Interview with Ben Chapman about Homelessness and Education

Name: Ally Ervin

Social Justice Group: Homelessness & Education

Date of Fieldwork: November 15, 2018

Name of Organization: New York Post

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Ben Chapman

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

We traveled downtown at the New York Post headquarters to interview Ben Chapman. He has written over 2,000 articles on homelessness and education. We discussed how homelessness affects kids in school. And the different quality of education homeless kids get.

What I learned:

I learned that 10% of kids in public school are affected by poverty. Homeless kids are also more likely to skip school which could cause them to sink farther into their homelessness. In a way it is hard to escape poverty once you are in it. 40% of the government’s budget is spent of public schools. That’s a lot of money. And that is also 1,800 schools being funded. The kids are struggling with poverty and sometimes it is a struggle to complete schoolwork too.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:  I realize the government should make more of an effort in order to fund these kids like supporting materials for the kids or ways in improve their housing situation. These schools and kids need access to tech, or health care.

Ally

Ally is an eight grader at LREI. Since she lives in New York City, she had walked past many homeless children. She believes that those children should be allowed to have an education that is just as well as any private school child. Ally enjoys working and interviewing people about this topic. 

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