Claire Weatherly
(She/her)
International Affairs and Social Work
Contact Information
Phone: (404)567-9059
Email: cew42159@uga.edu
Impact Involvement
I first heard about IMPACT my freshman year through Freshmen Forum, a SGA program geared towards freshmen. I thought it sounded neat, so I looked at the website and applied for a spring break trip focusing on Youth Empowerment. After being a participant on the Bluefield, WV trip and leading the Savannah GA trip, I have truly fallen in love with the social justice oriented service that takes place on these trips as well as the community involved.
Interest in Trip Focus
Shelter and Resource Access is such an interesting topic to me because it encompasses so many issues. This is a topic that epitomizes the term intersectional because of the many different variables that go into someone experiencing difficulties with such things. It includes poverty, accessibility to resources, physical and mental health, and so much more. This is why I love this topic so much. It is not a simple one step issue, but one that we truly have to engage with and learn about in order to even have an understanding of the issue. It is also a super cool topic to serve with because of the many variables that go into it!
Fun Fact
Fun Fact about me!! I really love the outdoors! I love hiking, climbing, and rafting so much; these are probably my favorite things to do!
(She/her)
International Affairs and Social Work
Contact Information
Phone: (404)567-9059
Email: cew42159@uga.edu
Impact Involvement
I first heard about IMPACT my freshman year through Freshmen Forum, a SGA program geared towards freshmen. I thought it sounded neat, so I looked at the website and applied for a spring break trip focusing on Youth Empowerment. After being a participant on the Bluefield, WV trip and leading the Savannah GA trip, I have truly fallen in love with the social justice oriented service that takes place on these trips as well as the community involved.
Interest in Trip Focus
Shelter and Resource Access is such an interesting topic to me because it encompasses so many issues. This is a topic that epitomizes the term intersectional because of the many different variables that go into someone experiencing difficulties with such things. It includes poverty, accessibility to resources, physical and mental health, and so much more. This is why I love this topic so much. It is not a simple one step issue, but one that we truly have to engage with and learn about in order to even have an understanding of the issue. It is also a super cool topic to serve with because of the many variables that go into it!
Fun Fact
Fun Fact about me!! I really love the outdoors! I love hiking, climbing, and rafting so much; these are probably my favorite things to do!
Tony Elengickal
Contact Information
Phone: (678)900-6998
Email: aje27509@uga.edu
Impact Involvement
During my freshman year, a few of my friends told me about IMPACT and encouraged me to check it out. After going to an interest meeting, I decided to sign-up for the disability advocacy trip to Jackson Mississippi. I had a great time on the trip and had the chance to work one-on-one with several people with disabilities. After that, I really wanted to get more involved in the IMPACT community along with experiencing a different service trip. I’m excited to lead this trip to Charlotte and I’m hoping for a week full of learning and growth through service.
Interest in Trip Focus
When I came to UGA, I was faced with a large homeless population in Athens that I wasn’t used to back in my hometown. This compelled me to join Habitat for Humanity and through that I became very interested in shelter and resource access. This is an issue that is facing every community around the world and anyone can get involved in both a direct and indirect form of service.
Fun Fact
I got to ride on an elephant this past summer while I was in India.
Contact Information
Phone: (678)900-6998
Email: aje27509@uga.edu
Impact Involvement
During my freshman year, a few of my friends told me about IMPACT and encouraged me to check it out. After going to an interest meeting, I decided to sign-up for the disability advocacy trip to Jackson Mississippi. I had a great time on the trip and had the chance to work one-on-one with several people with disabilities. After that, I really wanted to get more involved in the IMPACT community along with experiencing a different service trip. I’m excited to lead this trip to Charlotte and I’m hoping for a week full of learning and growth through service.
Interest in Trip Focus
When I came to UGA, I was faced with a large homeless population in Athens that I wasn’t used to back in my hometown. This compelled me to join Habitat for Humanity and through that I became very interested in shelter and resource access. This is an issue that is facing every community around the world and anyone can get involved in both a direct and indirect form of service.
Fun Fact
I got to ride on an elephant this past summer while I was in India.
About Our Topic
Key Words:
- Affordable Housing - housing that does not cost more than 30% of your family income
- Eviction - the action of expelling someone, especially a tenant, from a property; can be due to nonpayment of rent, lease violation, expiration of the lease, or illegal activity
- Public housing - housing that is owned by the government for low-income families and individuals. Rents are subsidized in order to make the housing affordable
- SNAP - the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of needy families so they can purchase healthy food and move towards self-sufficiency.
- Food Desert - an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food, in contrast with an area with higher access to supermarkets with fresh foods
- Gentrification - the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste.
- Intersectionality - the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
- Welfare - a form of government support to ensure that people can meet their basic needs. Includes supplemental nutrition assistance, Medicaid, supplemental income, and housing assistance.
- Medicaid - federal and state program that helps with medical costs for some people with limited income and resources
- Poverty - poverty is not having enough material possessions or income for a person's needs. Absolute poverty is the complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic personal needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter.
Shelter and Resource Access Fast Facts
- Over 46 million people in the United States are currently living in poverty, which is the highest rate in 60 years
- Over 11 million Americans pay over half of their salaries for rent.
- For many people working at the minimum wage, they need to work for 90 hours a week just to afford a 1-bedroom rental home
- 30% of homeless people have serious mental health issues and no access to mental health resources
- 23.5 million people live in food deserts and half of those people are also low income. These people have limited access to supermarkets
About Charlotte
Charlotte has a poverty rate of 14.9%
- The population that has the greatest proportion of Charlotte residents beneath the poverty line is women age 18-34.
- The poverty rate in Charlotte has been increasing for the past couple years.
- Charlotte is a rapidly growing city putting pressure on the city’s resources.
- Charlotte's poverty rate impacts individuals differently by race:
from https://datausa.io/profile/geo/charlotte-nc/
About this topic in Athens
- 35.5% of Athens-Clarke County residents are living in poverty.
- There is an overall lack of support for these Athens residents as the town is more oriented towards the college students in attendance.
- 1 in 5 people living in Athens are food insecure, meaning they don’t have stable access to food
- Many families can only afford cheap processed food from dollar general instead of fresh foods from a conventional supermarket
Resources
2018 Annual Homeless Assessment
https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2018-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
Food Sustainability
https://foodispower.org/
Education Ineqaulity
https://www.epi.org/publication/education-inequalities-at-the-school-starting-gate/
Affordable Housing Program in Charlotte
https://www.wbtv.com/2019/08/19/an-organization-helps-working-professionals-afford-homes-charlotte/
Eviction Problem in America
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/12/americas-eviction-epidemic-matthew-desmond-housing-crisis
Food Deserts in Athens
https://www.redandblack.com/opinion/opinion-you-should-care-about-food-deserts-in-athens/article_5f88bef8-8752-11e9-bf5b-4792c4a741e3.html
Homelessness in Athens
https://www.spencerfrye.com/the-epidemic-of-homelessness-in-athens/
Poverty in Charlotte
92c4a741e3.htmlhttps://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article89917322.html
Food Deserts Affect Health
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/food-desert1.htm
Homelessness as a Youth can Lead to Sexual Violence
https://www.nsvrc.org/publications/nsvrc-publications-infographic/homeless-youth-sexual-violence-infographic
Homelessness in the LGBT+ community
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2017/03/29/homeless-rates-for-lgbt-teens-are-alarming-heres-how-parents-can-change-that/
Youth Poverty
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-poverty-can-follow-children-into-adulthood/
Access to water in marginalized communities
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/23/texas-town-without-running-water-sandbranch
https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2018-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
Food Sustainability
https://foodispower.org/
Education Ineqaulity
https://www.epi.org/publication/education-inequalities-at-the-school-starting-gate/
Affordable Housing Program in Charlotte
https://www.wbtv.com/2019/08/19/an-organization-helps-working-professionals-afford-homes-charlotte/
Eviction Problem in America
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/12/americas-eviction-epidemic-matthew-desmond-housing-crisis
Food Deserts in Athens
https://www.redandblack.com/opinion/opinion-you-should-care-about-food-deserts-in-athens/article_5f88bef8-8752-11e9-bf5b-4792c4a741e3.html
Homelessness in Athens
https://www.spencerfrye.com/the-epidemic-of-homelessness-in-athens/
Poverty in Charlotte
92c4a741e3.htmlhttps://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article89917322.html
Food Deserts Affect Health
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/food-desert1.htm
Homelessness as a Youth can Lead to Sexual Violence
https://www.nsvrc.org/publications/nsvrc-publications-infographic/homeless-youth-sexual-violence-infographic
Homelessness in the LGBT+ community
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2017/03/29/homeless-rates-for-lgbt-teens-are-alarming-heres-how-parents-can-change-that/
Youth Poverty
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-poverty-can-follow-children-into-adulthood/
Access to water in marginalized communities
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/23/texas-town-without-running-water-sandbranch
