laziness? lack of time? learning, anyway. and, links.

hahaha. did you actually think that any research whatsoever would get done between my job offer, my last two weeks of work at my office job dealing with nonprofit donations in December, plus Christmas, New Years, traveling out of state to be maid of honor at a dear friend's wedding, and the start of my case management job at the homeless shelter? hahahhahaha. no.

and do you think I have had time/energy to do any such research during these first two weeks I have been working there? HA. ha. research, no. perking up from exhausted, squinty scrolling/skimming the interwebs long enough to bookmark it when something homelessness-related pops up on my facebook feed? hell yes. and thus, here, for your information/inspiration (and for my later re-reading/watching more carefully..) is - my first link round-up. Submissions and/or feedback on these = always welcome.

Places of change:

Utah, you rock. I hope. Apparently it is more cost-effective, not to mention care-effective, to give a homeless person an apartment and a case worker than to pay for all the jail and ER visits that tend to result from their homelessness.

Look at you, Chicago. Also realizing that "permanent housing is a prerequisite to stability." aka the Housing First approach.

Phoenix, too! For chronically homeless veterans only, though. It's a start.

Interesting ideas and agents of change:

Homeless in San Francisco? You can shower on a bus.

Hungry in NYC? Go to this "restaurant with no cash registers."

Sick in Pittsburgh? This doctor "makes house calls to people without homes."

That's all for now, folks. I do hope to start a habit of weekly posts about what I am learning on the job, how Sherlock Holmes and case management go together (and not just in my dreams for the past few nights), and how much more I hate the cold weather now that I know people who don't have shelter from it.

"Come in, she said, I'll give ya, shelter from the storm..."

so you think you can manage casework at a local homeless shelter...

or, rather, no, you're not quite sure, since you've never done it before, so you're going to call upon all your tools of research and news-reading and networks of social worker friends to give yourself a crash course in Homelessness for Dummies (aka privileged people like you who have always had a roof over your head) with side topics of Motivational Interviewing and substance abuse and mental illness, and perhaps by the time you actually start the job three weeks from now you'll have a decent base of knowledge and a place to keep reflecting and learning as you go.

or rather, I will. hopefully. I welcome any information or experience you, oh blog visitor, may be able to offer. or prayers, if that's your thing.

also, Jesus? looked more like the guy on the right, not the guy on the left...