Cycles of Risk
People who grew up in precarious home environments are more likely to raise children in similar contexts, although that’s not necessarily their intention. The risk factors associated with homelessness are especially dangerous in this way; they get passed down generationally. Studies have found a strong relationship between the amount of childhood maltreatment and family dysfunction that homeless parents experienced and the amount that their children were experiencing. Poverty has also been also associated with child maltreatment, indicating that young people are growing up exposed to the same risks their homeless parents did.
For example, women who were abused as children are more likely to become targets for violence as adults through no fault of their own. If they have children with abusive partners, then their children are at risk for poverty, abuse, residential instability, foster care placement, and many other predictors of future homelessness, creating a cycle of risk that’s extremely difficult to break out of.
The Toiletries Delivery is enabling a couple of our HACA members to build, test, and develop a toiletries delivery service that fills the gaps they see in the existing homelessness system. This process is helping us understand how we can proactively enable people experiencing homelessness to help themselves by developing opportunities for them to help their community.
The Toiletries Delivery is enabling a couple of our HACA members to build, test, and develop a toiletries delivery service that fills the gaps they see in the existing homelessness system. This process is helping us understand how we can proactively enable people experiencing homelessness to help themselves by developing opportunities for them to help their community.
People Experiencing Homelessness
Scroll down this page to find information about:
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Austin's Homelessness Advisory Committee
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Coping Skills Zine
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An overview of the i-team's ongoing projects
Austin's Homelessness Advisory Committee
We asked members of Austin's Homelessness Advisory Committee (AHAC) to write down what they wanted to let people know about them. This is what AHAC member Greg had to say:
Austin’s Homelessness Advisory Committee (AHAC) is made up of 16 members who have previously or are currently experiencing homelessness. The goal of the group is to provide a voice for people with lived experience of homelessness so we can create better informed and more successful services. The group was created in the fall of 2017 by the City of Austin’s Office of Innovation’s Bloomberg i-team in coordination with the Department of Public Health and the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO).
When they are seen, heard, and given the opportunities to use their strengths and skills, people with lived experience of homelessness can become advocates for their community, and the system is able to design better services
Additionally, when they are given a voice and a platform, people and communities feel less marginalized.
Coping Skills Zine
The Coping Skills Zine is a tool created by Austin's Homelessness Advisory Committee.
An A5 zine booklet, the Zine includes information on healthy coping skills for both people experiencing homelessness and the general public. . These are more positive ways of approaching difficult situations with the people you interact with on a daily basis, such as case managers, service providers, employers, and strangers.
Click on the cover to view the complete Coping Skills Zine.
Ongoing Projects
We have separated our ongoing projects into 3 different categories: Tools, Prototypes, and Recommendations.
Tools
Tools enhance service delivery by solving for a specific need. Our tools address the needs of both people experiencing homelessness and service providers.
These tools include:
Prototypes
Prototypes are future services under construction. These are the services we are currently testing, and we co-create these projects with people who have lived experience of homelessness.
These prototypes include:
Recommendations
Recommendations suggest a way to change services to fit people's realities. Successful services empower the humans at their center, accommodating for their strengths and their needs.
These recommendations include:
Projects Spotlight
TOILETRIES
DELIVERY SERVICE
The Toiletries Delivery Service is enabling a couple members from the Lived Experience Advisory Group to build, test, and develop a delivery service that fills a gap they see in the existing homelessness system. This process is helping us understand how we can proactively enable people experiencing homelessness to help themselves by developing opportunities for them to help their community.
LIFE
UNIVERSITY
At Life University, people experiencing homelessness can learn personal self-care skills, professional development skills, and housing and life skills. Classes can be taught by service providers, voluntary community members and mentors, and people experiencing homelessness. Classes can be hosted in underused spaces that are temporarily repurposed for pop-up classes.