Name: Lucia

Social Justice Group: 2018-2019, Homelessness & Education

Date of Fieldwork: November 30, 2018

Name of Organization: The Arthur Project

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Liz Murray Co-founder of The Arthur Project

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

We interviewed Liz Murray who was homeless as a teenager and asked her about her story. We asked her about her experience and what we could do to help.

What I learned:

We learned that everyone has a different story when it comes to homelessness. Different people have different experiences. People live in different places, with different amounts of people, and spend their money on different things. I also learned that a big problem that people have with money is that pay is low and prices are high. They get jobs that often have extremely low salaries, but their rent is high so they don’t earn enough to pay it.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

I learned that something that’s extremely important is listening. When Liz was a kid something that helped her and empowered her was an adult figure guiding her, being there, and listening. This can apply to many different issues. Often, kids feel like they don’t have a voice and they’re not taken seriously. Someone listening can make someone feel like they matter. This can help them use their voice for good.