Willis Dady, Iowa BIG students partner to collect data on the homeless

CEDAR RAPIDS - Willis Dady Homeless Shelter and Iowa BIG are partnering to gather data in hopes of better serving those who are homeless and to more clearly understand how community resources are spent in dealing with the issue.

Phoebe Trepp, executive director at Willis Dady, 1247 Fourth Ave. SE, said the Linn County Continuum of Care wants to know the cost of services for the individuals who stay at the Community Overflow Weather Shelter System, a program operated by various community service providers who add additional shelter beds on nights when the temperature is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. A total of 321 people were served through the system last winter. Trepp said the Community Overflow Weather Shelter System, implemented in 2015, has provided an alternative for those who often are put into the county jail for the night just to be taken off the street when temperatures drop.

Trepp said the organizations involved in the Continuum of Care were hoping to gather the data from area hospitals, service providers and law enforcement but ran into difficulties.

'We have a lot of direct service providers so we don't necessarily have the resources to gather all that,” Trepp said.

Students at Iowa BIG, a projects-based program for high schoolers with headquarters at 415 12th Ave. SE, accept pitches from local businesses and not-for-profits on potential projects to give kids hands-on experience and involvement in community projects. Willis Dady officials pitched an idea for students to gather data on cost of services and another project to see how adverse childhood events may affect clients who are chronically homeless.

The students chose both projects.

'In just talking with the students ... they have a strong desire to help in the community,” said Dennis Becker, a social studies teacher at Iowa BIG. 'When it's beyond volunteering, it's helping them solve the real problems, students get excited.”

Becker is overseeing five juniors and seniors who will be in charge of contacting area service providers and law enforcement to gather, vet and analyze data on the cost of a night at the shelter versus the cost of a night in jail. They hope to finish by May, if not earlier, Becker said.

'It's really based off the assumption that for a lot of people that end up in the shelter, that one way or another we are paying to support them,” Becker said. 'Either that's coming from housing them in jail on a cold night or in a shelter on a cold night. Either way, we are providing services as a community.”

Trepp said the goal is to better inform Continuum of Care officials how to allocate resources and provide information they could use to advocate for more funding.

As part of the project on seeing how adverse childhood events could be affecting the chronically homeless, a group of students at Iowa BIG's north side location are going to be working with some Willis Dady clients to gather their personal stories, Becker said.

'It's looking at the impact of (adverse childhood events) on choices they've since made to really study the resiliency that these individuals have shown - individuals who can often get labeled as not resilient - to empower and honor that,” Becker said.

He added although there could be concerns about students running into professionals not taking them seriously, usually organizations realize how well-researched the students are before they reach out. And there's value in working with students, he said.

'They can look at a lot of these problems with fresh eyes,” Becker said. 'If one of the ways of reaching out doesn't work they try other ways. That helps with getting them the respect that they deserve.

'They want to see a community that takes care of its own. They want to be part of a world that looks kindly on one another and is helpful,” he said.

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