Tag: City of Eugene

Eugene’s Unhoused Veteran Population

Posted on by Julia Havens

Henry Hearley Eugene Rest Stop and Micro Village Program EvaluationMy first encounters with Eugene’s unhoused population was during my time working at the Veteran’s Affairs Behavioral Health Recovery and Reintegration Services (BHRRS) Clinic in Eugene, Oregon. It is here where I first came across the veterans that had served in the U.S. Armed Services. A 2009 report commissioned by the Veteran’s Affairs estimates that on any given one night there are 107,000 veterans that are homeless across America. The VA has identified ending veteran homelessness as one of its main goals in the coming years, a goal shared with Lane County, Eugene and Springfield.

In 2014, Saint Vincent DePaul (SVDP) secured a 3 million dollar grant from the Veterans Affairs’ Supportive Services for Families program. The new program is called “Operation 365” and will involve a collaborative effort with Lane County, Eugene and Springfield the mission is to provide a home to a veteran each day for the next year with a goal of 365 homes secured by Veterans Day 2015. The program will disperse the funding evenly over the next 3-years with 1 million dollars being allocated each year. SVDP estimated there are between 300-400 unhoused veterans living on the streets throughout Lane County. Operation 365 is seen as a way to ending homelessness among military veterans in Lane County. Click on the link to view KEZI’s newscast regarding “Operation 365” (http://www.kezi.com/collaboration-to-end-vet-homelessness/).

I was excited to work on the issue of the unhoused in Eugene because of the new trend in housing people that experience homelessness called micro-villages, or “tiny-home living”. During the course of the next six-months, our Community Planning Workshop team will be conducting a process evaluation of micro-villages. We intend to look at the current state of Eugene’s rest-stop pilot program, which allows for legal camping on approved sites and its sole micro-village, Opportunity Village, which currently has 30 micro-homes, all funded by a one-time donation of $100,000.

Moving forward in the next few months, my CPW-Community Planing Workshop Team, ‘Eugene Rest Stop and Micro Village Program Evaluation’will start to develop a survey. The first survey will be provided to local residents and businesses near rest-stops and Opportunity Village to gauge their perception and impacts on Eugene’s rest-stop policy and Opportunity Village. A second survey will be distributed to residents of Opportunity Village and users of rest-stops. Our goal of this second survey is to gauge the effectiveness of these programs and provide input on recommendations how to better serve the unhoused population through these programs. My team is looking forward to the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of citizens of Eugene that are homeless.

 

Henry Hearley Eugene Rest Stop and Micro Village Program Evaluation About the Author: Henry Hearley received his Bachelor’s Degree in Geography from the University of Oregon in 2014. During his free time he enjoys hiking outdoors with his girlfriend and doing CrossFit. Hearley, originally from Wisconsin, has fallen in love with Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

Meet CPW GTF: Jay Breslow

Posted on by Julia Havens

Jay Breslow GTF CPW Community Planning Workshop Connected Lane County AspirationsWhat is your name? Jay Zuelke Breslow

Favorite word? My favorite word is onomatopoeia (it just took me three tries to spell it correctly though).

Where were you born and where do you call home? I was born in Bend, Oregon, grew up as a small child in Red Bank, New Jersey and spent my other formative years in Hillsboro, Oregon. Currently Eugene is my home as I recently realized that I have lived here for more of my life than any other place.

Something fun you like to do? During the Summer I am a Whitewater Rafting Guide. I got into rafting during graduate school in 2005. I was working on a Master’s degree in School Counseling and it seemed like a good idea to have something to do with my summer times. I have been guiding and running rivers ever since.

In which graduate program are you enrolled? I am currently enrolled in a Doctoral program in Education Studies. I am in the Critical and Sociocultural Studies in Education program specializing in Creativity Studies.

What project are you working on for the Community Planning Workshop? As a GTF with the Community Planning Workshop, I am currently coordinating the Middle-High Bridge listening session project. Our client is a group called Connected Lane County. I am coordinating and facilitating a series of listening sessions with middle school aged youth regarding their post-secondary aspirations. (Connected Lane County Aspirations Project)

What are some of the project outcomes you hope to gain that will assist you professionally? I hope to become a more skilled facilitator, specifically in designing and facilitating discussions that are engaging and productive both for the youth and for the adults charged with their education and care. I hope to learn from the youth of their aspirations whether those are to go to college or towards some other goal. The information gathered from this work will help inform the way schools structure their support for students as they progress towards graduation.

How does your involvement with the Community Planning Workshop relate to or inform your education? I have been lucky to be a part of the CSC. As a departmental outsider I have gained valuable experience as a student in project-based learning environments. In my time in the Community Planning Workshop, I gained valuable experience as a member of a student-directed team, working on a project that I had very little experience in (that being good stewardship of the McKenzie River). As a teacher, I have been part of structuring project-based learning opportunities for my students but I had never participated in one as a student. This perspective in valuable in that I came to understand various approaches to leadership, the power of a steep learning curve, and the importance of group communication.

What is your favorite quote?  “An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many–where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”   — Howard Zinn

What advice would you give to your ‘younger’ self just beginning as a graduate student? I would tell myself to hold the goals that I have for myself in mind as I work through the program. It is easy to get lost in the academic shuffle and lose focus of your original intent. Every book or article you read and every paper you write should bring you towards a more complete understanding of what and how you want to be as a professional.