New Service Learning Project: Homelessness. What are your first thoughts when thinking about homelessness?

It’s hard and difficult to see many homeless people laying on the ground, begging for money or even looking depressed. It’s very tragic how many people are quick to judge without knowing their circumstances or who they are. Everyone who has became homeless or is homeless now, has a unique story about what happened. To me homelessness means a lot. Vulnerability plays a huge role. You must be aware of your surroundings and where you lay your head each day whether in the streets or a shelter. I know a lot of people that often think of them as disheveled, stupid, or even a threat. People most of the time don’t choose this path. It is people at the workplace who compare the rich and the poor. These people determine the salary and more. - Bethany Akerele

Like many people, I used to think homeless people were just dirty, drug addicts on the streets. But after doing research, I realized that they are not inferior to people like myself because the cause of homelessness is due to many social problems such as unemployment, lack of affordable housing, mental abuse, and many more. This issue is now beginning to seem everlasting because those we put in power are not using the power we granted them to fix the issue. As if these issues aren’t existing in our community benches, parks, subways station, etc. Homelessness is a human rights issue, an issue that needs to be tackled. If we come together as a community we can put pressure on our government, representatives to engage in a dialogue to solve this crisis that has been happening for so long- Fatima Ismail

There are roughly 553,000 homeless people in the United States on a given night, or 0.17% of the population. I see homeless people sleeping on trains and killing people on trains.We need to open more shelters for people who are going through hard times - Aminatu Ibrahim

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word homelessness is a misunderstood crisis. Homelessness has become a much more prominent problem in communities and many struggle with it. The problem is that although it is something that is very common and has been going on for years, most home owning people are unaware of the actuality of the conditions that the homeless people live in and many cannot comprehend the troubles and hardships they face just to keep themselves alive. Not only are home owning people the ones who are unaware of this crisis the government is as well. The truth of the matter is that our country is not doing enough to help these people who have no other choice but to live in such horrid conditions. The United States is one of the world’s richest, most powerful, and technologically
innovative countries; but neither its wealth nor its power nor its technology is being harnessed to address the situation in which homeless people are in. Things need to be done to address this national crisis. Things need to be done NOW. -Melissa Vicente 

Homelessness to me is people who live in the streets. People who don't have jobs or things that bring them income. Children and even adults that are going through horrible things because of no shelter. People who see them sometimes don't even want to lend them a hand because they categorize them as thief's and people that will bring bad odor to the place. - Noelia Vicente