Homeless Service Work Certification; SMC's Response to LA’s Homeless Crisis
Los Angeles has seen an immense rise in unhoused individuals over the last few decades, coupled with a lack of trained outreach service workers. According to the McKinsey and Company report, about one in 150 Angelenos are experiencing homelessness. It is further projected that by 2028, L.A. will claim a homeless population of around 100,000. This has never been, especially not now, an issue to be taken lightly.
In 2019, Santa Monica College (SMC) established the Homeless Service Work Program as a response to L.A.’s homeless crisis, which properly educates and certifies students to work in the homeless response system. It’s the brainchild of Nancy Greenstein, member of the Board of Trustees, and Dean of Academic Affairs Patricia Ramos. They partnered with some friends working in the field, who came together to discuss the scarcity of training options for people pursuing homeless services.
“There wasn’t a dedicated training that people could take, like take a certificate and show that they had ‘xyz’ skills and that there were many more jobs than there were people available to take them,” Greenstein said. She explained her and her colleagues’ thought process behind the need for the program: “It was a hard job and many people who took the jobs that were entry level weren’t prepared.”
Thanks to Greenstein’s connections, SMC was able to partner with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), which provided funding for the pilot program. Student fees are covered by LAHSA as well, allowing the program to be accessible, which is of utmost importance considering students participating come from various backgrounds. Some of them have experienced being unhoused themselves.
Due to the previously established relationships between SMC faculty and LAHSA, experts with decades of experience in the field were brought in to help develop a curriculum that would be all-encompassing.
Steven Sedky, an associate dean at SMC who has worked as a liaison between the school and LAHSA, said “We developed a curriculum that prepares students to not only start their careers on the frontlines of the sector, but our hope is that they would also be the next generation of leaders in the sector.”
The program hosts a cohort of 20 students who are taught skills that prepare them to venture into homeless response systems, which offer a myriad of potential careers. Greenstein explained the diversity of the cohort, stating, “We have people who might have a degree, and we have people who are volunteers from agencies, people with lived experience, people who are just starting at SMC.” The beauty of the program is the range of students it welcomes, with no limit to who can get involved in this imperative cause.
Greenstein and Sedky both separately expressed the same intention for the program, which is that it receive some fine-tuning and ultimately travel to other schools.
“This has never been about the college… it’s always a program to be shared, we didn’t want to just say ‘we have a good program.’ There’s so much need all over that we wanted to be able to perfect it and share it,” said Greenstein. “We can take it to other schools. We can actually go and work with other schools if they want to institute programs themselves.”
Sedky further explained the necessity to bring the program to other community colleges, with “1,300 to 1,400 open positions in the field… there’s a huge labor market shortage; there’s just a huge need to get people in the field.”
This program is simultaneously an opportunity for storytelling, a sentiment expressed by Sedky. Students who gravitate towards this program tend to have personal stories that help them relate to struggles of homelessness, which drive them to be part of the change.
Faith Freeman is one of the 20 students who joined the program this semester. She shared her personal experiences and struggles with addiction, which moved her to join this program: “There is a lot of stigma so I feel like having this program at a community college could really break that down and help students who are dealing with homelessness as well.”
The program plans to continue its growth. The sky is the limit and its implementation at SMC is only the beginning. There’s hope for the development of a related associate degree, larger student engagement, and of course, expansion to other schools.
To learn more about the Homeless Service Work Certificate, visit https://www.smc.edu/academics/academic-departments/business/homeless-services-work.php