Name: Alexander Donadic

Social Justice Group: Homelessness in NYC (A)

Date of Fieldwork: January 17, 2025

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Advocates for Children of New York, Marcia Flores

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork:

In this fieldwork me and my group members interviewed Marcia Flores, who is a part of the organization, Advocates for Children of New York. Me and my partners have roles in our interviews. I was the note taker so I was taking notes on her answers to our questions. My two partners, Stevie and Hudson were asking the questions and engaging in the conversation with Marcia Flores. I wrote very fast trying to catch words and examples she said, in total I wrote two pages of notes. The interview lasted about 45 minutes and the conversation was very friendly and informative.

Something that really caught my attention by what Marcia was saying is the way the shelter system works, the way the shelter system doesnt care about where people are living or going to school. Marcia gave a great example saying that, if a kid goes to school in Queens but can get put in a shelter in the Bronx or somewhere far from school or old housing. Marcia then shared a story about a 12 year old girl who was homeless with her mother, and was autistic and needed a special education. It was very interesting to hear about how hard it was to find them a shelter and the right education for their daughter. Overall I think this interview went very well and I learned so much new things about homelessness and how it affects education.