Homeless Community Essay

The world has many issues. As a Social Worker my goal is to help alleviate some of those issues. But with as many issues as there are I do not have the skill set or time to combat all the issues that I see. Because of this I need to choose an area to focus on and put my effort into that so that my education and training is put to good use. To choose an issue that is most concerning to me I have to look at my community to see where there is a need. When I look at my community I see many people living in poverty. The good thing about my community is that there are many services for those in need. There are several food banks and many other agencies such as No to Abuse, NyE Communities Coalition, and various counseling agencies that provide needed

Being a rural community we have no form of public transportation. For those who are homeless having no transportation to get to services keeps them from utilizing services such as the food banks. Another issue that arises is even when homeless individual make it to the food banks they have no way of carrying or storing the food. A good portion of the food is perishable so that takes away much of the food that is provided. Another issue is that many of the homeless individuals have mental health issues and many abuse alcohol or drugs. These two things coupled together makes it hard on the homeless individuals to coherently decide to go to the food banks when they are open. Another issue with my community is that we have no homeless shelter. The summers here are very hot and the winters are very cold. The only shelters that the homeless in my community have are tents if they are lucky enough to own

As a BSW prepared social worker I can help combat the problem with homelessness in my community. In order to do this I have to do several things before I put anything into action. The first thing, after graduating and obtaining a position, would be to get permission to start looking at creating a homeless program. The next thing I need to do is talk with the various agencies in my community. I need to see what exactly they have to offer for the homeless, because I do not want to duplicate services. After I have done this the most important thing I need to do is talk with the homeless about what they actually want so that I am addressing their needs effectively. After I have done these few things I need to create a committee of various people from different agencies so that it becomes a community effort to help address the homeless issue. Once the committee is formed then we can develop an action plan. Part of the action plan would be to apply for government grants, talk with the town board about creating a homeless shelter, and finding others in the community that would be willing to give their time. In the mean time we can give the homeless the necessities they need such as clean socks and shoes, proper clothing, toiletries, and blankets/sleeping bags, etc… Another part of the plan would be getting them connected to mental health services, health clinics/health insurance, and job