Good Example Of Homelessness In AND Around Research Paper

George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia Community

Introduction
Being a college student is an experience everyone should have. A student does not have to worry about tuition fees, living expenses and other problems. All they need to do is to focus on their studies and have fun. As a college student of the George Mason University’s Fairfax campus, I walked around and started to reflect on the people around. There are not so many people who have the opportunity to go home by the end of the day because they have no homes. As college students, this reality affects us greatly. It is sad to know that one of us is homeless.
Being homeless is mostly talked about around Fairfax. Indeed, homelessness is a reality in a poor county such as Fairfax, Virginia. There are about 64,851 poor people in Fairfax, Virginia and this is the reason why they have a high incidence of homelessness (Western Fairfax Christian Ministries, 2015). One out of seventeen people in Fairfax lives under the poverty line. Because of the high living cost in this county, these poor people find it very challenging to meet their basic needs like housing, food, and medical services.
Hence, our group chose this topic since we have a real encounter with the concept of homelessness near our campus. Hence, when we first gathered together and discussed possible topics, we pondered on the issue of homelessness in Fairfax and we realized we do not have enough knowledge about this topic. So, we decided to take the next path to compare results. We also want to see what the George Mason University (GMU) can do to help the homeless in and around the Fairfax campus. We chose this topic because humans have the natural capacity for compassion and a desire to help the less fortunate. We also wanted to find out more about this issue and see what it is we can do to help bring about more awareness. We also wanted to help with what is already in place.
Homelessness in Fairfax is an important and compelling topic because of the following reasons: (1) it is a very sad situation for a student like us or anyone to experience; (2) homeless people are unfortunately misunderstood by society; and (3) only few students or people are aware of the homelessness issue, including ourselves. In fact, when we first heard about it, a few of us looked at each other with puzzled faces saying, “Huh, there are homeless students here at GMU?” When we also asked five people in the Johnson Center of their knowledge of homelessness around GMU, four stated that they had no real knowledge of it. The fifth person had knowledge of a few local students trying to help possible homeless students. According to him, the local students give the homeless extra food from their campus food account. It was then that the name Yara El Mowafy popped up. At that point we knew for sure that we had to explore this issue further.
Thus, this paper will explore the issues of homelessness in and around George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia campus (GMU). It will also touch on general homelessness and it will also inquire into what the other universities are doing to help homeless students on their campuses. Our main thesis is that homelessness is an actual issue in GMU and in Fairfax County. This should be tackled because it involves the GMU students, the University and the GMU community. Through this research, we will discuss and propose ways by which we, as a student body, along with the GMU, can help raise awareness and assist the homeless in the GMU community.
We believe that the competencies we ought to develop through this group project are the following: Group Collaboration, Communications, Civic Engagement, and Critical Thinking. We shall develop Group Collaboration because we are a group working together towards the same goal, which is to produce a great work. We will develop Communications since we need to communicate with each other as well as to those we need to interview. We have to pull it all together. We will develop Civic Engagement because we will have to contact those concerned here at GMU, as well as the others in the Fairfax community who are involved with helping the homeless. Lastly, we will develop Critical Thinking because we need to access research data, collect and put it all together so that it makes logical sense and conveys the message we want to get across effectively.

Methodology

We initially discovered that the issue of homelessness in and around the George Mason University (GMU) Fairfax County Virginia community is a vast topic to research on. Hence, our group decided to divide and conquer the research work. We began by finding as much information as possible about the topic of homelessness in and around the GMU campus and the surrounding area of Fairfax Country. We also conducted interviews with the Director of Student Support Services, Miss Maggie Olszewska. We also interviewed Captain Tony Lamanna from the Campus Police and Supervisor Michael Galvin Yara. They were our resource persons for the issue.
Through our combined efforts as a team, we aim to produce a paper which will educate and hopefully motivate the GMU students. We intend to educate them on the issue of student homelessness and homelessness in general. Then, we also hope to motivate them to get involved in helping to bring about a positive change in the problem of homelessness.
We initially worked on the first week of April. Our groupmate, Mona, conducted three interviews: one with the Director of Student Support Services, Miss Maggi Olszewska on April 1, 2015. She also conducted an interview with Captain Tony Lamanna of the Campus Police on April 2. Miss Olszewska informed Mona of another person to contact by the name of Michael Galvin and we interviewed him on April 3. Mr. Galvin is the Supervisor of Yara El Mowafy, a student who has been made popular by her work with the homeless students at GMU. Another groupmate, Yasmeen, detailed the data on Yara’s work in helping the homeless students at GMU. This involved broadcasting, local news article publications and other activities to help make students aware of homelessness.
Then, another groupmate, Priscilla called local shelters to inquire of any program that is possibly in place to help with the awareness drive on Fairfax homelessness. Local shelters would be in the surrounding counties like Prince William and Fairfax County. We also expanded our research to the local community around Fairfax, such as the local shelters. We also researched the Internet through the local websites.
At the same time, our groupmate Rose researched on the advocacies on homelessness in the surrounding areas of GMU. We wanted to have an idea of what is offered or possibly could be offered to help the homeless. The websites we searched were: Goodwill, Presbyterian Church, and How to Help Prevent and End Homelessness - Fairfax County, Virginia. These sites offer job opportunity and housing help and where to get food and supplies for survival. However, the question then presented itself - do the homeless have access to computers or do they even know where to go? Do these individuals have anyone to help with the knowledge of where to go and what to do for the next step for help? Better yet, do homeless individuals whom we want to help even know how to get help?
After we have completed our tasks, our group planned to meet on April 24, 2015 in order to complete our presentation. We planned to meet at GMU. We intend to submit our final presentation on April 30, 2015, after we have a quick run of our final work.

Discussion

This section shall discuss our interviews about homelessness in Fairfax with our resource persons. Firstly, Mona’s interview with Miss Olszewska, the Director of Student Support Services, showed that Miss Olszewska was not aware of homeless students over by Lot K. She was, however, aware of tents around the GMU campus. She said she encourages those students to come to her office for assistance. She also endorsed us to Yara El Mowafy. Mrs. Olszewska stated that though there is no advocacy for homelessness help specifically and on a University level here at GMU, her office and her main role is to assist the overall individual. She helps the students become functional while succeeding in school and thereafter. In other words, she gives students the resources they need to survive. Services to include but not limited to: mental health services, physical health, family crisis, homelessness, and victims. Her office, Student Support Services, is just an office or place where students can go for support for whatever problems they face. Mrs. Olszewska was happy to answer my questions and she was glad that our group was looking into this issue.
In the interview with Captain Tony Lamanna, he shared that the laws for homeless people are the same everywhere. He also said that he was not aware of homeless students over by lot K or the tents up and around the GMU campus lately. However, he knew of this in the past. Captain Lamanna said that he rarely finds homeless students. Rather, he stated that the majority of the homeless people he finds are non-students. In the case of homeless students, he mentioned dealing with them with a light hand. He said he offers them Yara’s card with contact information on it. He said he would also refer them to Student Support Services and he would ask them to move from places where they have been camping out. If he continues to find the same person in the same area, he may issue a warning. As far as the non-student individuals are concerned, he still also tries to help them by referring them to local shelters, detox centers, food or clothing drives. He says that these individuals are more than likely to have addiction problems and they hang around the campus to steal or find items which they can pawn for money in order to feed their addiction. He said that some receive the help and some do not.
It was this last interview with Michael Galvin that gave us the most information on homeless students at GMU, what the University is (or is not) doing, and Yara’s work. Mr. Galvin is the Director of Technology Integration at GMU. He stated that he and Yara are allies and that they have known each other for years. He said he was Yara’s mentor for her Undergraduate Research Paper and he remains her mentor as she is now a Graduate student. Mr. Galvin shared with us that he is very aware of the fact that there are homeless students here at GMU. He also admitted that the University is also aware of the issue. He stated that the homeless stay under the radar, which is why it can be hard to find them.
According to Mr. Galvin, advocacy is discrete right now. However, he said that some camps are trying to find ways to bring awareness on homelessness to the GMU community and the surrounding area (Workforce Development, n.d.). At the same time, they also make efforts to get the word out to actual homeless students. They let them know that help is here. For example, there are posters up around campus with a phone number for homeless students to call for assistance. There are food and coat drives and there is now the new Meal Voucher program which Yara started. This program is funded by the Alumni Affairs, Mason Dining, fundraisers, and donations. They also have a Pop-up Pantry Page on Facebook to advertise and get the word out about the homeless.
Furthermore, Mr. Galvin said that he is fully aware of tents up around campus and that students did whatever they had to in order to survive. He said they believed that as long as their tuition and books were paid for, they were willing to sacrifice. That meant even being homeless, having to take showers in the gym locker room, sleeping in tents, dumpster diving for food, sleeping in cars, and the list goes on. He said they see Graduation as a way out and onto a better life. The unfortunate thing about all these is that even though Mr. Galvin, Yara, and some others are helping the homeless, the University itself has yet to get on board. Mr. Galvin stated that though they are aware of the problem, they will not fund any programs or assist with any major organizational assistance specifically for the homeless because they do not have enough information proving that student homelessness is a big enough issue to invest in.
The local community shelter called Bailey’s Crossroads Community Shelter we conducted is headed by its supervisor, Mr. Wright. He expressed that the shelter was open for drop ins, mainly on a first come first served basis. This shelter does offer contacts for different outside programs to help, for examples, financial assistance and job hunting. Other shelters contacted were Embry Rucker Community Shelter, Elanor U. Kennedy Shelter, and Cornerstones, Inc. Again, these are basically to give the homeless a place to stay overnight instead of staying on the streets. Upon the interviews, not much seem to be offered in assistance programs to help improve the situation for the homeless individuals to change their current state.
Another area we explored concerning homelessness was that of the attitudes of university students toward the homeless. There was a survey conducted with undergraduate students in “The Effectiveness of the Faces of Homelessness Education Program on Student Attitudes toward the Homeless,” which reflected the possibility of changing one’s mind about the homeless from negative to positive. In this study which was conducted at Valdosta State University, it was mentioned that “of the given population of 310 million, 123,790 people are chronically homeless with 2.3 to 3.5 million people experiencing homelessness within any given year. Wisehart, et. al. (2013) considered them as the “out-group” and they said that sympathy toward them is declining. According to the authors, in the eyes of the United States, the “meanest cities” concerning homelessness are Georgia, Kansas, Nevada, Arkansas, California, and Florida. This is because they have the harshest laws on homelessness (Wisehart, et. al., 2013).
In the study of undergraduate students who were randomly selected for their attitudes toward homeless (as measured by the Attitudes toward Homelessness Inventory (ATHI) test), through the short term educational program called (FOH) or Faces of Homelessness, the education on homelessness was tested to see its effect on the students’ attitude toward the homeless (Wisehart, et. al., 2013). The study was split into two groups, one having the education and the other no education on homelessness. At the end, the two groups were given the opportunity to donate their free food voucher to the homeless or keep it.
The results of this study showed that the students who did not received the short-term educational program, had less positive attitudes toward the homeless and they were less likely to give to the homeless. They also believe that people are homeless due to personal issues and believing therefore that homelessness cannot be solved. This suggests that the FOH educational intervention program proved to have a positive effect on undergraduate’s attitudes toward the homeless (Wisehart, et al. 2013). To illustrate, those who received the education were less likely to believe that people were homeless because of personal characteristics. They also believed that homelessness is a solvable problem. Further, they were more likely to donate their free food vouchers at the end of the study to the homeless (Wisehart, et al., 2013).
Looking at homelessness in general, Wisehart, et. al. (2013) agree that homelessness is undoubtedly one of the most misunderstood and problematic societal issue in the United States. For example, they say that some of the misconceptions or stereotypes about homeless people include the following: that they are “mentally disabled, filthy miscreants, who were smelly, aggressive, dangerous beggars” (Wisehart, et. al., 2013). As a result, they have a greater chance of being stigmatized, looked down upon, and dehumanized, which hinder them from successfully changing their identity as homeless individuals to where they are even employable (Wisehart, et. al., 2013). Furthermore, along with these misconceptions are some risk factors associated with homelessness. Statistics show that 37% of them are physically disabled, 12.5% are victims of domestic violence, 15% are American veterans, and 71%are with internalized problems such as substance abuse (Wisehart, et. al., 2013). Nonetheless, these authors concurred that no matter how legitimate the reasons are for homelessness, society’s attitude towards them is highly negative. This is in part due to two reasons: (1) the background and history of the homeless is not considered, and (2) the attention and focus is more on one’s safety and security as opposed to the homeless person (Wisehart, et. al., 2013). Therefore, in an attempt to debunk this negative attitude in the minds of society toward the homeless, this study was done to see if indeed minds and attitudes can be changed to being more positive. As a result, perhaps we can have more programs and assistance to be provided to homeless people with the hopes of getting them back into society and ultimately helping them become healthy, happy, and functional individuals (Falls Church Presbyterian Church - Falls Church, n.d.).
In looking at what is known about homelessness at GMU, it can be inferred that this is due in part of the expensive education. Over the years, education has become very expensive, especially college education. Accompanied by the high costs of living, most college students are not able to pay the tuition fee and at the same time feed themselves. As a result, most students do not have food or a place to live after paying their college tuition. However, most students think that getting a quality education is what matters most. Therefore, they struggle since they believe it is worth it (Kleut, 2013).
Yara, a former homeless and now a Graduate student at GMU, observed that many GMU students were suffering from homelessness. She wanted to help them and in 2012, she was given an assignment to describe a problem in the real world that she could have an impact on (if given the chance). Her idea was not a big one at an onset. She was only thinking of where the unused food on campus by students living in the dormitories went. The students had meal plans that they used to get their meals by swiping a card. However, they did not swipe all the time and the unused meal swipes expired (Truesdell & Sani, 2001). Yara thought that it would be a great idea if the students donated their remaining meal swipes to the needy students (Youtube, 2015).
Yara then met with the managers of the meal plan program but this did not yield good results. She did not give up. Yara was very convinced that the plan would work and that it would be a successful project. She opted to talk to organizations that provided shelter to homeless people and see if they had any ideas that could help. It was at this point that she learned GMU had students that were homeless and that some of them stayed at emergency shelters. While the homeless students of GMU were not many, however few they were, they did exist (Kleut, 2013).
After several attempts and failing, Yara's idea was put to the test. Just when the Student Government voted yes to her idea, not to be totally implemented but just to see the reaction of the student body, the University launched a new meal plan. There would no longer be meal cards but a daily flat fee for meals. This meant there would be no such thing as unused meals anymore. She thought all her work had been wasted (Kleut, 2013). However, she again had a ray of hope and decided to still not give up. She then thought of returning to the meal plan manager, who left the job, and was replaced by a new manager. She wanted to see if he would listen. Indeed, he did and he gave her the idea of introducing a university account where people could donate cash to help the needy students. In the beginning, the account was called ‘Patriot to Patriot’ but it is now called the ‘Student Meal Assistance Fund.' Yara worked so hard to keep the account active as it helps many students.
Although the project did not turn out as she had anticipated, she is still happy that the needy students were getting assistance. She is also working towards spreading the word about her program to the outside world so that they are made aware of the homeless and needy students at GMU. Her greatest worry is that there are many needy students who are not identified (Kleut, 2013).
Bringing the program to work has been a long and tedious process for Yara. However, she is happy now that the needy students can get a meal as other students. The program gives meal vouchers to homeless students and those that have food insecurity. According to her, many students struggled with hunger while on campus and no one could help them. Now, they are happy because they can access food without having to pay for it. According to Yara, the idea was a sudden one and she feels that she has a responsibility of helping others. After seeing that the Mason community was in need, she was inspired to try and fix it (Youtube, 2015).
Our research seems to show the big issue on the lack of communication. Communication is not only an important skill for individuals to develop; it also is a much needed tool in order to make individuals and groups know what is going on in and around their community. As GMU students, we proposed to look into how we can help our fellow student Yara with a program she has started to make it widely known. Yara has worked hard at initiating the Student Meal Assistance Fund for homeless students to help them with receiving meals. The fact that this fund is created and funded by the student body is remarkable. However, very few know of the program and what they can do to help the program. There has been some media attention and some of it is on the campus for students to see and know.
So why not take it a step further? Different campus organizations fraternity and sororities can host fund raisers to contribute to the Student Meal Assistance Fund while educating the community and campus life on homelessness. This is not just around the area but it is within our own back yard here at GMU. Another way to communicate the program is to have different colleges within GMU, such as the New Century College, to talk to teachers to see if the topic of homelessness and Yara’s initiative can be included to the class curriculum. Taking NCLC 391 introduces the Gallup Survey to find individual strengths. This gives the students a small information gap for further research. The same angle could be taken to the classroom for education on how a student really can make a difference in helping the homeless in and around the GMU community. The community Yara is helping starts at the campus level but it can be an inspiring example for other students. As a whole, the GMU students can do so much for their homeless colleagues.
As we close, we as a group would like to press upon your hearts, as well as the hearts of others here at GMU to learn more about the homeless in the Fairfax community, including George Mason University’s very own homeless students. Then, settle it in your hearts to get involved. You could never know it as it just might grow into a passion you never knew you had.
Through this research, our group decided to get involved and we proposed two ideas. One is to mirror the work of Wisehart, et. al. (2013), who initiated a study to change the attitudes toward the homeless. By adopting this study and having students here at GMU go through the short-term educational program on homelessness then take the Attitudes toward Homelessness Inventory (ATHI) test, we are sure that attitudes will change as they evidenced in their study.
We shall have to contact the Student Support Services, Yara El Mowafy, and Michael Galvin to assist and advice us. From there, we would need to go higher to the University officials, so that our plan can be officially implemented (How to Help Prevent and End Homelessness - Fairfax County, n.d.). Yara’s idea took over 18 months to be implemented, hence, out team is guessing that our idea might take a bit longer because more people would be involved. This might take two to three years but our hearts are very happy and we anticipate the big help we have poured our efforts into.

References:

Falls Church Presbyterian Church - Falls Church, VA: Local. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 11, 2015 from, http://www.fallschurchpresby.org/communitymissionsFairfax County.
How to Help Prevent and End Homelessness - Fairfax County, Virginia. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 11, 2015 from, http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/homeless/how-to-help.htm.
Kleut, Jennifer. (2013). Homelessness at George Mason University: 'It Does Exist'. Retrieved on April 14, 2015 from, http://patch.com/virginia/centreville/homelessness-at-george-mason-university-it-does-exist-centreville.
Truesdell, D. & Sani, A. V. (2001). Nutrition education and food for the homeless--university outreach. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 93(1), 37-41. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/218162992?accountid=14541.
Western Fairfax Christian Ministries. (2015). Statistics. Retrieved on April 23, 2015 from, http://www.wfcmva.org/statistics.
Wisehart, C. G., Whatley, M. A., & Briihl, D. S. (2013). The effectiveness of the faces of homelessness education program on student attitudes toward the homeless. North American Journal of Psychology, 15 (3), p. 483-494.
Workforce Development. (n.d.). Goodwill Northern Michigan Website. Retrieved on April 11, 2015 from, http://www.goodwillnmi.org/jobs/workforce-development/.
YouTube. (2015). TEDx George MasonU 2014 Salon: Yara Mowafy. Retrieved on April 14, 2015 from, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ-btOoLTbg.