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Chelsea Murphy
Why Impact? The fall of my freshmen year, I had the chance to go to the impact fair. All the site leaders were so nice and welcoming. They made each trip sound like so much fun, so it made applying for my favorite trip very difficult. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go on trip that year, but I was determined to sophomore year. The community health trip I went on to Indiana and the site leaders that guided me inspired my decision to become a site leader and continue advocating for this club. My trip last year focused on the HIV/AIDS community in Memphis further developed my love for service-learning. It connected my experience as a participant the year before to my experience as a site leader. I joined impact because this organization combined traveling and community service which are two things I truly enjoy. Impact’s values and methods of service also stood out to me. Another thing was that I noticed that Impact is one of those organizations that does become a family thing and that is very rare to find. Why Shelter and Resource Access? I believe that one should always try something out of his or her comfort zone or learn about a new topic. I am excited to learn about shelter and resource access as it encompasses so many different aspects. There are a lot of misconstrued notions about the homeless and lower income populations and I want to educate myself and our participants about the different factors that can affect shelter and resource access. Having access to shelter and food are very important in reducing poverty. Our trip location is in Charlotte, North Carolina, so I am looking forward to learning more about how this issue correlates to affordable housing and resource access in Georgia. Fun Fact This summer, I worked on a family cookbook of all of my grandma’s favorite recipes. Cell: 678-628-8352 Email: cnm54889@uga.edu |
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Aly Shakoor
How did I get involved with IMPACT? I went on a winter break trip to Tuscaloosa last year, focusing on Affordable Housing. I had heard so much about how amazing IMPACT trips were, and I was excited to learn more about housing and get to know a good group of people. After going on an amazing trip, I wanted to help other people have a similarly great experience with the program. In addition, I wanted to expand my own understanding of my trip’s issue. I think IMPACT trips make their biggest..impact…through awareness. What I want most is for myself and the participants on my trip to walk away with a better understanding of social issues and hopefully a drive to contribute towards solutions. Why am I interested in my trip focus? Shelter and resource access is an issue that ties into many other social issues, and similarly has many forces behind it, including economics, history, psychology, political science...the list goes on. Despite the amount of people in need and the general discussion of issues like welfare in our lives, few people (myself included) know very much about these issues. I think it’s important to understand these issues before making any difference. Besides being a significant social issue itself, shelter and resource access impacts various other issues such as employment, education, etc. Fun fact? I share a birthday with Tom Cruise. We're cancers. Contact: shakoor@uga.edu 678-468-1893 |
Key Terms
Facts about Shelter and Resource Access
The most cited reasons for family homelessness are 1) Lack of affordable housing, 2) unemployment, and 3) poverty. The National Alliance to End Homelessness states that there are 564,708 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the US. Within that number, 6,907 (6.38%) are children, 47,725 (8.33%) are veterans, and 269,991 (47.6%) are disabled and unable to work. Limited shelter and resources access is due to multiple interconnected factors including poverty, housing costs, mental illness, lack of healthcare, substance abuse, employment instability, discrimination, and domestic violence. There are two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness in America over the past 20-25 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty. Persons living in poverty are most at risk of becoming homeless. In the United States, homelessness is an undeniable reality that impacts people of all ages, ethnicities, and life circumstances.There is no city or county anywhere in the United States where a worker making the minimum wage can afford a fair market rate one-bedroom apartment.
Shelter and Resource Access in Athens, Georgia
Many people who visit Athens usually notice the city's prevalent homelessness. Many are forced to spend the night on streets, often downtown. One relevant factor is the sharply rising poverty rate. The percentage of those living under the poverty rate climbed from 17.5% in 2000 to 37.8% in 2014, compared a rise from 12.3% to 18.4% in the state of Georgia during the same period. (http://www.onlineathens.com/article/20160103/NEWS/301039974). The homeless rate if 0.186, only slightly higher than the 0.176 national average (http://www.onlineathens.com/local-news/2016-11-26/choice-or-crisis-stories-behind-homelessness-athens).
There are local shelters such as the Athens Area Homeless Shelter, Interfaith Hospitality Network, and the Bigger Vision of Athens. These shelters often reach capacity, leaving many to sleep on the streets. Many campus groups seek to tackle the issue of shelter and resource access. Often the goal is not simply to increase access to food and shelter, but rather about breaking down barriers to services such as healthcare as well as breaking down stigma associated with the homeless. For instance, Athens PBJ organizes meetups downtown every Sunday afternoon during which members of the Athens community gather over sandwiches and form meaningful connections.
Links to websites
http://frontsteps.org/u-s-homelessness-facts/
https://familypromise.org/homelessness-fact-sheet/
https://familypromise.org/fast-facts-about-homelessness-and-poverty/
https://projecthome.org/about/facts-homelessness
https://nationalhomeless.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Substance-Abuse-and-Homelessness.pdf
- Affordable Housing: Housing that is affordable to those with median household income as rated by the national or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Affordable means that the annual housing costs does not exceed more than 30% of family income.
- Poverty: Lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods. The Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty.
- Absolute Poverty: A condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.
- Co-occurring disorders: Homeless individuals with the occurrence of mental illness and substance use disorder(s)
- Emergency Shelter: a place for people to live temporarily when they cannot live in their previous residence. These shelters sometimes facilitate support groups and/or provide meals.
- Low Income Households: Households that have 30-50% of area median income. Extremely low income households that are 30% or less of area median income.
- Poverty Line: the estimated minimum level of income needed to secure the necessities of life
- Homelessness: cannot afford to pay for a place to live, or when their current home is unsafe or unstable. An individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; as well an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations, an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized
- Social Inequality: Resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons.
- Gentrification: The process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces lower income residents
- Socioeconomic Status: Is the social standing or class of an individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupation
- Food Deserts: parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers.
Facts about Shelter and Resource Access
The most cited reasons for family homelessness are 1) Lack of affordable housing, 2) unemployment, and 3) poverty. The National Alliance to End Homelessness states that there are 564,708 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the US. Within that number, 6,907 (6.38%) are children, 47,725 (8.33%) are veterans, and 269,991 (47.6%) are disabled and unable to work. Limited shelter and resources access is due to multiple interconnected factors including poverty, housing costs, mental illness, lack of healthcare, substance abuse, employment instability, discrimination, and domestic violence. There are two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness in America over the past 20-25 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty. Persons living in poverty are most at risk of becoming homeless. In the United States, homelessness is an undeniable reality that impacts people of all ages, ethnicities, and life circumstances.There is no city or county anywhere in the United States where a worker making the minimum wage can afford a fair market rate one-bedroom apartment.
Shelter and Resource Access in Athens, Georgia
Many people who visit Athens usually notice the city's prevalent homelessness. Many are forced to spend the night on streets, often downtown. One relevant factor is the sharply rising poverty rate. The percentage of those living under the poverty rate climbed from 17.5% in 2000 to 37.8% in 2014, compared a rise from 12.3% to 18.4% in the state of Georgia during the same period. (http://www.onlineathens.com/article/20160103/NEWS/301039974). The homeless rate if 0.186, only slightly higher than the 0.176 national average (http://www.onlineathens.com/local-news/2016-11-26/choice-or-crisis-stories-behind-homelessness-athens).
There are local shelters such as the Athens Area Homeless Shelter, Interfaith Hospitality Network, and the Bigger Vision of Athens. These shelters often reach capacity, leaving many to sleep on the streets. Many campus groups seek to tackle the issue of shelter and resource access. Often the goal is not simply to increase access to food and shelter, but rather about breaking down barriers to services such as healthcare as well as breaking down stigma associated with the homeless. For instance, Athens PBJ organizes meetups downtown every Sunday afternoon during which members of the Athens community gather over sandwiches and form meaningful connections.
Links to websites
http://frontsteps.org/u-s-homelessness-facts/
https://familypromise.org/homelessness-fact-sheet/
https://familypromise.org/fast-facts-about-homelessness-and-poverty/
https://projecthome.org/about/facts-homelessness
https://nationalhomeless.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Substance-Abuse-and-Homelessness.pdf
