Though it feels good to know you’ve helped someone and made their life a little easier or more comfortable, at times it is still dangerous. Once, while distributing supplies in Fresno, an older gentleman looked at my family and me with fear, ran up to our truck and told us to get out of where we were that instant. The man told us that the homeless living in the area were sleeping behind the bushes, only 15 feet away from us, didn’t like strangers and were sometimes violent. We did as we were told and hurried off but not before we thanked him for the warning and handed him a thick jacket and some hot chili.
Most recently, I had the opportunity to stay in San Francisco for a week and serve their homeless community first hand. Over the summer I worked with the Center for Student Missions, a Christian nonprofit that works to introduce youth to problems that exist in urban settings. Their mission statement is to provide an effective urban ministry experience that transforms lives, influences churches and communities, and honors Christ. The people who experience CSM are housed in 10 different major cities across the United States, including San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Denver, Houston, Nashville, Washington DC and Philadelphia.
During my stay with CSM, I spent a couple days with children from low-income families who are in either a Day Home or a neighborhood program. One of the days, we were split into groups in which we were given two dollars each and had 3-4 hours to find a homeless person, buy them and ourselves lunch, and then interview them to see what it’s like being homeless in San Francisco, specifically the Tenderloin District (one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country). My group of five, who all together had about $10, decided to buy about seven chicken sandwiches to hand out and get to know more people rather than just one. We didn’t mind being hungry since we knew it would go toward feeding the homeless and the fact that we would have dinner waiting for us when we were done with the day.
Working with Center for Student Missions taught me that homelessness is not exclusive to any age or race. Before the trip, I had worked closely with homeless people but this experience dramatically changed my perspective and personality toward others, especially the overall view of homeless.
Helping the homeless gives me a sense of connection with my city and helps me open my eyes and heart to the stereotypes people believe and perpetuate about homelessness. Fresno was recently ranked third worst in the country when it came to homelessness, just ahead of New Orleans and Tampa. Organizations like Fresno First Steps Home have realized this increasing topic and are here to help by getting homeless off the streets, back on their feet, and once again a stable part of society. Like those affected by homelessness, we’ve all experienced being excluded for not living to society’s expectations and we can all try to remember that homelessness can touch anyone’s life and affect all of our communities.
In 2006, over 25 youth began participating in weekly after-school writing workshops where they congregated in the hallway of a two-story building in West Fresno and learned the essentials of creating media and telling their stories. The group evolved over the next five years and is now proudly recognized as The kNOw Youth Media.
Through our program, we create opportunities for our youth participants, who in turn create long-term positive change in their communities. Our approach weaves youth development and youth media innovation to produce our biannual youth publication, multimedia projects, and community forums.
The kNOw began as a project of New America Media, which was the country’s first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 2000 ethnic news organizations. In 2018 The kNOw became a project of Youth Leadership Institute.
