cLASSROOM

SESSIONS

Homelessness (flexible, 1.5hrs ideal)

How do people become homeless? Should I give money to someone asking for cash? What’s stopping that person from going out and getting a job? How long do people stay homeless? Why is homelessness on the rise in a rich country like ours?

This session examines the complex issue of homelessness with frankness and compassion. The session combines up-to-date data on homelessness with stories, multimedia, discussion, and a ‘choose your own ending’ simulation game. Students are encouraged to reflect upon their own ideas about homelessness and brainstorm ways we (individually and as a society) can respond practically and positively.

cost: $75 per staff hour

Life on the Edge (flexible, 1.5hrs ideal)

Life on the Edge focuses on the forces that marginalize people in the inner city, and investigates various community responses to these. We touch on issues like homelessness, mental illness, drug, alcohol and gambling addiction, sex work, and long-term unemployment. Interaction with stories of real people on the edge makes these issues more than facts on a page, or cautionary tales. We see how they can reinforce each other and learn how poverty traps evolve. In light of these realities, welfare, community development and advocacy models are presented and students consider contexts where each might be most useful. Most importantly, students are challenged to consider the real people affected or at risk and formulate compassionate, practical responses.

cost: $75 per staff hour