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Final Research Report

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Email to FoBH ~ 12/7/2017

With the completion of a few social media and marketing collateral, I have drafted an email to the executive director of Friends of Boston’s Homeless. Before I send it, I am going to check in with Cici to have her edit and review the email. I hope that this email will set up the opportunity for me to create sustainable benefit for their organization and the housing first policy.

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Research Report Printed ~12/6/2017

After finishing editing of my research report, I have printed the report and will bring it to the Show Your Work event tomorrow night. My next step is to create a few social media and marketing collateral to send with my report to Friends of Boston’s Homeless.

I can’t figure out how to add it to this journal, so I have included a picture of the cover page.

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Updates and Plans for the Research ~ 12/4/2017

I have continued to make progress on my research report, and plan to have it finished by Wednesday, December 6th. I am going to get it printed and bound by the Susilo Center in Questrom.

I spoke with Cici about the use of my research and what I could do with the organization, and she suggested that I email the person in charge of the organization with my research document, as well as a sample infographic. I would explain the research I am doing, give them the option to use it, and see if they have any specific needs that I can work on over winter break. I plan to send this email by December 7th.

Until then, I will working to finish my research report and creating this infographic about Housing First.

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More Outings and Other Updates ~ 12/1/2017

I have been emailing back and forth with Sofia at Friends of Boston’s Homeless to try and organize more volunteer outings. However, because of the holiday season, many of the outings that would work with my schedule are full. So later this month, I plan to check back in with Sofia about future outings during the Spring Semester, when my schedule will have more flexibility for their community meal program.

In the meantime, I would like to finish my research document for the Show Your Work part of the project. As I mentioned in a previous journal entry, I wanted to talk with Sofia more about my research in hopes of asking if they were in need or wanted any social media graphics, flyers, or anything of the sort for their organization. However, after meeting Sofia in person, I felt as if she wasn’t really involved in that aspect of the organization since her primary goal is organizing volunteer outing. I plan to talk to Cici soon about this to brainstorm a solution.

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Second Service Outing ~ 11/24/2017

This Friday was my second service outing, at the Wood’s Mullen Women’s Shelter.

Just like my visit to the Men’s Shelter, I had an amazing experience meeting new people and interacting with other workers, volunteers, and the women eating dinner.

Something I noticed about both locations were that the kitchens were very open and small. There were a lot of resources, just in the kitchen, that would have made things much easier. I also noticed that, at both locations, they had to be so strict following the Boston Health Commission guidelines. However, it didn’t seem like they were receiving support in the form of tangible resources that they need, but instead supervision. I understand the necessity of such supervision and support, and that the government’s resources are limited, but this just goes to show the need donations and support from communities, businesses, and individuals.

Both times, I was the only volunteer, other workers were employed by the shelter. When I arrived I was greeted with such friendliness, it was apparent how scarce these organizations receive from the community.

At both locations, the work I was doing felt meaningful, it was a nice change. I look forward to scheduling more outings.

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First Service Outing ~ 11/21/2017

Yesterday was my first service outing at the Southampton Men’s Shelter as a volunteer from Friend’s of Boston’s Homeless.

Overall, it was great! I was very nervous at first, but the kitchen manager, Anthony, made me feel right at home. At the Men’s Shelter, I helped set up and serve lunch (Sandwiches, sweet potatoes, and chips). I worked with a few other people to serve food and clean up, who were also very welcoming, showing genuine interest in my life. The men staying at the shelter were also very appreciative of my help, I had a few great conversations with a few of them.

I didn’t get a chance to speak in length with the coordinator, Sofia, about if should could make use of my research. But I did get a chance to ask questions of other volunteers and program coordinators. I found out that the food they serve is donated by suppliers and prepared by them at another location. They are significantly dependent on donations by companies, but do receive some support from the City of Boston.

My next volunteer outing is this Friday at the Women’s Shelter serving dinner. I look forward to meeting a new group of people and to future outings with the Men’s Shelter

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Journal Submission #3 ~ 11/21/2017

Have you created a meaningful benefit (yet)?

My first two outings are this week to participate in the community meal program for the men and women’s shelter of Friends of Boston’s Homeless. I hope to schedule at least 1 or 2 more before the end of the semester and more for after winter break. I am also in the process of compiling research and beginning to group sections of it together, to form some kind of report. I will also talk with the service organizer for FoBH to see if they would be able to benefit from my research or if I could create and flyers or graphics for them, essentially looking for anything that they might need.

How has your thinking about the issue or problem changed?

My understanding of Housing First has deepened, but more importantly I’ve found that Boston is Housing First’s success story. There are many implications to the program that I had not considered or even known about. For example, in my hometown, Sacramento, it is not a unanimously accepted program and many people create alternative programs to target Housing First’s weaknesses. Understanding the counterargument has given me a better understanding of the requirements necessary for Housing First to succeed and what makes the program fail. 

What is your team’s strength?

I am not on a team, however, I do know that being alone has allowed me to easily adapt to changes in the direction of my project and shape it to what best accommodates my schedule. The research aspect of my project has allowed me to make progress whenever I have available time from other academic work to take notes or research further into the field.

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Talk with Cici ~ 11/19/2017

Today, I had the chance to schedule a call with Cici to catch up and ask for some advice. I asked Cici what she thought about my problem of what to do with my research. Cici had some great suggestions that really helped develop my next steps with my research.

Since I am meeting one of the primary organizers of service this Tuesday during my service, I should try and talk to her a little more about my project in person. This could lead to me asking if they would like a pamphlet about Housing First for their organization, or something similar. This would give more meaning to my research and perhaps guide me on better ways to provide more benefit to the organization, since I don’t have a lot of time for many more service outings.

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Scheduled Service Outings! ~ 11/15/2017

As of today, I have two outings scheduled with Friends of Boston’s Homeless at each of their two shelters: the men’s shelter and women’s shelter. My first two outings will be 11/21/2017 from 10:30-12:00pm at the Men’s Shelter and 11/24/2017 from 5:30-7:30pm at the Women’s Shelter. I will be participating in community meal program. I look forward to meeting a few of the influential people who run this organization.

However, I was not able to schedule a group outing for my organizational behavior team since they community meal program is for 3-4 people groups, or individuals.

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Housing Research ~ 11/7/2017

In addition to research on the history of Housing First and its implementation in Boston, I have begun to compile written, online publications about Housing First. Many of these references are news articles, research publications, and policy publications from such organizations like the City of Boston, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Huffington Post, DESC Seattle, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. I am compiling a running list of these references on a document, I have posted my list below.

As I am taking notes from each of the links, I am beginning to think about the end result of my research. While compiling my research into one document and making it presentable is useful for myself and this project, it does not provide much benefit. My next step is to call Cici to brainstorm about different potential products for my research.

http://endhomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/adopting-a-housing-first-approach.pdf#page=4

https://www.usich.gov/solutions/housing/housing-first

https://www.huduser.gov/Publications/pdf/hsgfirst.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20141222032133/https://homeless.ehclients.com/images/uploads/DESC_Housing_First_Principles.pdf

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/housing_first_model_of_address.html

http://legacy.wbur.org/2010/09/29/homeless (BOSTON)

http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/06/24/first_things_first/

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2015/10/13/how-mayor-walsh-plans-to-end-veteran-homelessness

https://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/PDFs/An%20Action%20Plan%20to%20End%20Veteran%20and%20Chronic%20Homelessness%20in%20Boston%202015-2018.pdf

http://www.epath.org/site/PATHBeyondShelter/programs.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/pat-lamarche/housing-first-doesnt-homelessness_b_4611639.html

http://web.pdx.edu/~nwallace/AHP/CuriousCaseHousing.pdf

http://www.aidschicago.org/resources/legacy/pdf/2009/hhrpn/Other/Kertesz-Weiner-JAMA-editorial2009.pdf

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.94.4.651

http://www.beyondshelter.org/aaa_initiatives/The%20Source%20article.pdf

http://www.mhsa.net/homelessness-massachusetts

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Emailing FoBH ~ 10/30/2017

Today I emailed Friends of Boston’s Homeless to organize a series of outings for myself and hopefully a group outing for my Organizational Behavior Team.

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Mid-Semester Report Follow up ~ 11/1/2017

Would it be more impactful identify a specific, affected group in my Housing First Research? Since I will not be visiting as many varied organizations, it may be hard to focus my volunteering on this population.

May be better to support the policy in general, instead of a specific demographic

Study the policy, look at it from a legal perspective (in addition to its history, application, Boston’s support, advantages and disadvantages, etc.)

Revise my goal to be in support of the housing first policy, and add an element to my research of its effect/implications on different demographics

May be difficult to specify my service on a specific demographic

What platform would be best to communicate my research and findings from volunteering?

Creating a final, physical journal

Creating social media content, infographics, and more

Hosting a dinner and discussing

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Mid-Semester Report ~ 10/31/2017

What I’ve done:

So many approaches to housing policies and organization goals

No organization directly identifies with a certain policy, other than those who identify as a Housing First organization

Focus specifically on Housing First policy and its different applications around Boston

Currently organizing times to volunteer

Questions:

Would it be more impactful identify a specific, affected group in my Housing First Research? Since I will not be visiting as many varied organizations, it may be hard to focus my volunteering on this population.

What platform would be best to communicate my research and findings from volunteering?

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Journal Submission #2 ~ 10/24/17

The goal of my Do Better, Be Better project has changed since the start of the project -- specifically in its scope of policies, target audience, and organizations. My revised goal is still to create benefit for the Boston homeless community through service at different Housing First organizations. I have narrowed the scope of my project to Housing First organizations to give more time for consistent service to a few organizations, rather than trying to visit many only once. Since the Boston Department of Housing aligns itself with this policy, it gives me the opportunity to research the application of this policy and analyze it from many perspectives in a major US city. The next steps in my project include narrowing down organizations I plan to reach out to, complete the volunteer applications, send emails to each of the organizations to follow up, and schedule dates. In the interim, I will be conducting research on the Housing First policy, including its history, intent, issues, etcetera; so when I schedule service dates, I am able to provide benefit in addition to observing the policy firsthand.

My greatest obstacle so far was having to redesign the scope of my project to a more specific outcome. I believe my project started very broad, in part due to my high expectations, and being realistic about real-world logistics and time constraints was tough to get over. However, CiCi has been extremely helpful in grounding my project, keeping its integrity, and helping redirect me to a goal that is able to provide more benefit. My phone calls and emails with CiCi have been extremely useful in brainstorming, bouncing off ideas, and just chatting with. So far, I believe, we have developed a great connection over nonprofit work and she has even been able to give me advice into the nonprofit sector with current opportunities and potential paths. In the future, I hope to continue these conversations with CiCi so her and I are both able to grow with the project.