{"id":119365,"date":"2018-02-01T14:03:37","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T19:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=119365"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:33:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:33:03","slug":"sph-community-members-participate-in-boston-homeless-census","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2018\/sph-community-members-participate-in-boston-homeless-census\/","title":{"rendered":"SPH Community Members Participate in Boston Homeless Census"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"banner-container banner-has-html\"><div class=\"bu-slideshow-container 2018-homeless-census autoplay\" id=\"bu-slideshow-container-119397\" data-slideshow-name=\"2018-homeless-census\" data-slideshow-delay=\"5000\" style=\"width: auto; \"><div class='slideshow-loader active'><div class='loader-animation'><\/div><p>loading slideshow...<\/p><\/div><div class=\"bu-slideshow-slides\"><ul class=\"bu-slideshow transition-slide\" id=\"bu-slideshow-119397\"><li id=\"bu-slideshow-119397_0\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2018\/02\/homeless_9578.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Volunteers gather in the lobby of Boston City Hall before heading out on the 2018 Homeless Census<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-119397_1\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2018\/02\/homeless_9528.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Jake Sullivan, assistant vice president in the Office of Government and Community Affairs at Boston University, gives instructions to volunteers.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-119397_2\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2018\/02\/homeless_9540.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Harold Cox, left, Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and director of the BUSPH Activist Lab, speaks with volunteers before the event. <\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-119397_3\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2018\/02\/homeless_9556.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Wendy Heiger-Bernays, clinical professor of environmental health, speaks with a colleague in the Boston City Hall Atrium before a talk by Mayor Marty Walsh.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-119397_4\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2018\/02\/homeless_9600.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Katie King (CAS\u201906, SPH\u201913), interim director of intergovernmental relations in the mayor\u2019s office, led a team searching for homeless residents.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-119397_5\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2018\/02\/homeless_9599.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Crystal Torman, left, senior advisor to the Chief of Economic Development, plans search zones with King and volunteers from BU Dental School.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-119397_6\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2018\/02\/homeless_9603.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">The zone the team canvassed included blocks between the John F. Kennedy Federal Building and the TD Garden. Multiple teams fanned out across all city neighborhoods.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-119397_7\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2018\/02\/homeless_9612.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Team members approach two homeless residents spending the night in the brightly lit concourse of the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse of the Boston Municipal Court.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-119397_8\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2018\/02\/homeless_9615.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Volunteers asked whether the people needed medical attention or if they would like to be transported to a shelter for the night. They declined both. <\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"bu-slideshow-navigation-container\"><ul class=\"bu-slideshow-navigation nav-icon\" id=\"bu-slideshow-nav-119397\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-1\" class=\" active\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>1<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-2\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>2<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-3\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>3<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-4\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>4<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-5\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>5<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-6\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>6<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-7\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>7<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-8\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>8<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-9\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>9<\/span><\/a><\/li> <\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">February 1, 2018<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>On the night\u00a0of January 31, nearly two dozen volunteers from the Medical Campus, including School of Public Health faculty, staff, students, and alumni, gathered at Boston City Hall with hundreds of like-minded citizens for\u00a0the 38th annual Boston Homeless Census.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.gov\/departments\/neighborhood-development\/annual-homeless-census\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">annual census<\/a> aims to quantify the number of people living on the street, in shelters, or in living situations other than permanent housing. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.gov\/departments\/neighborhood-development\/annual-homeless-census#past-reports\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">data collected<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> each year helps the city understand who is being served and what gaps in services need to be addressed. Census results also inform federal funding and help measure progress in efforts to prevent and end homelessness across the country. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the first time, Medical Campus volunteers received a dedicated area to survey. Led by Jake Sullivan, assistant vice president in the Office of Government and Community Affairs at Boston University, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.gov\/departments\/intergovernmental-relations\/katie-king\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Katie King<\/a> (CAS\u201906, SPH&#8217;13), interim director of intergovernmental relations in the mayor&#8217;s office<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the team of 20 volunteers broke into smaller groups and fanned out in an area around Government Center. The groups worked to identify possible homeless individuals and then\u00a0asked them up to 17 survey questions concerning their current and past housing situations, their use of drugs and alcohol, and more.\u00a0Volunteers were also given a toolkit on how to address the needs of any individuals needing medical attention, warm clothes, or blankets; those seeking shelter for the evening; and those interested in learning more about housing and other services. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A few\u00a0SPH students and faculty\u00a0joined volunteer groups canvassing other parts of the city.\u00a0Abigail Kim, a current MPH student, surveyed an area of the South End not far from the Medical Campus.<\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;A story that was shared with me by a homeless individual contained familiar refrains\u2014that shelters can feel unsafe and overcrowded, and that there are substantial and unwieldy barriers to accessing simple services when you have so few belongings and no form of identification,&#8221; Kim said. &#8220;However, it was a sobering experience when it came from the community in which I work and study, on a night that was desolate, dark, and bitterly cold.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his opening remarks launching the census, Mayor Marty Walsh told the crowd of 300 people that the annual event was an important Boston tradition. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt shows the spirit of the community, it speaks to the values of our community, that we understand that every single person deserves dignity, security, and hope,\u201d Walsh said. He detailed in particular the successes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.gov\/departments\/neighborhood-development\/bostons-way-home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Boston\u2019s Way Home<\/a>, the administration\u2019s initiative to end chronic and veteran homelessness. Since its launch in 2015, the initiative has helped to house\u00a0more than\u00a01,000 people.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mayor concluded his remarks by pushing back on the narrative that ending homelessness isn\u2019t possible: \u201cWe are going to try. You can\u2019t do anything if you don\u2019t try.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/emily-barbo\/\">Emily Barbo<\/a>, communications specialist in the <a href=\"http:\/\/activistlab.bu.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Activist Lab<\/a>, said the mayor\u2019s words resonated in particular with her work on the <a href=\"http:\/\/activistlab.bu.edu\/news-item\/life-albany-committee\/\">Life on Albany Committee<\/a>, which\u00a0addresses<span>\u00a0issues of homelessness, substance use, and mental illness on Albany Street<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe work we do on the committee is to dialogue about respect and recognition that our neighbors struggling with homelessness, addiction, and other issues are still people with a story,\u201d she said. \u201cThey deserve to be treated like people, not problems.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To learn more about SPH volunteer opportunities around homelessness, visit\u00a0the<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/activistlab.bu.edu\/news-item\/life-albany-committee\/\"> Life on Albany Committee<\/a>\u00a0site<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. To learn more about city volunteer opportunities, visit the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.gov\/departments\/neighborhood-development\/annual-homeless-census\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Homeless Census<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> site<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Faculty, students, staff, and alumni joined more than 300 volunteers to gather data on number of people living on streets, in shelters, or in other impermanent situations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7174,"featured_media":119395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2043,2338,2000],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3517,3519,3538,3541],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/119365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119365"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/119365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175252,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/119365\/revisions\/175252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119365"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=119365"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=119365"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=119365"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=119365"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=119365"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=119365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}