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This research project was a field study of cummunity social work. It started a research project, and became an inspiration for several students and launched their careers. This sad but brutal truth of what families face living on East Colfax in Denver out of motels. Children and families feet away from drugs, gangs, prostitution adn violence. Desperate community efforts to help families get out of endendured slavery with the motels they live in due to slow agency pay.
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Devorah
Hilary
Robin
Rose
Sara
Homeless on Colfax Ave:
The Invisible Community
Systems theory
What social systems are present/absent?
EmploymentHealthSafety and securityEducationHousingSocial welfare
Employment Health
65,000 jobs by 2020 68% low wage 69% Colorado’s
minimum wage earners are adults, 60% are women
Most homeless in motels work
Obesity and malnourishment
Developmental disabilities, low IQ
Mental health concerns
Safety & Security Education
Reoccurring prostitution and drug use
Night police unreliable 50% homeless
women and children are fleeing DV
30% children not enrolled
43% of homeless are children
Teachers report homeless children struggle
Transportation to school is a concern
Housing
Eviction orders up 55% Only 72% of housing demand is met Motels provide “defacto” transitional
housing at high cost Full month rent at motel $540-720 350 Aurora families w/children need
improved housing
Urban Renewal Welfare All motels are
‘blighted,’ Fitzsimons will
displace many Denver renewal
Ogden to Colorado Blvd.
Voucher’s time limited Aurora: 7.1% of Metro
shelter capacity TANF $300-$400 SSI/SSDI: $545
“Redevelopment should serve the neighborhood and serve Fitzsimons, which is a huge economic engine. There will be business needs, employee needs, food and housing needs, and still neighborhood needs, because there's been no investment in the neighborhood for so long."
What are the subsystems present?
BusinessesGovernmentChurchesService providersHealth care
Businesses Cater to transient
community Redevelopment is
adversarial
Government Adams/Arapahoe
County Public, minimal benefits
Local police improved
Churches Health Care
Minimal church presence
Local churches provide meals, CCN
Churches give donations
Aurora mental health Stout Street Clinic MCPN
Service Providers Colfax Community Network:
-after school programs-groups for moms, teenagers -hygiene and food pantry-deposit assistance
Habitat for Humanity
Minimal transitional housing beds:-Comitis Crisis Center -Gateway -Sabin Group
How is the homeless community functioning?
Invisible community transient, vulnerable families cycle of transition
-migrating-permanent housing unstable
Mutual supports-motel identities-childcare
Vertical & Horizontal relationships
Vertical Needs met through hierarchical authority Serve providers unequal relationships
Horizontal Community within motel Relationship based on survival
Ecological Theory
“Original aurora shows the population increased by 45% while housing stock increased by 3% which resulted in overcrowding of housing units”
Geographic boundaries
70-225 to the East Syracuse to West 1 block to the North
and South of Colfax
History
City of Aurora founded in 1891
1921- military base built 1960- 50,000 residents 1970- Population boom,
increased to 158,000 by 1980
1990’s- economic prosperity 2000- Aurora’s population
increased to close to 300,000 residents
Demographics 1,919 homeless persons in Aurora per year
E. Colfax Poverty rate nearly double the average for Aurora
43% of the homeless are children
35% of homeless families are headed by single women
60% have moved at least twice in the last twelve months
25% have moved between at least two motels in the last 12 months
35% moved to CO from another state in the last 6 months
60% have lived in Aurora for less than one month. 30% stay for 6 months or longer, 10% are long term/permanent residents
20-30 (7%) families a year move into permanent housing
There are 5,700 households live at $10, 700 annual income
Developmental stage
One hotel vacant boarded up for five years
progressively all the motels blighted
City Council discussing relocation options
Culture / People / RelationshipsEthnicity of homeless
48% White 24% Hispanic 24% Black 2% Native American and mixed
motel community is a closed society
the longer the stay, the more entrenched
There is some cohesiveness, majority of relationships fighting/gossip.
Result of analysis:
Transient homeless families in motels A complexity of issues contributing Limited transitional housing People caught in expensive motel
“solution” Proposals for urban renewal and growth
will exacerbate problem
Social Planning
“Let’s get the facts and think through the logical next step”
(Rothman, 2005, p. 38)
Force Field Analysis & Change
Who wants change?•Motel residents•Churches and Service Providers•City of Denver/Aurora•Police•Businesses in the area•Social Workers
Who doesn’t want change?•Owners of the motels•Managers/employees•Longtime residents of motels•Tax payers•Day labor/temp agencies
3 goals for macro change :
• Build more housing units for families and single adults • Hold seminars teaching people about saving money, finding
employment, health, substance abuse• Organize a drive to get mattresses/carpeting/furniture for rooms
Locality Development
Needs: Secure shelter, transitional housing, safety from crime, steady income, reliable transportation to job
Assets: Social support in motels, no strict regulations, proximity to labor, transportation and food
ACTIONS
Community Building Hold outreach events in
order to survey resident’s perceptions of problems
Teach-Ins where homeless learn to advocate for each other and themselves
Identify natural leaders and build natural relationships with them
Self-help/Mutual Aid Immediate motel
beautification working with owners & employees
Giving Circle in permanent housing; groups of adults are responsible for one another’s monthly payments
Community garden
Social Action
“Change never ever, ever comes from the top down”
(B. Mikulski 1982)
PLAN FOR DIRECT ACTION:
Vision: Safe and stable housing for all
Goal: Transitional housing integrated into redevelopment
Target: Fitzsimons campus and City should be accountable
Primary Constituency: homeless individuals living in hotels
Develop Leaders: Homeless hotel managers
Action: Tent city in parking lot of abandoned motel, media coverage, demand the space be converted to affordable transitional housing
Outcome: Tenants pay 30% income and stay up to 2 years
Transformative/Empowerment
“For the most marginalized people in U.S. society, the very poor and least educated, the transformative approaches appear especially well suited” (Hanna, M. & Robinson, B., 1994)
GOAL: Create unified social will around the need for affordable housing in Aurora
Create small study circles; a great way to promote liberation and empower members inherent capabilities
Empower the people so that ultimately we can make the external changes in the housing situation that we wish to make.
Find out individual self-interests and feelings about the group
Deal with the homeless crisis on a personal level Eventually, the group would press the City of Aurora to
include affordable housing
Intervention
“Assisting community members in awakening to and pursuing their own legitimate aspirations for social autonomy and recognition”
(Adams & Goldbard, 2001, p. 19)
Target:
Confront influential socio-economic
interests, especially Fitzsimons campus
GoalRaise awareness of
invisible homeless on Colfax. People are
empowered when their voices are heard.
Lived Realities
Homeless Children’s
Intervention: Community Arts Project
oral documentary using audio and photographic mediums
After-school program teaches community youth how to collect visual/audio snapshots of their daily experience of motel living
build relationships with Fitzsimons campus display images and audio exerts on hospital campuses. mobilize democratizing potential of media by playing
audio segments on public radio and news stations
Timeline
Begin immediately utilizing already existing after-school program and CCN
Three week training with kids learning audio and photographic medium
Form relationships with hospitals to secure an venue for project
First Friday opening event including youth artists, targets, and media. Display for one month.
Social work values and ethics
Values Dignity and worth of
the person Social Justice,
challenge injustice of homelessness
Service, help motel residents
Ethics Self determination
through use of voice in art project (1.02)
Cultural competence and social diversity, strength of homeless community (1.05a)
Intervention draws from:
Intervention models: Community Development Transformative Social Action
Utilizes skills of: Listening Training Teaching Communication building alliances and
coalitions publicity skills
Bibliography Adams, D, & Goldbard, A. (2001). Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development. New York: The Rockerfeller
Foundation. Aurora Housing Task Force, The. (June, 2004). Aurora Housing Needs and Strategies. Prepared by: Economic & Planning Systems,
Inc. Aurora History. www.auroragov.org Bobo, K., Kendall, J., & Max, S. (2001). Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy Manual for Activists. Santa Ana, California:
Seven Locks Press. Colfax Community Network, Inc. www.colfaxcommunitynetwork.org Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. www.coloradocoalition.org Dugger, C. W. (January 18, 2005). “U.N. Calls on rich nations to double aid.” The New
York Times. Erbaugh, E. B. (2002). Women’s Community Organizing and Identity Transformation.
Race, Gender & Class, Vol. 9, number 1, pp. 8-32. Hanna, M. & Robinson, B. (1994). Strategies for community empowerment: Direct action
and transformative approaches to social change practice. NY: The Edwin Mellon Press. Homan, M. (2004). Promoting Community Change: Making it happen in the real world
(3rd Ed.). CA: Brooks Cole. Johansen, Erin. (August 27, 2004) Redeveloping Fitzsimons: City closer to picking developer. Denver Business Journal. Retrieved
March 8, 2005 from http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2004/08/30/story2.html?page=1 Linthicum, R. (1991). Empowering the Poor. Monrovia, CA: MARC. National Association of Social Workers. (1999). Code of Ethics. Washington, DC: Author. O’Donnell, S. M. & Karanja, S. T. (2000). Transformative Community Practice: Building a Model for Developing Extremely Low Income
African-American Communities. Journal of Community Practice, Vol. 7(3), pp. 67-84. Rothman, J., Erlich, J. L., & Tropman, J. E. (Eds.). (2001). Strategies of Community Intervention, (6th ed). Belmont, California: Thomson
Brooks/Cole. Weil, M. & Gamble, D. (1994). Current Models of Community Practice for Social Work, Received from Katharine R. Hobart, Ph. D., MSW,
LCSW, Community Practice I Class, University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work.
Erbaugh, E. B. (2002). Women’s Community Organizing and Identity Transformation. Race, Gender & Class, Vol. 9, number 1, pp. 8-32.
Hanna, M. & Robinson, B. (1994). Strategies for community empowerment: Direct action and transformative approaches to social change practice. NY: The Edwin Mellon
Press. Homan, M. (2004). Promoting Community Change: Making it happen in the real world
(3rd Ed.). CA: Brooks Cole. Linthicum, R. (1991). Empowering the Poor. Monrovia, CA: MARC. O’Donnell, S. M. & Karanja, S. T. (2000). Transformative Community Practice: Building
a Model for Developing Extremely Low Income African-American Communities. Journal of Community Practice, Vol. 7(3), pp. 67-84.
Weil, M. & Gamble, D. (1994). Current Models of Community Practice for Social Work, Received from Katharine R. Hobart, Ph. D., MSW, LCSW, Community Practice I Class, University
of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work.
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