PHOTO/DAVE GUZMAN
CARBONDALE, IL—Students in Associate Professor Dona Reese’s Social Work class conducted a research study last semester to look into the rising homelessness in the area. After compiling the data, a community meeting and discussion was held at the university. The audience included Southern Illinois Univeristy (SUI) administrators, faculty, staff, and students. Community members included religious leaders, social service providers, professionals who serve homeless individuals, community activists, and those who have experienced homelessness. The following points summarize the wide-ranging discussion held following the presentation.
Community awareness of the problem of homelessness needs to be increased.
We need to provide an address, phone number, and shower for all homeless.
Minimum wage jobs do not provide an adequate income; some working people are homeless.
Religious leaders asked how the religious community can reach out to students and to homeless people. We should create a “grace margin”—a place that is safe for anyone. SIU students should help more, and help to provide a program in the church. Maybe they could get college credit for doing this, maybe it would count for the volunteer hours that some are required to put in. It’s conceivable that SIU social work students could do counseling in a field placement there.
Each church should adopt one or two homeless people and care for them.
Homeless people should be allowed to come up with their own solutions. People who have been there (have been homeless themselves) can help each other.
We know that there are homeless students at SIU. Do they remain homeless in Carbondale after leaving SIU? Our results showed that there were many homeless individuals in Carbondale who had some college or college degrees.
The stories of the homeless are important, they should be told in the news.
Businesses should be accountable; each one should employ a certain number of homeless people.
Students should get active politically, and contact senators and congressmen. We could engage in a movement similar to the Moral Monday movement, to advocate for action on homelessness.
A formerly homeless person said that if no one cares about you, you start to not care about yourself, and lose confidence.
The audience suggested that we follow up on this study, conducting another one in the future about additional questions that were raised about homelessness in our community.
Although the discussion did not delve into the structural changes in the economy giving rise to this new permanent homelessness, this was a beginning. People’s eyes have been opened. And an important bridge has been built linking the university community to the wider community it sits within.
For more information, contact Dona Reese, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, SIU: djreese@siu.edu/ Also visit the website: sparrowcoalition.org/ A video of the event can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekiRTfQCnR0
Cathy Talbott is a former telephone operator, a job lost to automation. She was a homeless mother of two and fights for welfare rights. A former co-host of a weekly community radio program out of Carbondale, IL, “Occupy the Airwaves,” Cathy is the Environmental Desk for the People’s Tribune.
