UI Hosts Works in Progress Research Showcase
Last Thursday, the UI hosted its second annual Works in Progress event, showcasing this year’s faculty and student research. Presenters included Senior Public Health Capstone students and UI Faculty Research Grant Awardees CJ Gabbe, Naomi Levy, Dosun Ko and Bill Sundstrom.
This year, researchers focused on a variety of topics, including: stigma reduction through oral histories, health impacts of encampment sweeps, educational outcomes for unhoused youth, client satisfaction at homeless service organizations, heat impacts on unhoused communities, and law enforcement utilization at permanent supportive housing sites.
A full recording of the event is available here.
Unhoused Initiative Receives Nancy Wright Award
Each year, the Center for Social Justice and Public Service at SCU’s School of Law awards the Nancy Wright Social Justice Award in memory of Professor Nancy Wright. Nancy, in partnership with her husband, Professor Eric Wright, led the way in social justice work at Santa Clara Law and inspired generations of students to work for justice. The Award is given to members of the Santa Clara Law community for commendable work in furtherance of social justice and public service. UI faculty, Michelle Oberman and Marlene Bennett, are honored to receive the 2025 Nancy Wright Social Justice Award.
Ms. Bennett joined the Center for Social Justice’s Public Interest and Social Justice Graduation Ceremony on May 22nd to receive the award on behalf of the Unhoused Initiative. The UI is grateful to the Center for Social Justice and Public Service, Prof. Eric Wright, Prof. Vangie Abriel, and Dean Michael Kaufman for selecting us to receive this award in honor of Nancy. We also commend Santa Clara Law for its commitment to upholding the dignity and humanity of our unhoused neighbors.
UI Research Assistants Present a Alumni Science Conference
On Saturday, May 17th, Unhoused Initiative Research Assistants, Sarah El Qadah and Iman Badr presented at SCU’s Alumni Science Conference which features student research and experiential learning projects. Both Senior Public Health Sciences majors, Iman and Sarah submitted UI-partnered projects for conference consideration.
Iman’s project, “Addressing Stigma against People Experiencing Homelessness at SCU: A Collaboration between the Unhoused Initiative and Public Health Capstone Students” discussed the UI’s stigma-reduction research and media campaign.
Sarah’s project “The Impact of Strategic Communication and Shifting Attitudes Surrounding Unhoused Individuals: A Student-Facing Anti-Stigma Campaign” highlighted her strategies for engaging students and increasing their interest in and awareness of the local response to homelessness through social media, interactive events and calls to action.
Sarah and Iman will both graduate this spring. They have been instrumental in moving the UI’s student-facing projects forward and we are so proud of their achievements!
Scroll down to see the posters submitted to the conference by Iman and Sarah.
UI Research Works in Progress Event
Click the flyer or scan the QR Code to register!
Go ALL OUT for the Unhoused Initiative – April 23rd!
SCU’s Day of Giving is coming up on Wednesday, April 23rd! The Day of Giving is an annual twenty-four hour fundraiser dedicating to supporting the student experience. This year, the Unhoused Initiative is raising funds for undergraduate and law school experiential learning courses, student internships at local non-profit organizations, service oriented opportunities, and campus events highlighting how the homelessness crisis impacts our community.
In a few short years, the UI has grown into a year-round coordinated effort to harness the myriad resources within our SCU community to forge meaningful improvements in the local response to the homelessness crisis. The UI offers campus events, course work and service opportunities centered on homelessness and rooted in community partnerships. Through an internal grant program, we support faculty research that is informing local policy and advocacy. In partnership with student researchers and organizations, we are reducing stigma and misinformation related to homelessness. By collaborating with administrators and staff focused on campus life, we are advocating for ways to address student housing insecurity. Because of our faculty’s dedication to promoting the dignity and humanity of our unhoused neighbors, students have access to experiential learning opportunities – Senior Capstone, ELSJ, and an upcoming legal clinic course – centered on service and advocacy.
We hope you will support the Unhoused Initiative and our commitment to building a more humane, just and sustainable world for our unhoused neighbors, our community and all Broncos.
If you would like to support the Unhoused Initiative and social justice in action, please visit the UI’s Day of Giving website. Thank you!
Policy Brief from UI Grantees
People experiencing homelessness are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly extreme weather. Unhoused Initiative Research Grantee, Dr. C.J. Gabbe, and UI Affiliated Faculty, Dr. Jamie Chang, researched the impacts and risks of heat exposure for unsheltered people experiencing homelessness in Santa Clara County.
Using geospatial mapping and in-depth interviews with unhoused residents of Santa Clara County, Dr. Gabbe and Dr. Chang examined the environments where unhoused individuals stay and learned about their experiences with extreme heat. Their multiple findings include that heat causes and amplifies health problems for unhoused individuals and that this population often has to choose between shade, water and stability when deciding where to live.
Based on their findings, Dr. Gabbe and Dr. Chang provide both near-future and long-term policy recommendations for California cities and counties to reduce the impacts of extreme heat on unsheltered people experiencing homelessness.
You can read Dr. Gabbe’s and Dr. Chang’s full findings and recommendations in the policy brief, which is available in the UI’s Online Resource Bank.
UI hosts panel focused on gender & homelessness
In case you missed it, a recording is available of our recent panel discussing the intersection of gender and homelessness, with an emphasis on the experiences of unhoused women in Silicon Valley.
The panel features Dr. Jesilyn Faust of SCU’s Political Science Department. Dr. Faust is an Unhoused Initiative Faculty Research Grant awardee and recently conducted a community-based study of unhoused women in San Jose. Joining Prof. Faust are Denisse Vera-Romo of SCU’s International Human Rights Clinic and Elizabeth Colorado from Destination: Home’s Lived Experience Advisory Board.
The panel provides an overview of the experiences of unhoused women – cis and trans – in Silicon Valley, describes why this population’s needs are unique, and highlights opportunities for advocacy. If you were unable to attend, be sure to check out the recording linked above!
The Unhoused Initiative at SCU 