The Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia (SREHUP) is a winter shelter initiative, which brings Philadelphia area college students together with people experiencing homelessness. The students offer guests warm meals, a place to sleep, a caring environment, and a variety of holistic programs. The same guests stay and keep their belongings in the
emergency housing units for the entire winter. This allows the guests
and volunteers to build a sense of community with each other.
The Harvard Square Homeless Shelter: Our Model
The Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia is inspired by and based off
of the model for Harvard’s Student-Run Shelter, which has been
successfully operating for 28 years. Harvard’s directors are helping us to navigate the process and understand how to deal with
the challenges of running a homeless shelter (or three!). Our housing unit
will stay open for the winter 2011-2012 season. We offer a warm and
welcoming stay complete with computer access, a sense of community, and
resources to get people back on their feet. The intensive volunteer
training process included a trip to Harvard over spring break so that
the directors of Philadelphia’s emergency housing unit could work
closely with Harvard’s directors. Volunteers also attend a variety of
training workshops during which they learn CPR, conflict management,
crisis intervention, and LGBT sensitivity.
A Mutually Beneficial Relationship
The relationship between Philadelphia’s students and the guests who are
experiencing homelessness is mutually beneficial. Students get
hands-on experience in running an organization. They have the
opportunity to learn skills such as grant writing and fundraising, as
well as staff management and problem solving. They also learn about
teamwork and the power each individual has to make a positive
difference. The experience of running emergency housing units
allow these students to break out of their comfortable environments. The experience of staffing three different shelters has exposed the SREHUP students to the diversity of experiences of homelessness and compelled them to reconsider some of their ideas about poverty and homelessness. Hands-on work with guests, coupled with readings, training workshops, and reflections, have helped educate the students about the myriad of pathways into homelessness and the structural barriers in place that make it
difficult to climb out of homelessness.
The guests experiencing homelessness benefit from staying at a
student-run housing unit in multiple ways. Students are optimistic about the guests' potential and excited to learn from the wisdom that the guests have gained from their life experiences. Students, who are not yet jaded, are willing listeners for the guests who have more life experience
than the students. As volunteers, the students show the guests that they
are there not for monetary compensation, but rather because they genuinely care
for their well being.
Results
Over the past year, SREHUP has grown from a small chapter of 20 committed students on Villanova University's campus to a coalition of over 300 students from almost all of Philadelphia's major universities, including Penn, Drexel, Swarthmore, and Temple. We have staffed and operated three shelters. The Old First shelter, which is a partnership between SREHUP, Old First Reformed UCC, and Bethesda Project, served 30 men who are transitionally homeless. The LGBT night resource is a partnership with Foyer of Philadelphia and Arch Street Presbyterian Church. This housing unit served a total of 25 LGBT 18-24 year olds. The third unit is in partnership with Project H.O.M.E. and Arch Street United Methodist Church, and served 30 men who are chronically homeless.
Working in the shelters has helped students put faces and names to the problem of homelessness. Personalizing the problem of homelessness has motivated many students to advocate for policy change on issues related to ending homelessness, such as education reform, job creation, and fair housing initicatives. Student volunteers are given a myriad of opportunities to advocate legislatively on behalf of people experiencing homelessness. SREHUP sends people to D.C., Philadelphia, and Harrisburg, to work with local and national representatives. This spring, several SREHUP student directors attended the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative University Meeting, moderated by President Clinton and Jon Stewart. CGIU brings together approximately 1,000 studetns from all over the world, along with nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, and celebrities, engaged in efforts to create positive change. The three-day conference included workshops in which SREHUP students got to work with world leaders to understand how to effect policy change to end homelessness. This is one of many opportunities that SREHUP students are engaged in to promote social justice and systematic change.
The Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia strengthens
the Philadelphia region. The students who work for the unit are
part of a wider community of advocates for people experiencing
homelessness. They work with people in the non-profit and corporate
world, and draw on the expertise of various individuals and groups, so
that SREHUP can be a cohesive part of the solution to
homelessness. Our
inclusive nature contributes to the greater good of the housing
unit, as well as the Philadelphia community of students, businesses,
church congregants, people experiencing homelessness, and advocates for
the homeless. The experience of staffing and operating the winter
initiative readies the students for post-graduate roles as community
leaders and responsible citizens invested in the public good.
