Day 2 Placements Mr. Tuit
Today I visited three of the placements: Shepherds of Independence, Guiding Light Mission, and Family Promise. Again, I tried to talk to the people who host our students, help them understand the class, make sure that the placement is valuable for them, and build a relationship with them. Just like yesterday, the people I talked to were very enthusiastic about our class, grateful to have our students with them, and supportive of the course goals.
One thing I've learned already in this course is how the stereotypes of homelessness we have can be dramatically wrong. I have often thought of "the homeless" in a one-dimensional way, thinking of mentally ill people sleeping under an overpass. Alicia, who works at Shepherds of Independence, said she was the same way until she started working there. But homelessness is much more complex and varied than that. While the reading we looked at yesterday said that "unaccompanied homeless singles" make up 50% of Michigan's homeless people, our visit on Monday with a family that had lost their home, my visit to Family Promise today, and my visit to Hope Community yesterday made real to me how many families with small children are without homes. And the causes of homelessness, too, are complex and varied: Mental illness is a common cause, but job loss, physical injury or sickness, divorce, or just plain bad financial luck can put people out of their homes all too quickly. How blessed I am to be "housing secure." I think I've learned not to take that security for granted.