From Classwork to the Community

While researching for a writing seminar, I stumbled upon the Rapid Shelter Innovation Showcase, a collection of creative housing solutions for a range of emergencies, and I started looking into the housing crises they were designed for. At the same time, I happened to be reading Evicted, a ground-breaking book by MacArthur Fellow Matthew Desmond about the housing-related struggles of Milwaukee families during the financial crisis. As I learned about the housing and homelessness struggles in the community, I was able to use what I had learned in class to fuel a discussion with community members about homelessness and addiction. Now that I have a better understanding of the root causes of these issues, I hope to learn more about quantitative measures that can be used to analyze different social elements of homelessness and inform policy-making.