SCU Unhoused Initiative

Public Health Sciences Seniors Present at Alumni Science Conference

Last Saturday, Senior Public Health Sciences students, Hermon Welde and Kate Ridgeway, presented at the annual Alumni Science Conference at SCU. Both Hermon and Kate presented on the Senior Capstone projects in partnership with the Unhoused Initiative.

Hermon Welde, SCU ’26

Hermon’s project detailed her work with the Unhoused Advocacy Clinic at SCU’s Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center. During fall quarter, Hermon and other senior Public Health Sciences Capstone students worked with the UAC, completing property claims for people experiencing homelessness who’d lost their belongings during encampment sweeps. Hermon and her colleagues outreached to impacted clients, interviewed them, and helped to prepare paperwork for the attorney. They also used their experience to develop a framework for a new Experiential Learning in Social Justice Public Health course focused on the criminalization of homelessness.

Kate Ridgeway, SCU ’26

Kate presented the initial findings of the UI’s ongoing Wellness Audit project, in partnership with Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. The Wellness Audit assesses the impacts of being displaced while experiencing homelessness. The survey collects information about the impacts of displacement on a person’s physical and mental health, their access to resources, and community and social connections. Senior Capstone students administered the survey at encampments and service provider locations during fall quarter. The survey is ongoing, but the student’s initial findings show that encampment sweeps harm public health and safety, with 85% of respondents indicating they had lost items essential to daily living, 74% reporting a loss of connections to friends and family, and over 60% reporting experiencing anxiety, stress and depression as a result of being displaced.

Congratulations to Kate and Hermon! We thank you for your time and contributions to these projects and wish you all the best as you graduate from SCU!

SCU Unhoused Initiative

New Report from UC Berkeley Possibility Lab & SCU’s Dr. Naomi Levy

Headshot of Dr. Naomi Levy who is wearing glasses, earrings and a black blazer. She is in front of a background of blurred roses.
Dr. Naomi Levy

A new report from UC Berkeley’s Possibility Lab details findings from a study employing the Lab’s “Firsthand Framework for Policy Innovation.” The study was conducted in partnership with two local housing and homeless services providers, LifeMoves and Bay Area Community Services (BACS). Unhoused Initiative Research Grantee, SCU Professor of Political Science, and Faculty Affiliate at the Possibility Lab, Dr. Naomi Levy is a co-author of the report. UI Faculty Research Grant funds were used to support SCU student researchers working on the project.

The Firsthand Framework for Policy Innovation centers the voices of people with lived experience. Through focus groups and interviews, the information gathered from people most impacted by policies and programs related to housing and homelessness then informs those policies and programs and how they will be implemented going forward. The Firsthand Framework aims to “authentically represent community perspectives and priorities” when developing or amending policies and programs.

The study identified over 1,200 unique client-identified indicators of well-being. These were then coded and organized into individual-level and community-level indicators. Individual-level indicators were often associated with daily experiences rather than larger milestones; for example, feeling supported and capable as opposed to securing a housing placement. Community-level indicators show how an organization’s policies and programs impact clients’ day-to-day experiences. As described by Dr. Levy, “by centering clients’ lived experiences, the Firsthand Framework makes visible aspects of wellbeing that are often overlooked, including early signals of progress or challenges that emerge well before longer-term outcomes like housing stability are realized.” 

The study identifies two ways the client-centered indicators can improve programs and services. First, by tracking client-defined indicators over time, service providers can address client hardships in ways that reflect clients experiences and priorities. Second, the indicators offer organizations a community-informed way to understand, improve, and describe what their programs actually achieve.

Congratulations to Dr. Levy, the Possibility Lab and all who participated in, and worked on, the study. You can read a press release about the study and access the full report here.