Homelessness is at a Historic High. Here's How You Can Help

Homelessness is at a Historic High. Here’s How You Can Help

By: Shanelle Mendes, Westford Girl Scout

Girl Scout Gold Award Project

Did you know?

In 2010, 1 in 45 children in the United States were homeless, but just three years later, that fraction increased to 1 in 30 children. Homelessness can cause a child to suffer from toxic stress, which is when a child experiences stress for a long period of time, or a severe form of stress. This can cause damage to some brain functions, such as planning and reasoning behaviors. Research has found that getting counseling, attending after-school or activity programs, and receiving tutoring for school can decrease the negative impact of homelessness on children.

My Goal

My project addressed the issue of the negative effect of homelessness on children. These negative effects include feeling frustration in school and having a higher risk of depression. I worked to create a curriculum for an after school program at a homeless shelter for elementary school students. The goal was to make a curriculum that promoted fun with learning in a stress-free environment.

Housing Families, Malden

I worked with Housing Families, a homeless shelter in Malden. They have a wonderful youth program called GREAT. They are always looking for more volunteers and tutors.

Visit their website at: http://housingfamilies.org/

My Project

I created a curriculum that promotes learning and demonstrates that learning can be fun and stress-free. The curriculum is about World Cultures, and instead of being centered on memorization and recall through testing, it teaches students through participating in cultural games and crafts as well as through reading cultural literature. The idea is that if children are exposed to how fun learning can be without the added stress of school, they will be encouraged to not only seek opportunities to learn outside the program, but to feel that they are better equipped to be able to handle the stress of school with the knowledge of the rewards of learning.

Given the young age of the students, the curriculum is focused on conveying a few simple, but memorable facts as opposed to lots of material. In each session, students learn one or two basic words in the native or commonly spoken language. They are then taught a little about a cultural holiday, tradition, piece of literature, or game. All of these things are meant to spark an interest in the child, so that they will want to learn more. The curriculum focused on providing activities with minimal competition, and more team work and group discussion. It also includes several activities (such as crafts) in which many decisions are up to the student, giving them a chance to work at their own pace, and to be in control. In addition, there books and other supplements were included with the curriculum, in order to allow students interested in learning more to do so.

Thank You

I would like to thank all those in the community who helped to make this project in success. This project would not have been possible without the help of the volunteers and staff at Housing Families, several Westford Academy teachers and students, and Westford Girl Scout Troop 86145.

You Can Help!

Get involved in your own community and use your talents to help some of these programs which are meant to help homeless children and their families.

If you enjoy teaching, look into creating a curriculum or organizing activities for children in these programs. You can also look into tutoring or mentoring in these communities.

Sources:

http://www.doorwaysva.org/children-youth/impact-of-homelessness-on-children/

http://www.newsweek.com/child-homelessness-us-reaches-historic-high-report-says-285052

http://firesteelwa.org/2014/09/homelessness-poverty-and-the-brain-mapping-the-effects-of-toxic-stress-on-children

http://www.fhfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Homlessness_Effects_Children.pdf X4ƨR