In the fall of 2015, I began a 3 month school with YWAM called Biblical Perspectives for Transforming Nations, or BPTN. In it, we had an assignment, we had to find an issue in the world that was important to us that, if we actually applied ourselves, we could actually bring a measurable amount of change to.
The project focused on the idea of affecting each "Sphere of Society"as a way to bring about holistic
change to a given problem. My fellow classmates did things like increasing English literacy among girls in Tanzania so that they can pass secondary school, and increasing the amount of time children in Madison play outside to make them healthier and making bringing people in communities closer together, among other things.
My project was focused on the homeless in Madison, and how to get them jobs so they could try to get out of their situation. I've had a strong desire to help the homeless ever since my DTS in San Francisco. I saw how homelessness can easily become an identity that people can think they are stuck with. I met people on the streets and realized how they were just normal people who had fallen on hard times, but many had lost hope of ever getting out of their situation.
In my time in Madison, the same thing happened. I've spoken with a number of the homeless there, and would love to be a part of some kind of outreach to them. When I go back to Madison I hope I can get some kind of homeless ministry going. Maybe not the exact one described below, but if I'm there long enough, who knows?
Anyway, this is my paper from my BPTN project, describing in detail what I think would be an effective plan for helping the homeless in Madison (at least, the ones that want to actually change their situation) to get jobs. It was nearly 30 pages, counting the bibliography, so keep that in mind. It's not necessarily what you might call light reading, but if you to want to help the homeless in your city, there might be some useful ideas in here.
Alright, lets dive in!
(This was graded, but I never did receive a copy back with reference as to where there may have been mistakes. Please help me make this look more professional by pointing out to me [privately] where there's any mistakes in the grammar, spelling, or citation, so that I can update it quickly! This was my first time writing an MLA paper in years!)
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Hope For the Homeless: Finding Employment for the Homeless in Madison
1. Introduction to the problem
The problem I’m addressing is the one of homeless people not being able to find employment. There are numerous factors which can stand between a homeless person and a job offer. They may not have an I.D. or Social Security Number. They may not have adequate access to a shower or clean clothes for an interview. They may have been banned from the premises of many local businesses for loitering. They will usually lack a permanent mailing address. Many homeless people have a disability, either physical, mental, or both. However, one of the biggest and most difficult challenges to overcome in getting a job (for anyone, not just the homeless) is a criminal record, which I will talk about further soon.
The change I would like to see is more employers in Madison giving homeless job applicants a chance at an interview. The method I would take in doing this is two pronged. Firstly, I would want to intentionally mentor and disciple homeless individuals in a way that builds up their sense of self worth. Once I know them and their character well enough to recommend them for employment, I would utilize the second part of my strategy. I would want to create a network of local employers who want to help the homeless but need to be able to do it in a way that would be fiscally responsible. I'd let them know about the work I’m doing with the homeless and ask if they would give an interview to any I send their way, with the understanding that I won’t actually recommend anyone until I truly believe that they would be able to hold that job (because if I were to recommend someone that ends up getting fired soon afterwards, it would reflect poorly on my program and decrease the trust I’d built with the employers). I would also approach the city council and ask if they would consider a small tax break for the businesses that cooperate with my program. I’d sell that to them by explaining that the more effective my program can be, the quicker they will see a decrease in the homeless population and a simultaneous uptick in tax paying residents (which means that, over time, the program could pay for itself).
There are multiple factors that could be involved in any one person being homeless and jobless. First, I will talk about some of the most common factors nationwide, and then I will address Dane County specifically.
2. Homelessness in America
Before we get specific about unemployment, we need to know why people are homeless. There can be numerous reasons: Addiction, mental illness, domestic violence, natural disasters. However, for all of these factors, homelessness boils down to one fairly obvious factor: the inability to afford or maintain a permanent place of shelter. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness:
“Specific reasons vary, but research shows people are homeless because they can’t find housing they can afford. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more than 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing, and a family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States.”
So as you can see, you don’t have to be unemployed to be homeless. Any number of things can cause you to not be able to afford housing. However, unemployment does make it basically impossible to get out of a period of homelessness. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, only 44% of the homeless have jobs and even many of them cannot escape homelessness with what they are making. In today’s economy, a lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck, and if they lose that job, then they can’t pay their rent, or they can’t fix their car to go find more work, or they can’t do any number of things, so they end up on the streets.
So they need to get a job and save money, right? There are those with jobs who are struggling to find shelter who have a job, but it’s no secret that many homeless people are addicts. 35% of homeless individuals suffer from substance abuse problems (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2011), pg 2). If someone isn't putting their money into their vices, and truly starts saving up for a few weeks or months, shouldn't they be able to get themselves a place and start turning their life around?
Sadly, it is not that simple. As I said in the introduction, there are a number of challenges posed to a homeless person trying to get a job. Let us look more in depth at one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome: a criminal record.
“Chronic homelessness” is defined as: “someone who has experienced homelessness for a year or longer, or who has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years, and has a disability. A family with an adult member who meets this description would also be considered chronically homeless” ( National Alliance to End Homelessness). For anyone who is homeless, but especially those who are chronically homeless, there are a number of charges one might accumulate trying to survive life on the streets: behavior in parks (specifically sleeping or being on park property past it’s curfew), public indecency (for urinating or defecating in public), criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, unauthorized use of property, and more ("Know Your Legal Rights." NEOCH). According to a study reported on by Stan Alcorn at NPR, you are 50 percent less likely to be called back or receive a job offer if you have a conviction of any kind on record. And, unsurprisingly, “54% [of currently homeless clients] reported experiencing one or more types of incarceration” (Paquette, Kristen: “Incarcerated People and Homelessness”).
It is an understandably daunting task for any homeless person to try to find employment, let alone adequate housing. Now let’s look at Madison, or Dane County, and see what the primary causes of homelessness are and what is being done about it.
3. Homelessness in Madison
The most recent compilation of data publicly available at the time of writing is from an extremely comprehensive report from 2013, the “Annual Report On Homeless Persons Served in Dane County”. According to the report, in 2013 there were 3370 homeless people in the city, which is less than in 2012 but higher than in 2010 and 2011 (Annual Report, pg 1). Between 2010 and 2013 there was an average of 3242 homeless people in Madison, and there is no evidence to suggest that number has changed significantly.
Let’s assume, for the sake of keeping our numbers simpler, that there are only 3200 homeless people in Madison in 2015. On any given night, there are 379 shelter beds available, and 920 transitional housing units available, which in 2013 housed 1727 individuals (Annual Report, pg 2). Assuming every shelter bed is filled each night, and that the number of individuals in transitional housing is exactly the same (which is possible, considering there is no time limit on how long an individual or family can stay in it), then there is shelter for 66% of the 3200 homeless individuals in Madison on any given night. That is a fairly impressive figure, and it doesn't account for homeless who may be squatting in abandoned buildings, sleeping in their car, or briefly staying with a friend.
So what are some of the causes of homelessness in Madison? Porchlight Inc., the largest supplier of low cost housing in Dane County, reports that “18% of the Madison community lives in poverty.” As we have seen, many the impoverished in America are one accident or tragedy away from being out on the streets. Also, “36% of families and 24% of single women in Madison report that violence or the threat of violence is the reason for their homelessness.” and “Many homeless people report issues with mental illness. In Madison 27% of families, 43% of single women and 27% of single men report having issues with mental health.” (Porchlight).
One common mental health issue among homeless women is depression. As APA reports, “47% of homeless women meet the criteria for a diagnosis of major depressive disorder—twice the rate of women in general.” (Health and Homelessness). The link between abuse or trauma and depression is widely documented. This leads me to conclude that a large number of homeless women in Madison likely suffer from depression, as well as potentially other mental issues that either preexist their homelessness, were caused by the stress and trauma of living without permanent shelter, or were brought on by substance abuse.
I believe the Madison community is doing a fairly good job of taking care of the shelter needs of its homeless population - two thirds have shelter on an average night, which is higher than in San Francisco, another place I worked with the homeless, which in 2015 was only sheltering 48% of its homeless population (San Francisco Homeless Point-in-Time Count & Survey Comprehensive Report 2015) - however, there may be other physical, as well as mental and emotional needs of this population that are not be being met. Many of these needs could be met by providing employment.
4. Unemployment in Madison
There is a financial incentive for local businesses to hire unskilled laborers and train them on their own dime. From the 2013 Dane County Economic and Workforce Profile,
“The dearth of qualified workers will continue to challenge the state for years to come. Not only is the problem one of worker quality, it is also one of quantity. The grey tsunami of Baby Boomers nearing the end of their work life cannot be halted. Perhaps, at best, it can be delayed a few years. Even so, only 5 percent of Boomers plan to extend their working years full time in the job they now have. The flattening (even declining) workforce will affect most industries — construction, manufacturing, retail, information, finance, professional services, education, healthcare and government.
Attracting and retaining talent should be by now the most critical undertaking of businesses and communities over the foreseeable future. Technology can be substituted to alleviate some of the quantity problem, but more sophisticated technology will require more sophisticated workers. Firms that invest in training and attracting talent will have a competitive advantage in producing higher‐margin products. Communities that invest in attracting and retaining talent will raise the equality of life in their communities that will perpetuate the further attraction of skilled workers and citizens” (2).
45 percent of the homeless in America are under the age of 30 (National Alliance to End Homelessness). Half of these are under 18, but they won’t be forever. As the report says, if businesses want to have a competitive advantage, they have to be willing to train in unskilled laborers themselves as opposed to only hiring those with experience. This is a potential opportunity for the homeless in Madison to start to fill in the labor gaps left by the retiring Baby Boomers.
The most recent data publicly available at the time of writing on Dane County’s unemployment rates shows that there are 8105 unemployed people as of October 2015 ("Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) Search), which means that the homeless people in Madison are less than half of the unemployed people. As we've shown earlier, the chances of a homeless person being picked over a non-homeless person are pretty low.
One resource the homeless in Madison have is WORKnet. WORKnet, Wisconsin’s Workforce and Labor Market Information System, allows people to search jobs by county or by city, and then search every available job in different categories based on a number of occupational categories. Even if they don’t have their own internet capable device, they can still go online by using the computers in one of Madison’s 9 public libraries. There is also the Dane County Job Center, which provides many services for those seeking employment, such as resume reviews, mock interviews, ability profiler tests, and more (WISCONSIN JOB SERVICE/DANE COUNTY JOB CENTER).
There does not seem to be a lack of resources available for those seeking employment. With some patience and research, there are many useful avenues through which you could get in contact with a local employer for an application or interview. The main barriers for a homeless person trying to find employment here will come from the fact that they are homeless, not that they are unemployed. If it does not become easier for the homeless to find jobs, then Madison will not be able to suitably help its homeless population find housing.
5. Spheres of Society
The Spheres of Society are like the component parts on a bicycle. There’s the gears, the chain, the pedals, the tires, etc. If one of the parts is not working, then the rest of the bike will fail to work at it’s full potential. God created mankind in a similar way. He made these different spheres (or domains) to work in perfect harmony with each other to bring about transformation and freedom within societies.
However, the world we live in is a fallen one, and therefore each sphere is broken in many ways. Each smaller problem in society can be traced back to one or more of these spheres either overstepping its bounds or under-performing in some way. In these next subsections, we will examine how problems within each sphere are leading to the issues of homelessness and joblessness, and also hopefully find out how their roles can be redeemed to bring the transformation and freedom they were always meant to.
5.1 Church
The sphere most directly related is the church. I believe that Biblically, the church is called to be the one who shows the love of Christ to the world, and bringing the loving changes it wants to happen by leading by example and changing them itself. “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (1 John 3:17-18, NIV). Our love is meant to actually change things, and one of the things that we could change ourselves is homelessness.
Numerous churches in Madison provide support for the homeless. Bethel Lutheran church has a lot of options for the homeless in Madison. They provide, “a computer lab, telephone access, clothing, information, games, a small library, bathrooms, hygiene products, hot coffee, conversation, and a safe space to escape the streets” (Homeless Support Services). Grace Episcopal Church is where Porchlight Inc. has one of their shelters, however, it had numerous problems in 2010, with people getting lice, rude staff, and overall squalid conditions (Tarr). Nowhere in the city are local churches doing anything to perpetuate the cycle of joblessness and homelessness, and I can’t think of a way that they could.
However, the church should be doing much more. Curtis F of ReverbPress writes, “Mark Johnston, a leader at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), stated that increasing the department’s budget ten-fold, equating to roughly $20 billion, would allow America to end its homeless problem by the year 2020.” In the same article, he goes on to show that, “taxpayers subsidize religious institutions to the sum of $71 billion every single year.”
I’m not going to comment on whether or not churches should be tax free or not. Regardless, Christians in America are saving some significant money by sharing the burden with the non-Christian citizens, which according to the Pew Research Center’s article "America’s Changing Religious Landscape" is 30% of the population. 30% of $71 billion is $21.3 billion. The amount of money non-Christians are spending each year for the upkeep of religious institutions across the country is more than enough to end homelessness here in America. Or, to look at it another way, the money that Christians (and other religious people) are saving each year by not paying those taxes is enough to end homelessness here in America.
The government and other non-Christian organizations have had to step up and fill in the hole left by the church, who is supposed to take care of the poor. There is debate among Bible scholars as to whether or not the Bible calls for Christians to help all the poor, or simply those within the Church. Either way, at the very least the church should take care of it’s own poor. If churches are doing their job, there should be no homeless people within their own congregations. But I believe that we have a Biblical mandate to help all the poor of the world, and if that is the case, than we should start by reaching out to those in our own neighborhoods. One brilliant example of this is from LaSalle Street Church in Chicago, where last year each member was given a $500 check and encouraged to use it for good works. “Members have put their $500 gifts toward a skate park in Amman, Jordan, a scholarship fund for engineering students, an eyeglass ministry, a no-kill animal shelter, food pantries, homeless shelters and struggling family members.” (Pashman).
Compassion means “to suffer with”. The church is called to be compassionate, and suffering with someone means being alongside of them, empathizing with them, relating with them. Government programs are the opposite of relational, in that they cannot take the time to judge moral character when they provide money or goods to individuals (that could be seen as discriminatory), so I don’t think sending 20 billion to government assistance programs is the solution. That would increase dependence on the state for deliverance that the church could itself provide. I think that the church needs to take back the helping of the homeless from the government and other non-Christian organizations, because the best way to really help someone to turn their life around is to show them how much they are loved by God and how valuable they are as an individual. That’s the key to making a lasting change.
The churches in Madison could easily participate in the change I want to make by providing a safe space for myself and any volunteers my ministry might have (also from the church) to meet and relate with the homeless who are interested in our program. Instead of volunteers having to invite this person they are just getting to know into their homes, where they may have children or valuables they are wary of losing, they can have a weekly meet up time with the applicants for a meal or games or a one-on-one mentorship time.
Conversely, the homeless person can also feel safe knowing that they don’t have to go into the home of someone they are just getting to know. As we've shown, many of the homeless have various traumas that could make trust difficult. We want to always be trying to meet not only actual needs, but perceived needs as well, as a way to show love. Even though the homeless have nothing to fear from entering the homes of a church member, trust is a thing that must be built, and love can easily be shown by building trust.
A few team members would meet with each applicant for the program and talk with them before praying as a staff who would be their mentor. Then that staff member and the homeless applicant would meet and get to know one another. The applicant would express their desires and needs from the program in terms of what they want their relationship to look like - strictly aid in job training and searching, multi-weekly meetups for relationship and prayer, or anywhere in between - and if the staff member agrees, they would exchange contact info and begin to walk together towards finding the applicant employment. The one stipulation would be that the applicant get connected to a local church (one that is a part of the program and can send confirmation that they are attending if it is not the home church of the staff member) and attend every week. This way their spiritual needs can still be met even if they don’t want to engage in relationship with the staff.
Again, I do believe that the church is the most essential member to bring on board, because even if the economics side (creating a list of local employers who will be willing to allow interviews with homeless applicants that we send them) falls through, there is never any harm in building a space in which discipleship and mentorship can happen safely.
Now let us move on to the second most important sphere in this plan: economics.
5.2 Economics
No businessman will ever hire someone that will not profit them in some way. Some more calloused individuals may hire someone based on their race or gender, even if that person doesn’t seem like a good worker, just to appear as though they value diversity. That might be a profit to them. However, there is usually no apparent value in hiring a homeless person over a person with a home of similar age or apparent skills. Someone with a home will seem more likely have a more stable life routine and be a more reliable worker.
Also, many homeless people have a lot against them on their resume. As I mentioned earlier, they may not have or remember their social security number. Even if they did finish high school or get their GED, they may not have a diploma to prove it. They may have lost or had stolen any form of ID (extremely common for the homeless that live on the streets). They may have a felony on record, or more commonly, a misdemeanor. Basically, any honest job application from someone who has been homeless for awhile could have a number of things that could get it thrown right out.
I believe there are plenty of businessmen and women who are looking for ways for their businesses to help their community. There are those like Veronika Scott, who are directly looking to employ the homeless. Veronika Scott designed a coat that can turn into a sleeping bag, and then “built a nonprofit, the Empowerment Plan, which employs and trains homeless single parents to manufacture the coats that were her project for a class at Detroit's College for Creative Studies four years ago. She believed the coat could help the city's sizable homeless population during the brutal winters.” (Yam).
I don’t think businesses have over stepped their boundaries in any way in regard to hiring the homeless, I just think some have lost sight of the Biblical purpose of business, which is to make a profit for the benefit of not only yourself and your family, but of your fellow man in your community. Ideally, if there are two equally suitable applicants for a position, but one is in a seemingly greater need of the employment, that person would be the one to be hired.
My vision for how we could change employers relationships towards the homeless to contribute to a solution is to simply present them with an opportunity to do so. I want to build a network of business people in Madison who are interested in helping the community by giving the homeless a chance at an interview. The way it would work is I would have my discipleship/mentorship with certain homeless people running through local churches, and through that we could be able to judge their character and be able to vouch for them. Those employers who sign up for the program would agree to at least give an interview to those I bring them, which would be an enormous help for the homeless because of the factors I listed earlier that might get their applications thrown out otherwise.
In all of this, the employers know that I will have an incentive myself to only recommend applicants who we have thoroughly vetted, because any time a homeless person we send their way gets hired and then fired for any kind of character issue, it would reflect poorly on our ministry as a whole. In agreeing to this program, the employers lose nothing except the occasional time for an interview, and they gain the potential for receiving morally upright and dedicated workers. They also might have visible monetary incentives if I could get the next sphere on board.
5.3 Civil Government
Proverbs 16:11 says of God, “A just balance and scales are the Lord's; all the weights in the bag are his work.” (ESV). Romans 13:11 says of government, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (ESV). God is fair and unbiased, and therefore any Godly government will be the same. Regarding poverty, any Godly government must dole out any assistance it gives equally as people have need. If two citizens are looking for employment assistance, they should receive identical assistance opportunities by right. Whenever the government shows partiality, for good or for ill, it is dedicating more resources to one special group that are now inaccessible to another special group, so for a government to fairly use it’s resources it must be as impartial as possible.
The Dane County Department of Human Services website, which has nothing about helping the homeless, just a page on Economic Assistance and Work Services, tells you nothing other than that they provide those two things and where you can go to get help. There’s nothing specific about what programs they actually have. It seems to me that the State and County governments are not doing much to specifically assist the homeless in employment, instead offering employment assistance to all job seekers equally. This is exactly how the government should operate in this area, and it is exactly why the church needs to step up and address the needs of the more specific subgroup of homeless job seekers in their community. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a list of contacts for a few different organizations in the county, none of which are specifically about the homeless (“Assistance in Wisconsin Counties A-F”, HUD.GOV), so the federal government is acting in a similar fashion to the local government in this regard.
I don’t think the government has overstepped its boundary, but if it did, it would be because the church and the families of the homeless aren't doing their jobs. The church should be taking care of the poor in their fold, and families should be looking out for their own. If someone is homeless and jobless in this day and age, it’s because their families and local churches have failed them, or they have failed themselves. It is not because the state failed them.
In my strategy for helping the homeless find employment, the local civil government could offer small incentives to local businesses who participate in the program. It is important for it to be a city issue, not county or state, as each city must have the right to determine whether or not they deem this kind of program worthy of their public funds (they may have other programs that address the same issue that they think are more effective). However, this kind of incentive already exists on a federal level in the form of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit:
“The WOTC is a federal tax credit that encourages employers to hire job-seekers with employment barriers by allowing them to recover a portion of the wages paid during the initial period of employment. For many employers, especially small businesses, this tax credit may provide an additional incentive to hire and retain veterans who qualify for the credit.” (Virginia Commonwealth University).
Many businesses won’t hire the homeless because to them it isn't worth what they see as a potential risk - they could keep being late to work, they could steal stuff, they could scare off customers - but if they could be incentivized by the government then they might be more willing to give it a try. However, I foresee an incentive like this potentially getting in the way of a business owner's duty to hire based on merit and not on greed. In my program, the tax break would be given to all who simply sign up for the program, giving them no incentive to hire any one particular individual. Instead, the incentive is merely requires participating employers to give the homeless an equal opportunity that they might not otherwise have. The minimal commitment nature of this incentive means that nearly every business owner will want to join, which means the tax credit must be small enough that it won’t be a noticeable burden on the taxpayers, but big enough that it is worth the time for a busy employer to listen to the terms and sign off on it.
In the past, some members of the Madison government have attempted to decrease the homeless population by making it more difficult for them to live here (Mosiman, "Paul Soglin Proposes Time Limit on Benches, Sidewalks Downtown."). My program would allow for the homeless to stay and become an active part of the community. When they get employed, they can start to afford a home, simultaneously dropping homelessness rates and increase the employment rates.
The government is by nature non-relational. It is the opposite of a family. The family is meant to produce outstanding members of society, and the government is supposed to provide a space in which the family can do that freely. Let’s take a look at how families factor into this problem, and into its solution.
5.4 Family
It has long been documented that if children don’t learn how to properly relate to people in their family, they often struggle interacting healthily in society. The Journal of Marriage and Family hosted an article back in 1969 titled “Family Size and Stability as Antecedents to Homelessness and Excessive Drinking”, which says:
“The broken home is a traditional culprit in the etiology of social pathology. Delinquency, crime, drug addiction, and alcoholism all have been viewed as consequences of broken homes. With reference to homeless men, this point of view is elaborated in the ‘undersocialization hypothesis’ used by Pittman and Gordon in explaining the etiology of chronic alcoholism. According to the undersocialization hypothesis, inadequate socialization in early life leads to alcoholism, social withdrawal, and other unsavory behavior. One source of undersocialization is instability in the family of orientation, i.e., a ‘broken home’. Pittman and Gordon observe that while structural unity of a home does not guarantee adequate socialization, its absence creates serious, sometimes lifelong liabilities, especially among lower-class persons whose environment usually does not include other conditions which reduce the impact of family disorganization.” (Bahr, 477).
God intended for the family to be a safe place for people to grow and develop as humans before they go out to fully engage in society, where they eventually meet a spouse and produce their own children, passing on the virtues that they were taught in their youth. While I cannot produce statistics on how many homeless in Madison come from broken homes, I can tell how many homeless in Madison are in families. As of 2013, “the Homeless individuals in families made up the largest percentage (45%) of the homeless population in Dane County.” and “Prior to seeking shelter, 43 households with children (10% of families) reported sleeping on the street or in a vehicle” (Annual Report, 3).
The issue of child homelessness is complicated, as the degree to which a child is homeless can vary quite a bit. They may be homeless with both parents, homeless with a single parent, homeless on their own, their parent or parents may be homeless and send them to stay with a relative or friend for an unknown amount of time, etc. Regardless, any experience of homelessness for any length of time can be traumatic, as is any event which causes instability in a home. Sadly, a 2014 study showed that “A staggering 2.5 million children are now homeless each year in America. This historic high represents one in every 30 children in the United States.” (Bassuk et al, 6).
There can be numerous factors as to why a family might end up homeless, but regardless of how they got there, bringing any modicum of safety and stability to the lives of their children as soon as possible is essential to ensure that the children do not go on to repeat the behaviors or find themselves subconsciously putting themselves in the same situations as their parents. Children need to see their parents working hard to keep them safe and secure, but they also need to spend time with them to learn from them and feel loved by them. That is where my program would come in.
Parents should not be kept from being able to spend time with and showing love to their children simply because they are toiling away to provide for them. In our program, we would provide day care services for applicants while they are working with their staff mentor or while they are out finding applications or doing interviews. Church members could also offer rides to school or to and from the bus stop to the church where the children’s parents are working.
But this is still not enough. Children require a sense of stability to be emotionally healthy. They need to see that even in tough times their parents are willing to take time to dedicate just for them. So we would make it a requirement for all homeless parents to take at least one night or afternoon a week to spend with just them and their children. Again, the churches would provide a safe space for them, in which they could play games, watch movies, read stories, help with homework, cook a meal together, and more. Hopefully in the future, when the children are grown and are working on a family of their own, they would be able to look back and remember how important it was for them when their parents spent time with them, and they will continue the cycle of loving discipleship in the form of good parenting.
Our whole goal with helping the homeless families is to make sure that they do not define themselves by their circumstances. We want the children in these families to see that no matter how tough the times may be, that it is possible for a parent to take care of their child’s physical needs, such as food and shelter, as well as their mental and emotional needs, such as recreational time with their parents and siblings and receiving a good education. They need their parents to be their primary caregivers, so they can understand their responsibility to their children when they get older. The state - not even the state through the education system - should never be the primary caregiver for a child if at all avoidable.
5.5 Education
I don’t believe formal education is really involved in the problem of unemployment among the homeless, nor should it be. However, I do think that, motivated by a the genuine compassion of educators around the country, the education system is starting to overstep its boundaries.
In Madison, “The number of homeless children and youth in the school district has climbed more than 2-1/2 times since the 2004-2005 school year, from 485 to 1,263 in the 2012-2013 school year, according to district statistics.” and “Through its Transitional Education Program (TEP), the Madison Metropolitan School District helps newly homeless families determine where children should attend school, and provides transportation, school supplies and other support.” (Schneider, Madison.com). However, I believe that if possible, the Church should be stepping up and helping these children if their families cannot.
Because the family cannot provide, and the church is not providing, they have delegated the authority to be the child’s provider to the educators, and by proxy, the state. This has lead to the assumption by many that the government has the responsibility to step in and make sure that all of a child’s needs are provided for, even if a parent disagrees with what those needs may be. This is where we see the education system and the state slowly removing the authority of parents over their children. Stories like those of Lenore Skenazy, where her child was supposed to walk herself to and from school, are happening more and more frequently:
“I walked down to the school and discovered her teacher was standing out front with her. When I asked why, the teacher exclaimed that she was waiting for someone to walk with her. I reiterated that my 5 year old daughter was perfectly capable (and very experienced at) walking places by herself. The teacher nodded and we walked home.”
When it happened again two days later…
“At this point, I got a little upset. I went in to speak to the principal, who I had to educate on the safety of a child actually walking 10 houses and crossing a street (which had a crossing guard) and that yes, I will be responsible for her abduction should a man in a van labeled “Free Candy” drive in front of my house and lure her in.” (Skenazy, Free Range Kids).
I don’t think there was any ill will on the part of the teacher or principle in that story. There is no vast, intentional conspiracy on the part of the government to wrench away full control over the decisions people make for their children (as far as I know). Rather, this is naturally what happens when parents are, in general, unable or unwilling to be involved in the lives of their children. Someone must take control and exercise a certain amount of authority over a child, and while the level of authority needed can vary drastically from one child to another, the state cannot show partiality in that way. It will, by necessity, treat all children equally, and thus the most well behaved and wise child will be treated as if they have the same needs as the most ill behaved and foolish child among them. This is why the primary influence in education system must be taken back from the civil government and put back under the influence of families. They know what is best for their own children better than any government program ever could.
However, large scale educational reform too far reaching a goal for this project. As I said before, one way to be involved in education to help the unemployed homeless of Madison would be to have church volunteers help take the children to and from school. This small measure could free up a number of transportation resources for TEP to use in places where they might be more needed. It would provide a chance for children to have a chance at a better start to their day, by having Christian families engaging them in meaningful conversation about their hopes for the day, or asking them how their day was on the way back, and maybe even praying for them before they start school every day.
Another small preventative measure that education could take is that there could be mandatory personal finance classes in high schools. As of 2014, “Four more states require students to take a personal finance course (or require that personal finance be included in an economics or civics course) as a high school graduation requirement, bringing the total to 17.” and “only 6 states require the testing of student knowledge in personal finance, only one more than in 2011.” ("Survey of the States and the Progression of Economic Education.") I switched at the last minute from a pre-calculus class to a personal finance class my senior year of high school, and it was one of the best decisions I made that entire year. Having children learn basics of balancing a budget and investing could perhaps lessen the amount of homeless in the next generation, and the unemployed homeless parents we would work with in our program could learn right alongside their children as they spend time with them during our church facilitated Mandatory Family Fun Times (that name is a work in progress).
Let us move on to the final sphere we will be addressing, that of Science and Technology.
5.6 Science and Technology
Science and technology is in no way making the problems of the homeless and the jobless worse. I can only see positive changes that it might bring. Websites like WORKnet and Job Center of Wisconsin provide easy access to job listings in specific fields, and offer a number of other job search assistance services. One bright spot is in Silicon Valley, in places like San Jose and San Francisco, where tech companies like Google and Twitter are finding ways to give back to their communities, communities which have the some of the highest rates of unsheltered homeless people in the country (Miller).
I don’t think that the science and technology sphere has overstepped its boundaries in any way, at least not in regards to unemployment and homeless. The purpose of the sphere is to discover new information and invent new tools that can help progress humanity and further the purpose of the Kingdom of God. Any new invention that can somehow be made available to the homeless - whether through the goodwill of individuals, of churches, of businesses, or by popular decision through local government - is a step in the right direction.
When being asked by GeekWire about the possibility of free WiFi in his Seattle tent city, “‘Everything is all about the computer,’ camper Aaron Ervin said. ‘Whether it’s sending out a resume or getting in touch with family members, it would open so many doors.’” (Stewart). That question came in light of the city voting on whether or not to devote some of their funds for transitional housing to pay for WiFi for homeless encampments. I’m not sure if I like the idea of government providing for that, as that forces those taxpayers who don’t agree with the measure to help foot the bill. However, a donation of WiFi access, in the same way that “Twitter is building a $3 million dollar computer lab for low income people, across the street from its Tenderloin headquarters” (Miller), would be more fitting. Like minded people, engaged in the sphere of science and technology, coming together to decide on a solution to a perceived problem, is much more fitting than the government deciding for everyone who will receive help and in what ways.
In my project, I have a big dream for how technology could improve the situation for the unemployed homeless of Madison. I would like a website with an accompanying app for my program to increase the connectedness between employers and homeless. 62% of homeless teens in 2011 had cell phones ("Homeless Teens Consider Smart Phone as Important as Food."), so it’s not a stretch to think that now in 2015 many more homeless in general would have them. I’m not a software engineer or a graphic designer, but these are just a few dreams I have for the app:
1. A customizable account for each homeless person involved. This could include a weekly calendar that they could set to notify their staff mentor when it was updated, settings as to which kind of jobs they would like to be notified of, and potentially much more.
2. A place for employers to list new and upcoming job openings, as well as a personal profile that lists what their company does and what it is they would look for in an employee
3. A messaging board where homeless applicants can offer reviews of what they saw of a company they interviewed at, and employers can offer tips and constructive criticism based off of applications they've received and interviews they've had.
4. None of this would be anonymous, as a way to increase transparency and discourage unkind or unfair language on either end. Still, it would need to be moderated by a volunteer staff (or paid staff if the government were to get involved) so as to make sure that all discussion stays within the code of conduct that users would agree to when signing up.
Technology can bring people together and increase productivity in almost any situation, and the situation of unemployment among the homeless is no different.
6. Making a Switch
In their book Switch, Dan and Chip Heath talk about the tension between the Planner and the Doer in each person’s mind:
“To us, the duo’s tension is captured best by an analogy used by University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt in his wonderful book The Happiness Hypothesis. Haidt says that our emotional side is an Elephant and our rational side is its Rider. Perched atop the Elephant, the rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader. But the Rider’s control is precarious because the Rider is so small relative to the Elephant. Anytime the six-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the Rider is going to lose. He’s completely overmatched.” (D. and C. Heath, 7).
Whenever we try to make a change, there is going to be a tension between what we know we need to do and what we want to do. Or, even when we want what we need, there’s going to be a tension between what is better for us in the long run and what is easier in the moment. The book teaches how to Direct the Rider, how to Motivate the Elephant, and how to Shape the Path to make it easier for both. For each of these changes, they provide three steps to help make the change easier. In these next subsections we will examine how to apply their Switch outline to the problem of unemployment among the homeless in Madison.
(If you are attempting to make a change in your life, the life of a loved one, an organization, or anywhere else, I suggest you read Switch. It is full of inspirational stories, behavioral research, and helpful step by step guidelines like the ones listed below, all of which can be applied to any sort of change you may be trying to make.)
6.1 Follow the Bright Spots
A good way to encourage change is to help those who are trying to change see the positive steps they’re taking, no matter how incremental. That way, we can hone in on what is working and replicate it. So each time we meet with our homeless applicants, we would encourage them to tell us all the best things that happened since we saw them last, and try to find out what may have been a result of our counseling. If we find something that worked, we’ll ask them why they think it worked, and then encourage them to take whatever motivation they used for that change and apply it where they think they need it most.
6.2 Scripting the Critical Move
The main rule in my program will be “Each time we meet, you have to have come up with a new plan for something you want to do in the future.” This will be a great way to keep the applicants focused on the future instead of on the difficulty of their current situation. When they start living their life as though there is a goal that can be reached in the near future, they are going to plan and act as though they do have a future - which they do, they just may not realize it.
6.3 Point to the Destination
I (and my volunteers) will try to only use language like “when you have a job, then…” not “if you get job…”. Constant reminder that the end goal is not just to have a friendly support system, but that they are there for the purpose of finding a job.
6.4 Find the Feeling
When I go to meet with the employers, I plan to bring a briefcase or a backpack or something. When I come in, I want to pull out of it a stack of applications, ones that are for jobs that homeless people applied to and never even got a call back saying whether they’d reviewed the application. I’d put them on the desk as a way to show that even if they weren't aware they were doing it, they were probably part of the group that rejects a homeless person’s application before giving them a chance, simply based on what it may have on it (or what it’s missing). My hope is that it will be a wake up call.
6.5 Shrink the Change
I want to shrink the change for employers by showing them the problem (homeless people not having jobs), to which they’ll probably assume I will ask them to do something drastic to help change the community, and all I will ask them is to add their names to a list that signifies that if my organization shows up as a reference, they will give an interview. I’m not asking them to ever guarantee a hire, and it’s entirely possible no one from my program will ever try to apply at their store, so when they see that, it will seem like a small change that could have a potentially huge positive outcome for the city.
6.6 Grow your People
For the homeless, the way I want to grow their identity is to get them to see their value. I want them to see that not only are they good enough workers to contribute, but that they deserve the right to try and support themselves and their family, should they have one. In our program, we have an identity of Sons and Daughters of God. Even if they’re not Christians, we’d ask that they identify, at least for a time, as a son or daughter of God, as a thought experiment. If they would do anything to see their children happy and fulfilled, how much more do they think God would do for them to make sure they are as well?
6.7 Tweak the Environment
The way I want to tweak the environment is the side I’m doing with the local employers. The environment basically leaves it completely up to luck whether or not anyone gets an actual shot at getting a job. With the employers of the city on board with the program, there is more incentive for the homeless to start 1. taking the discipleship part of the course more seriously (because they employers don’t have to see them if they don’t get our recommendation), and once they've done that 2. being less discouraged and more forthcoming with their hopes and desires.
6.8 Build habits
I already at this point have suggested some habits: Coming to the session with a new dream to discuss, only saying “when” and not “if” in regards to a job, identifying as a child of God. Another one is always greeting each other with a handshake, as a way to make that feel more natural (if it doesn't already) for when the interviews start to come along. It may sound silly, but many people who have been homeless for a long time may have lost a lot of confidence in themselves, and I believe building that back up will be essential for their job searching process. I think there will be a lot of different little things like that we might encourage people to do on a case by case basis.
6.9 Rally the Herd
How I will really the herd is that I won’t start publicizing that I have gotten local business owners in on the plan until I have enough to look significant. On a case by case basis I will appeal to each one’s humanity and desire to serve the community, but on a broader public scale, I will be able to say, “Look at all these businesses that have already agreed to help!” I think that will be part of the draw for the homeless community, is seeing that there are people out there who want to help. I also think that other business owners, who weren't originally so sure about the program or hadn't heard of it, will be able more receptive to joining in themselves once they see that many of their peers in the business community have already started to join.
6.10 Which Will be Most Important?
Out of all of these, I believe that Shrinking the Change will be the most important, as my change I’m shrinking is the chance to help the local homeless. I do believe that many people out there, business man and layman alike, want to help the homeless but don’t know how in a way that won’t completely upset their life. So I’m going to be drawing on the employer’s pre-existing desires to help, and giving them a way to be a part of the solution even if they never even get an applicant from the program. It’s a low commitment and a potentially high reward. If they have a position open, they would have been doing interviews anyway, so I’m not even asking for more of their time than it takes to agree with joining the program.
7. Sustainability
The main way I would make my switch more sustainable on the end of the church (the most important sphere) is to start small numbers wise, and then bring on more staff and include more churches as it spreads by word of mouth. It will take time to build a network, but once the network exists, it will eventually get to a point where there is a safety net of volunteers in case of leadership stepping down or needing a break. The constant communication between churches will make it an organic part of the local church community, and any decrease in participation by one church will be noticed by the others, so there will be accountability directly involved.
Sustainability on the business end (the second most, almost equally important sphere) will hopefully happen organically in the same way as the church. It will take a lot of work early on to build up a network of local businesses who want to participate, but once the first few homeless hires happen, then the success stories will be spread employee to employee and employer to employer. Also, if we can get the local government on board with the tax break, then businesses will see it as a natural thing to participate in. At that point, it should almost be considered an intrinsic part of the business atmosphere of the city.
8. Regarding the future of the project
As you have read, I've done plenty of research and thinking about the project, but I wouldn't say that it’s at a place where I could just decide tomorrow to start it and I’d be ready. There are still some things I’d like or need to know. There’s logistical planning to do.
Firstly, I’d still like to know how the Arts and Media can be used in all of this. These are two more Spheres of Society that I did not have the time or the requirement to look into, but I know they could be influential. I’d also need to do more research into the specifics of all the different services provided for the homeless here in Madison to better know what kind of help they aren't getting so I can try to provide something different.
One big obstacle I’d have to find a way to overcome is that it will take some serious math backed up by statistics to convince the city that providing tax breaks for the businesses that do participate in the program will be cost efficient in the long run. I don’t even know for sure that it will be, it just makes sense to me that as it would simultaneously be raising the taxpayer rate and lowering the homelessness rate, it would be a good idea. But I’d have to do some actual study into the specifics of how it would work. Also, trying to sell the idea to extremely busy local business owners might be difficult, as they might see this as a waste of time, especially when I've just started and don’t have anyone else on board yet. Once they can see other competitors and fellow business people have signed up it might be easier to keep the ball rolling, but the first few could be tough sells. I would probably start with a survey of some kind before actually doing an interview with any of the employers to go more in depth on what the program would actually entail.
I personally would have to have a strong enough monetary support base that could help me stay focused on this project for a few years without doing any traveling for fundraising, as I would want to be constantly available in town for any homeless person who is willing to try the program and any business owner who might want to meet to discuss the plan further. I would really like to spend more time on the streets with the homeless, serving meals, chatting, passing out blankets or hot cocoa, maybe even spending a night undercover in a homeless shelter, all so I can better get a feel for the culture of the local homeless community. I spent a few months in San Francisco doing the same thing, but I would not assume that the culture of the people here is the same as there. I would also need to take some time right before starting to fast and pray about where to start.
I think it would be realistic to see this project taking off after a few months of planning and strategizing with local churches and businesses. By taking off I mean beginning the process of mentorship and support for at least 3 homeless individuals at a time. I’m not sure where I got the number 3 from. It just feels to me as if 1 or 2 could just be homeless friends that I have decided to mentor, but 3 feels as though it’s crossed the invisible line into an actual functioning “ministry”. The network of employers might take a bit longer. It would take months of days packed with interviews to visit enough business owners to make that side of it worthwhile. It’s really hard to tell.
9. Prayer Points
- Pray for an increased desire within the Madison community at large to help the homeless that live among them.
- Pray for churches to be hearing from God about doing ministry with the homeless.
- Pray for the homeless to have their hearts be receptive and humble to receive the help when it presents itself.
- Pray for the city council and all those in government in Madison, that they would recognize that the homeless of their city are not a problem to be solved, but people that need help, so that they would be more willing to pass just laws regarding their welfare.
- Pray that the business owners and employers would have an increased desire to aid the homeless in their community; that they would not just see their business as a job, but as a vehicle through which they can make their community a better place.
- Pray for a Christian web designer or software technician that could assist in making an app for our program.
- Pray for the homeless families in Madison, that the parents wouldn’t lose hope for their children and that the children would continue to look up to their parents.
- Pray for the educators in Madison, that they would know how to best serve the parents of homeless children in a way that is appropriate and doesn't take away responsibility from the parents.
10. Action Plan
If I were to actually start this ministry, my very first step would be finding at least one local church that we could start running the program out of. Even if I am only meeting with a few homeless people, it is easier to have on consistent location to meet up than trying to arrange a meeting in different public places. I’d need to meet with some representatives from the congregation and find out how we could use the space, at what time, etc. If I were addressing the congregation as a whole, I would want to appeal to their Elephants, to their emotional side, but if I’m just speaking to church leaders I’ll need to appeal to their Riders, to their practical sides. A large group of people, especially decent Christian people, can be stirred up to want to make a positive change fairly easily. However, the church leaders or elders may already want to help, but they will need to see how it will actually work. They have budget concerns, ongoing ministries that they won’t want to adjust for, and concerns about the general welfare and upkeep of their building should it be opened up to the homeless population. Those are all legitimate concerns that I would have to help them address before we could figure out an arrangement.
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