UCSC: University Community Services Center

In the U.S. today, around 1.5 million children are considered homeless by the government. The number means that out of every 50 youth in the country, 1 spends their night without shelter. Yet despite being their situation, 77% of those same youth still seek schooling, according to the U.S. Department of Education. However, the inability to return to a home after school impedes a homeless youth's learning ability and frequently disrupts their chances of obtaining a quality education. Therefore, the question of how to provide homeless youth with the opportunity to receive the best schooling possible persists.

Much of the task has fallen into the hands of local organizations, such as Chicago Hopes, based in Downtown Chicago. Since its beginnings in 2006 with Chicago Public Schools as a support base, Chicago Hopes has spent its time providing homeless students with homework help and academic enrichment opportunities. While Chicago Hopes originally began working in only 2 shelters, the organization has expanded its radius to include 6 more shelters that extend from Chicago's North Side to the city's South Side. As a result, Chicago Hopes volunteers now teach math, science, reading, and the arts to an even wider array of homeless youth than in the past.

Chicago Hopes stresses the importance of having a stable study space where youth can focus on their academics. This is especially important for homeless youth, as they lack a permanent home or space in which to do homework. Chicago Hopes negotiates with and sets up shop at local shelters so that homeless youth, when they pay a visit to the shelter, will witness Chicago Hopes in action and perhaps choose to take part in the tutoring program.

"What tends to happen with homeless youth is that they move schools a lot since their living conditions often leave them unable to stay in one place for long", explains Eric Monek Anderson, Chicago Hopes' Development Coordinator. "And that sort of mobility takes away from a child's learning experience because it takes away consistency in terms of material they learn, who they learn from, and the level of difficulty they face."

In an attempt to combat this problem,Chicago Hopes provides tutors and rooms for homeless youth to sit down and concentrate on their homework. The team purposely operates on a semester system in order to match school schedules and cover material taught by school teachers during the same time period. However, the Chicago Hopes program coordinators have slowly established summer programs for youth as well, with their most recent being the Around the World program where kids learn about different cultures around the world. By enriching the youth's academics and cultural knowledge, Chicago Hopes is determined to show them the value of education and knowing the world around them.

But in terms of learning opportunities, Chicago Hopes' youth program participants are not the only students who are able to enrich their lives through this program.

Cori Ballew, Chicago Hopes` Volunteer Coordinator, points out that the college students and adults who volunteer as tutors for the children gather their fair share of knowledge as well.

"In society, there are all these perceptions about homeless kids that are not necessarily true at all, "Ballew says.``What we try to do at Chicago Hopes is to let our volunteers realize that while many homeless children are affected by very traumatizing experiences, a good chunk are just normal kids who want to go to school."

Ballew recruits volunteers from all education and social backgrounds to act as tutors for the kids at Chicago Hopes. But in addition to playing a role in the youth`s academic lives, volunteers, according to Ballew, also become role models for the children. While most of the kids find role models in their parents, they often find additional role models in the Chicago Hopes volunteers, who they interact with on a regular basis.

After volunteering with Chicago Hopes, 3 UofC students established their own Chicago Hopes RSO on campus. Severine Cao, Anirudh Sankar, and Jason Park all began volunteering with Chicago Hopes last year, and decided to bring the program on campus to encourage students to work with homeless youth.

"We all felt that we were doing something good, and making an impact on these kids' lives," Park explains. "But we wanted to do more to help them. So we made some plans to create a RSO."

Chicago Hopes recently offered the students in the new RSO a chance to take their initiative off campus by running one of Chicago Hopes` shelters. As a result, Chicago Hopes at UofC is slated to forgo its RSO status so that Cao, Sankar, and Park may take on administrative duties at a South Side shelter next academic year.

Chicago Hopes is determined to shatter preconceived notions of homeless youth and provide them with a sense of stability not only in terms of education, but also in terms of the happenings in their lives. The organization`s future plans include working independently, though in collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools. Their ultimate goal is to enrich the lives of homeless youth permanently and to make sure that their temporary living situation does not deter them from future success.