of information and dialogue for my project, I knew that I would have to continue networking in order to connect with the local homeless community. Though Maurice didn’t have much experience with the local community, he knew people who did. Before I left his office, where we were wrapping up nearly a hour long conversation, he set up a time and place for me to meet his friend Donna Asif, who would turn out to be the catalyst for my entire project.

Before I met with Donna, I performed a Google search to find out a little bit about her and see what she looked like. After all, I was supposed to meet with her in person at a crowded place, the Memorial Union. An article titled “My Hero: Donna Asif” appeared at the top of the search. Donna, 65, was described as a “tireless advocate for the homeless in Madison.”^[5] I didn’t need to read any further to realize Donna was just the person I was looking for.

As it turns out, Donna runs a one-person non-profit group called Madison Homelessness Initiative, which is focused on helping one individual at a time fulfill anything and everything they need. Donna is currently focusing her time and energy on two specific programs that she started: Project Bubbles and Shower Power. The former was created to allow homeless individuals to wash their dirty clothes at a local laundry mat and the latter program, which I am currently volunteering my time, allows homeless individuals to sign up ahead of time and bathe themselves in a private shower stall in the basement of the First United Methodist Church in downtown Madison. Volunteering my time at this program gave me experience socializing with the homeless individuals, which was crucial for me to truly understand the dire situations many of these people were in.

The volunteering and interaction was definitely a worthwhile experience, but I learned a valuable lesson along the way that made me realize where my true strengths would be most effectively utilized. During a meeting with Donna, I told her how I enjoyed helping hands-on with the homeless individuals in need and wanted to continue to get to know them on a human level. I explained that I could sense the urgency of some of these people to get off the streets. However, I admitted to her that I was growing uncomfortable of the harsh reality of their situations. Although providing showers for the homeless was fulfilling, proceeding to just say “good-bye” when they were done, knowing that they had nowhere to go, was extremely frustrating. The last straw came when I met a man who lost his job, was evicted from his apartment and had his girlfriend move to another state, taking their kids with her. He said all he wanted to do was see his kids and was just like me or anyone else, but just got handed bad breaks. Right after he spoke that sentence, I had an epiphany. For the first time in my brief experience with homeless individuals, I realized the true potential each and every one of these people possessed. When I told Donna of my “ah-ha” moment, it sparked an idea in her head for what would end up being my project.

Donna informed me of an event that is held every year on December 21 on the Capital Square to honor those whose lives are lost due to homelessness (The mortality rate among homeless populations is nearly four times that of the general population).^[10] She suggested that her and I put together an awareness campaign for the event. Our goal for the campaign is to first and foremost remember and honor those whose lives were lost due to homelessness. We want to inform the local public on the conditions that homeless people have to live through during the harsh Madison winter months. Ultimately, we aim to change the public perception and dehumanization of homeless people, which is widely perpetuated by a negative portrayal in the media. The image of the campaign is centered around the idea of “homeless potential,” which represents the potential positive impact that homeless individuals could have on society if given the opportunity.

Homeless Persons' Memorial Day Poster

To implement our plan, we will first start by informing the local public about the homeless memorial day by creating multiple outdoor advertisements, such as posters and signs. Along these traditional methods, we will honor the deceased homeless individuals by posting memorials (bouquet of flowers, engraved stones, signs, etc.) on benches, sidewalk areas and other places where the homeless are forced to sleep. The memorials will tell a story about the individuals and provide a link to our social media sites (Twitter and Facebook). To add onto our social media, we will post short stories about a few homeless individuals, some being those who lost their lives, those who transformed their lives in a positive way and those who still need help. Interviews will be conducted by Ben Shapiro, the editor-in-chief of Street Pulse, a newspaper centered on the issue of homelessness in Madison, and myself using a video recorder. We will upload the videos to YouTube and link to our Facebook and Twitter, giving each homeless individual a voice to be heard. We decided to have each individual tell their story through video instead of written form in order to capture the raw emotion straight from the source. We did this because we feel that often times stories told in written form can be misinterpreted by the journalist. Though not all of the stories will be the same, they will all display the potential that each individual possesses to contribute to society in a positive manner.

We could stop there, so we didn’t just want to promote awareness of the issue. Many people are aware that homelessness exists. However, few people look at homeless individuals with the type of potential that we hope to show them. That is the type of “awareness” that we feel like we will accomplish. But is that enough? Sure, people will be aware of the issue, the facts and even have more apathy and compassion for the lives of homeless people, but will that promote change? A Penn State study in 2004 concluded that “familiarity breeds sympathy” and greater support for addressing the problem.^[7] The crucial piece that is missing is the call-to-action that takes this project one step further and actually gives people a practical way to address the problem.

Coming up with the call-to-action was by far the hardest element of my project. Asking for volunteers and donations are always crucial for implementing change in any given situation, but it seems as though potential donors/volunteers have become numb to the overload of non-profits. Many people, sadly including myself, often disregard most of the e-mails/newsletters asking for donations, because there seems to be no connection to the issue. Speaking for myself, I feel disconnected from the situation when the only way I can help is by giving money. I am often left wondering where exactly my money is going and what it is being used for. And while I am a huge fan of volunteering my time at non-profit organizations, I feel uncomfortable with the superiority complex and assembly line-feeling that I get when doing so. I am not trying to suggest that any of these ways of helping are bad by any means, but I think there are more creative and sustainable ways to implement change in our society and even more specifically, homelessness. That is why we decided to focus on social media to drive our campaign and ultimately call for action.

With a down economy in the United States and a more spread out donor pool, non-profit organizations have turned to new ways, including social media, to promote awareness and connect with donors/volunteers. Social media has been proven to be effective in providing two-way dialogue between an organization and it’s followers.^[8] This is exactly what we would like to create with the “homeless potential” campaign: a forum for our organization and followers to connect and work together to help the local homeless individuals. Our hope is that we could possibly expand our two-way dialogue to a three-way communication, adding the homeless individuals to the mix. This would allow our followers to form a discussion directly with the people they are helping. To form a more personal connection with between a follower and a homeless individual, we would like to provide each follower with the individual’s story (aforementioned video interviews). Our followers would then serve as a sponsor for a homeless person. From that point we would figure out what that individual’s greatest need is, whether that be money, shelter, food, etc. This personal connection, that is so desperately missing when someone just simply donates, will help build a powerful network and long-term relationships, which is essential for sustainable change.

Change is a large-scale impact, but it starts with an individual. If one follower helps one homeless person, that generosity will likely be reciprocated by the homeless person. There is a theory for this, called “paying-it-forward.” In fact, the emotion of gratitude has been shown in scientific studies to increase not only the likelihood that an individual will repay a benefactor but also the likelihood that the recipient will assist an unrelated third party in the future, or “pay-it-forward.” ^[9]

Pay-It-Forward Theory Diagram

People often shy away from giving, because they question how much one person can do to help. However, with the combination of social media and “paying-it-forward,” the power of individual impact is exponential. For it to work, each individual has to matter. That is the beauty of it all. Those individuals can come from the most unlikely of sources, including the homeless people themselves. Once a follower changes the life of a homeless person, that homeless person now has an opportunity to “pay-it-forward.” That is “homeless potential” at its core.

References

1.       ^ “Monthly Averages for Madison, WI – Temperature and Precipitation”. The Weather Channel. http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/MSN:9.

2.       http://www.porchlightinc.org/documents/homeless_summary_memo_2008.pdf

3.       Kusmer, K. L. (2002). Down and out, on the road: The homeless in American history. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

4.       http://socwork.wisc.edu/maurice-gattis

5.       http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=31865

6.       Public Agenda: “Compassion, Concern and Conflicted Feelings: New Yorkers on Homelessness and Housing”, 2007.

7.       American Sociological Association: “Exposure to the Homeless Increases Sympathetic Public Attitudes”, press release, 22 March 2004.

8.      http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=joursp

9.      http://www.springerlink.com/content/e832531vh3788l5t/fulltext.pdf

10.   Concurrent Resolution in the Senate of the United States. H. Con. Reslorraine C. Miller. 3 December 2010.

Porchlight Project: Justin Mertes-Mistretta

I am focusing the issue of sustainably specifically among the homeless community in downtown Madison. My goal is to find ways to help them live sustainably, whether that means giving them money, improving their social network, giving them shelter, etc. Everyone has different needs. I would like to start a local movement to change the stereotype of homelessness. I am currently working with a social work professor at UW-Madison, who has experience with LGBT homelessness in Toronto, to become more about the issue.

How I will go about implementing change is by working with Porchlight, a local organization that gives opportunities for homeless people, and Street Pulse, which is a newspaper that gives them a voice. I believe utilizing these two organizations will give me a solid network to make a difference. I plan to use Street Pulse to promote awareness and also incorporating the Badger Herald and Daily Cardinal. Porchlight, then, will be a way to initiate change directly to the homeless people. This will allow me to have a middle-man to work with the homeless community rather than going directly to homeless people, which would be difficult. The way I see my plan working best is to find a specific individual or family that is in need and helping them. From there, awareness plays a major role in people “paying-it-forward.” If each individual helps another individual, change is realistic.

Ultimately, the whole reason I am motivated to carry out this project is to inform the local public about homelessness. For instance, 20 to 40 percent of youth homelessness involves LGBTs who are forced out of their homes by their own parents. I also would like to prove the assumption wrong that giving money to homeless is not worth it. It is a common belief that they will go spend the money on drugs or alcohol, but my research so far has proven that false. Finally, I want people to be aware that the homeless issue is an invisible one. We may think homelessness is improving, but in actuality it hasn’t changed. Instead, people are just finding new places to live (cars, parks, etc.).