CURL e-Newsletter Summer 2011
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Appraising Chicago’s Homeless Policy A set of first year reports on an evaluation of Chicago’s homeless system has just been completed and released. For the past two years, in partnership with the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, CURL has been conducting an evaluation of Chicago’s Plan to End Homelessness. Chicago’s Plan, initiated in January of 2003, radically transformed Chicago’s homeless system from one that manages homelessness to one that ends homelessness by quickly moving people into permanent housing. The research has been conducted by a CURL research team led by Assistant Research Professor Christine George, Loyola School of Social Work Professor Susan Grossman, and University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration Professor Michael Sosin. The research has four central components: a qualitative study of the needs, resources, and experiences of homeless clients; a comprehensive survey of homeless service agencies; a longitudinal study following 580 homeless individuals and families navigate the service system; and in-depth open-ended interviews with 30 homeless youth. Although a final report is still being completed, there are a number of initial findings:
From the first wave of interviews:
Projects at CURL come to life in a variety of ways – past partnerships, funding opportunities and, of course, new partners who have heard of our collaborative work from others. HEART Women and Girls(Health Education Advocacy Research and Training), led by co-founders, Nadiah Mohajir and Ayesah Akhtar, followed this last path to our door. This new and growing group works with women and girls in faith-based communities – especially in Muslim communities – to build “leadership and self-esteem through health and wellness programming.” They are collaborating with CURL to design research on the attitudes, opinions, and knowledge of young Muslim college students as it relates to a variety of health issues. The goal is to use these data to better understand areas where communities need more training, education, and advocacy. HEART will, in turn, be better equipped to target their resources and those of others in the broader field. Yasmeen Shaban, Caitlin Botsios, and Rachel Kohl, students from Loyola’sUrban Studies Program, partnered with HEART this semester to do background research and begin constructing the research instruments. The students receive valuable hands-on research experience and HEART gains no-cost assistance to move their critical work forward. These same students have enjoyed the project so much that all three have agreed to stay on for part of the summer as volunteers. The plan is to begin gathering data in the fall. Kale Williams Award Recipients CURL Undergraduate Fellows Jenna Hartung and Viviann Anguiano are the recipients of CURL’s 2011 Kale Williams Award for Exceptional Work in Promoting Human Rights and Social Justice. Jenna is a Psychology major and also completed the Human Services Program. In addition to her work interviewing, data analysis, and other research on the Housing First project at CURL, Jenna has been an active intern at Deborah’s Place and Children’s Home and Aid. She is headed to Loyola’s MSW program next year. In their nominations CURL staff, observed that Jenna’s “passion for social justice is evident in every aspect of her life” Viviann, a sociology major, has been working on a CURL project documenting the experiences of undocumented students at Jesuit universities and colleges. She has been active in struggles for immigrant rights, especially around passage of the DREAM Act. Viviann has be active in organizing Loyola students to participate in demonstrations and other activities to gain passage of the federal legislation that would open the door for citizenship among youth who have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives.
From L to R: Jenna Hartung, Kale Williams, and Viviann Anguiano Each year the Kale Williams Award for Exceptional Work in Promoting Human Rights and Social Justice is given to two CURL undergraduate or graduate fellows who exemplify the work and ideals of Kale Williams. For ten years, Kale Williams served as the Senior Scholar in Residence at CURL. Through his volunteer work at CURL, as well as through his lifetime of human rights advocacy, Kale has served as model for everyone around him. Following service in the Navy in World War II he became a pacifist and worked with the American Friends Service Committee organizing projects to address injustice including interventions in Chicago's low-income communities, assistance to Native Americans in the Southwest, famine relief in the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, and opposition to the Vietnam War. In Chicago he worked with Dr. Martin Luther to bring about fair housing opportunities for all citizens regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or income. After the 1966 open housing marches, Kale helped to found the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities, an organization for which he served as executive director for over 20 years. After service there, he was invited to Loyola University Chicago as Visiting Professor of Applied Ethics. It was after this visiting professorship that he became the Senior Scholar in Residence at CURL. Kale's steadfast work in promoting human rights and social justice certainly motivated students, staff, and faculty who had the privilege of working with him at CURL. This award is a reminder that this spirit and commitment continues at CURL. Pathways to Stable Housing Photography Exhibit The Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA) August 20 – January 15, 2012 Image: Noah Addis, Carmen Velazquez, 2010 In a partnership with the Alliance to End Homelessness, CURL and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Noah Addis have organized an exhibition of portraits of individuals and families who have moved from homelessness to stable housing. Dominant stereotypes of homeless individuals are challenged by 25 portraits of and interviews with individuals who have made, or are in the process of making, the move to secure long-term housing. The Provost has approved the appointment of Dr. Anthony Orum as a Visiting Scholar at CURL. Tony has a distinguished career as an urban sociologist. In May he retired from the University of Illinois Chicago, where he had served as Department Head and Professor. He has taught at Emory University, the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana, and the University of Texas at Austin. He has authored or edited 12 books and monographs, including Power, Money & the People: The Making of Modern Austin (2002);Political Sociology: Power and Participation in the Modern World (2008); andIntroduction to Cities: Place and Space in Human Experience (2011). In 2009 the American Sociological Association Section on Community and Urban Sociology awarded him the Robert and Helen Lynd Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service, one the of top awards in our field. Tony is the founding editor of City & Community and has served as an editor or co-editor for a dozen other journals. As Tony puts it, in this “next career,” he is particularly interested in working with CURL research teams in their community-engaged work in the Chicago metropolitan area and beyond. He has been impressed with the work of CURL in using research to promote greater equity in the communities around us. He will be a major asset to CURL and the broader university. Tony will join us at the beginning of the Fall 2011 semester. Additions to CURL’s Staff
Michael Rivers, a CURL Graduate Research Fellow who has been actively working on the Evaluation of the Plan to End Homelessness project team over the past two years, has been hired by the AIDS Foundation as their Research and Evaluation Coordinator.
Dennis Watson, a CURL Pre-doctoral Fellow, has received an offer for a tenure-track position in health policy and management at the Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Public Health beginning in Fall 2011. In cooperation with CURL, Dennis had received a $100,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This was used to support CURL research and his dissertation research on the “housing first” model, which finds individuals stable housing and then works with them to address drug and substance abuse. Thank You to Fellows and Volunteers over the past academic year
The key to CURL’s success has been the hard work of graduate and undergraduate students who have worked on the center’s research teams. We want to thank all of those students who have worked on the more than 15 active CURL research projects over the past year.
Graduate Fellows: Eddie Brown, Social Work Bill Byrnes, Sociology Jeremy Chalmer, Computer Science Henry Cheung, Nursing Matthew Cuddaback, Social Work Cliff Earnshaw, Business Tess Given, Social Work Diana Guelespe, Sociology Kimberlee Guenther, Sociology Reiko Kakuyama, Education: Research Methodology Mary Kleinman, Sociology Dara Lewis, Sociology Rachel Martinez, Applied Social Psychology Michael Rivers, Sociology Chez Rumpf, Sociology Sophia Rodriguez, Education: Cultural and Educational Policy Studies Thejashree Sengodan, Computer Science Christina Shipman, Sociology Ira Stevanovic, Social Work Allison Tan, Social Work Bhoomi Thakore, Sociology Rene Velazco, Business - Finance Dana Wagner, Applied Social Psychology Sean Young, Sociology Undergraduate Fellows: Vivian Anguiano, Sociology Melissa Corzo, Sociology Erin Hardin, Economics Jenna Hartung, Psychology Olubukola Olukanni, International Studies Sarah Sarkar, English Volunteers/Interns: Soulit Chacko, Sociology Stephanie Duncan, Social Work Tajma, Hodjiic, Psychology James Lagan, Psychology Angela Muccino, MUAPP Teresa Neumann, Sociology Elle Nurmi, Slavic Languages & Literature Tim Sacco, Sociology Lucas Sharma, Sociology Madeline Shea, MUAPP |
In This Issue Appraising Chicago’s Homeless PolicyHeart, Women, and GirlsKale Williams Award RecipientsPathways to Stable Housing Photography ExhibitNew Visiting ScholarAdditions to CURL’s StaffThank You
Staff DirectoryWill Bolton
Christine George
Maria D. Guzman
Gina Lopez
Phil Nyden
Koonal Patel
Chez Rumpf
David Van Zytveld
CURL web page:www.luc.edu/curl
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