focus, collaboration, learning, change: howard gray s.j. meets david kolb. working with...

Focus, Collaboration, Learning, Change:

Howard Gray S.J. meets David Kolb. Working with Detroit's Homeless -

LDI’s Shelter & Home Initiative:

Presented to the Commitment to Justice ConferenceJohn Carroll University – October 13-16, 2006

John Daniels, Director, University of Detroit Mercy Leadership Development Institute

Mission

The University of Detroit Mercy, a Catholic university in the Jesuit and Mercy traditions, exists to provide excellent student-centered undergraduate and graduate education in an urban context. A UDM education seeks to integrate the intellectual, spiritual, ethical, and social development of students.

Vision

The University of Detroit Mercy will be recognized as a premier private university in the Great Lakes region, distinguished by graduates who lead and serve in their communities

Helping us continue the work of Catherine McAuley and Ignatius Loyola in compassionate service to the poor and marginalized

by seeing,feeling,

helping,and

fostering lasting

change

Leadership

Development

Institute

Grew from Student Volunteer Center Kellogg Grant provided expansion 1995-8 Includes:

Service-Learning (60 courses annually, growing) Leadership-in-Service (training) program New in 2004 Learning for a Change program

Sustained through Information technology Partnerships Mission integration

What is LDI?

Information technology Relational, networked database Website as distribution tool Assessment standardization

Partnerships Collaboration with Detroit service/theme/justice

event calendars “First Partner” identification

Mission Integration Jesuit and Mercy charisms and processes Commitment to urban partnerships

LDI Sustainability

Shelter & Home Initiative

Sources of the projectDescription of the projectPilot Year ProgressChallenges and

discussion


Sources of the projectNouwen’s reflection on the

Baptism of JesusHoward Gray’s reflection on the

Good SamaritanBro Jim Horgan’s Warming CenterGerry Stockhausen’s Inauguration

theme “Leadership & Service in the Community”


Time Out . . . . . . All Thumbs

“Prove yourself a good person.”

Many voices ask for our attention.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

“Nobody really cares about you”

“Be sure to become successful, popular,

powerful.”

But underneath all of these

noisy voices

is a still, small voice

that says

“You are my beloved;

my favor rests on you.”

Henri Nouwen

from Bread for

the Journey

Howard Gray S.J.’s reflection on the

Good Samaritan If we really believe that we are

beloved like this, Howard asks, How would we act? The Good Samaritan story, he says, is

Jesus telling us how to be HUMAN.

Howard Gray S.J.’s reflection on the

Good Samaritan Awareness begins with seeing Awareness of seeing invites feeling Awareness of feeling invites helping Awareness of the situation prompts

the person to seek fostering change


discussion


Helping us continue the work of Catherine McAuley and Ignatius Loyola in compassionate service to the poor and marginalized

by seeing,feeling,

helping,and

fostering lasting

change

Leadership

Development

Institute

The Good Samaritan: LDI’s model of Leadership for Social Change

by seeing,feeling,

helping,and

fostering lasting

change

SeeHe sees

that the man is beat up


FeelHe feels

the man’s painHelp

He binds the man’s wounds

ChangeHe empowers the innkeeper;

things are better after he leaves.

Payoff!

Leadership & Justice call us all the way to CHANGE!

Seeing, feeling, and helping hold us in simple charity, restrict us simply to service.

Changing things takes us from charity to JUSTICE, from service to LEADERSHIP.


ChangeHe empowers the innkeeper;

things are better after he leaves.

Payoff!

6000 homeless people on the streets of Metro Detroit.

How do good people like us tolerate that?

We create urban mythsabout homelessness:

Myth:

Not many children are homeless.

• Children make up about 15% of the homeless population.

• Families with children is the fastest growing group of homeless.

• One child in five in the United States lives below the poverty line.

• Many homeless children are alone and homeless, either runaways or "throwaways".

Myth:

The homeless are uneducated and unemployable.

• Due to economic downturns here and elsewhere, many homeless people have lost jobs they’d held for decades.

• More and more have completed high school• Some have attended college and even

graduate school. • Many of us are a few paychecks away from

homelessness.

Myth:

They are to blame for their own situation.

• Most homeless people are victims. • Some have suffered from child abuse or

domestic violence. • Many are without needed mental health

support• More and more are families, parents having

lost their jobs after years of employment. • All have lost their homes.

Time Out . . . See . . . Feel . . . Help . . . Change

Increasing our will to end homelessness by learning together

through direct service, shared reflection, collective social analysis,

and persistent support of effective advocacy partnerships

University of Detroit Mercy August 2005 - May 2007

Increasing our will to end homelessness by learning together

through direct service, shared reflection, collective social analysis,

and persistent support of effective advocacy partnerships

What makes

Shelter & Home InitiativeWORK?

• FOCUS

• COLLABORATION

• REAL LEARNING

• REAL CHANGE

An introduction and welcome to University of Detroit Mercy Leadership Development Institute

Shelter & Home Initiative:An invitation to partnership in real change extended all in Greater Detroit

FOCUS • Confucius said, “The person who

chases one rabbit eats; the person who chases two rabbits goes home hungry

• SHI brings our focus to one burning issue, homelessness

What makes




COLLABORATION• LDI joins effective advocacy

groups• Unmet needs emerge• LDI engages in response• Partnerships develop

What makes




REAL LEARNING• SHI applies a real learning model –

Kolb’s Learning Cycle,

– which engages all learning styles– and a sequence that begins with

direct service experience – like the Good Samaritan story.

What makes




Kolb’s Learning Cycle

What makes



Concrete Experience


Concrete Experience

Reflective Observation


Concrete Experience


Abstract Conceptualization


Concrete Experience


Active Experimentation

ChangeReflective

Observation


New Concrete Experience, and

so on . . . .

Payoff



ChangeReflective

Observation

Kolb’s Learning CycleUsing the Shelter & Home Initiative


Concrete Experience


Concrete ExperienceConcentrate September - April on personal exposure to homeless persons through direct service

Reflective ObservationReflect on these experience in prayer

and worship, reflection programs following service projects, and

collectively through Homeless Exhibit Fairs at UDM in December and April



Abstract ConceptualizationSocial analysis through a January - April Social Analysis Series of lectures and panel discussions, SHI website-linked materials, and

region-wide programs on the topic






Active ExperimentationDesign improvements in school and church

justice teaching, initiate or strengthen community partnerships, not only for service, but also for real

change through support of Homeless Action Nework of Detroit (HAND)

Change








NEW Concrete ExperienceResulting from experimentation

Change

Payoff










Concrete ExperienceConcentration through Term I on personal exposure to homeless persons through direct service

Change

Payoff Encourage additional individual and group direct

service projects (UDM partnership is available)

Learning Activitiesfor the Shelter & Home Initiative













Change

Payoff

Plan reflections prior to and following service; train leaders in

facilitating reflection; plan Homeless Fair participation







Encourage additional individual and group direct








Change

Payoff


More concentrated during January – April, through participation in SHI Social Analysis Series and encouragement of other local topical events.

















Change

Payoff

Connect with H.A.N.D and other advocacy partners at the final Social Analysis Seminar; commit to working with them and supporting their efforts






More concentrated during January – April, through participation in SHI Social Analysis Series and encouragement of other local topical events.

REAL CHANGESHI goes beyond charitable efforts, to engage

in changeBy a strategy of accumulating service

experience and reflection on itthat builds sustainable service partnershipsand results in increased political will to end

homelessnessthat feeds efforts of existing advocacy groups

already fighting for an end to homelessness

What makes




to ChangePayoff!

TogetherWe can comeall the way…

…from Homelessnessto Shelter & Home.

Time Out . . . Can YOU use any of this at your school?


discussion


Project status: pilot year progress:FOCUS

Focus is paying returns• Student accumulated awareness

– SIC (Student Journal) articles up from 1 to 8– Service-Learning Class group development

has emerged naturally due to 2 years of New Student Orientation focus

• LDI visibility in community– Community members are referring

Homelessness resource people to SHI– Appointment to key advocacy & planning

groups

Project status: pilot year progress:COLLABORATION

Collaboration: partnerships are developing• SHI Director elected to HAND (Homeless

Action Network of Detroit Board of Directors• SHI Director elected to Detroit 10-Year Plan

Policy Board• Alumni are joining as volunteer “Executives-in-

Residence” due to their interest in SHI• Sisters of Mercy have provided two $10,000

grants to support aspects of SHI

Project status: pilot year progress:REAL LEARNING

• Kolb Learning Cycle application in planning year generated current pilot year plan (we’re learning!)

• Mercy Mission Grant for Faculty Development– Sharpening the saw – best practice sharing– Service-Learning Partnership development

• Community leadership development– 10-Year Plan Advocacy committee leadership– Street Count planning and training

• Street Count as measurable project– Developing city-wide engagement models– Using project operations as Service-Learning

components

Project status: pilot year progress:REAL CHANGEIn the community

• Emergence of Street Count as unmet need• Engagement of grassroots leaders in training

– HAND membership meeting workshops– 10-Year Planning

• Establishment of collaborative strategies– Coordinated preparation of Homeless Awareness

Month calendar and press releases– Collaborative planning of SHI/HAND calendars– SHI/HAND/United Way volunteer development for

Street Count – Listserve communication model

Project status: pilot year progress:REAL CHANGE

In LDI• SHI becomes leadership lab for LIS

– LIS students use SHI tasks as leadership applications– Kolb model is thus applied to LIS

• Community engagement provides LDI with external leadership engagement and investment

– Lasting Advisory relationships emerge– Supporters propose funding opportunities– Executives-in-Residence staff and challenge LDI

development

Project status: pilot year progress:REAL CHANGEIn the University

• SHI is aligned in time with new president’s “Leadership and Service in the Community” inauguration theme, pushing administrative and academic engagement

• Shared Governance process is beginning, and LDI has been integrated into its Urban Justice Team

• LDI reporting has been moved from Student Affairs to Academic VP/Provost


discussion


Project status: pilot year progress:CHALLENGES

• University integration – SHI was initiated at grass-roots level, but has

institutional implications– SHI hit the ground in reality as new president was

focusing UDM on “Leadership and Service” in theory– identity with distasteful issues; impact on enrollment,

fund-raising

• Continuity– LDI director continuity and skill-set– SHI was meant as 1st of 4 annual focuses, moving up

Maslow’s heriarchy to hunger, isolation, illiteracy; Homelessness has made a home in LDI!

Mission

The University of Detroit Mercy, a Catholic university in the Jesuit and Mercy traditions, exists to provide excellent student-centered undergraduate and graduate education in an urban context. A UDM education seeks to integrate the intellectual, spiritual, ethical, and social development of students.

Vision

The University of Detroit Mercy will be recognized as a premier private university in the Great Lakes region, distinguished by graduates who lead and serve in their communities

focus, collaboration, learning, change: howard gray s.j. meets david kolb. working with...

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