Analytical Report Proposal

Date:

July 18, 2014

To:

Professor O

From:

Juliet Nakasi

Subject:

A better home shelter system

Introduction
The home shelter I chose is in my neighborhood. The shelter wants to help more people,
but is not able to because the people they have in the shelter are not moving out. They do not just
want people to leave because they want to bring in other people - they want them to leave after
finding something that will help them outside of the shelter. They have been unsuccessful with
getting people out and bringing in new people. They have case managers to help the people, but
the numbers of the people leaving the shelter are very low hence the huge waitlist of those that
want to come in. This is where I propose my idea of getting something like a class on site at the
shelter.
Overview of the problem
I did some research on the shelter and felt the need to make this report for them.
According to Emily Johnson (she works at the shelter and I will interview her throughout the
entire process), the shelter takes in different types of people. They take in people that were
addicts, veterans that have no place to stay, people that lose their homes due to unemployment or
other reasons, and low-income families that cannot afford houses. The main problem the shelter
faces is the large number of people they have that want to live in the shelter. The waitlist is big,
but the shelter has limited space. Emily said they have over one hundred and fifty people on the
waitlist. This was alarming to me. I decided to do some research to figure out if there is

something that can be done to ensure that more people get in to the shelter. For this particular
shelter, they have a few requirements for everyone that comes in. Emily said every person has to
have some type of income or assistance they receive to help them with their personal needs. The
other requirement Emily mentioned is that the people that live there are required to go out and
look for jobs every day. They have case managers that help them when they need help with
filling out applications or any complicated documents. These are the two main things that each
person needs to have or do to stay at the shelter.
After getting all this information, I asked her if there are people that live the shelter when
they find jobs. She said, Yes, almost every day we have people leaving when they find jobs.
However, she also said the number of people leaving is less. For example, one person might
leave, but they end up getting requests from about five people that want to come in. When I
heard this, I thought about a better way that can help the shelter ensure that there is a substantial
number of people that leave to pave way for other people to come in. What they need are people
that work with the homeless people at the shelter and educate them about different things. What I
mean by this is since the shelter takes in different people with different needs, it would help them
if they got like some sort of class that would help the people that live there. I know the shelter
has case managers that help with things like filling out applications or taking the homeless to
interviews. However, they need people that go beyond helping them with just those things.
People that will give them more information about the different fields of jobs and resources.
People that will let them know that if they take up a given job, this and that will be the outcome.
Some jobs are usually temporary and some just do not stay for a long time. Nevertheless, if the
people living in the shelter say they have found something, they move out only to come back a
few months later because the jobs ended. For those with disabilities could maybe be

misunderstood and fired days or months later. Alternatively, addicts that were not properly
prepared with the necessary resources will end up going back to the same habits. I think this will
help the shelter because Emily said the way they have it right now is; people are just required to
go and find jobs. When they come back in the evening, they just have to report that they were
indeed looking for jobs. No one checks to see if they are lying or not. However, if they have a
class or people that deal with this at the shelter, there is no way of saying they did it when they
did not. This system will also have other benefits that I will point out.
Steps
For this project, I will follow the following steps: 1. Pick a question that I think I will
emphasize my point. 2. Create some questions for both the survey and interviews. 3. Study more
about the homeless situation. I will do this by looking at other shelters to see what type of
implementations they used that have worked for them. I will mostly be interested in figuring out
if there is a shelter that used my idea in some way. If they did, what was the result that came out
of it. What can be improved to make it better if it did not work. After gathering all this
information, I will make my report and incorporate all my sources. For my methodology, I think
I will use mostly interviews and surveys. The survey will help me gather information about what
people think should be done to help more people.
Benefits
The benefit of the project is that, it would help increase the number of people the shelter
can help. With this system, the shelter will be helping the people that are currently living there to
ensure that what they get is the best for them. In other words, the jobs they get fit their needs and
that they will be able to keep them for a good time. The system will increase the number of
people that come in and out of the shelter. With these classes, the homeless people will be

equipped with specific tools geared towards each individual. It would also help to ensure that the
people that say they are out looking for jobs are actually looking for them. There will be
someone that works with them on this to ensure that they do it. This will eventually help increase
the number of people that leave, and decrease the number of people on the waitlist. This
particular way also helps to give an insight to the people that donate to the shelter. If they see
that their money is actually doing something positive, they will be encouraged to help.
Gantt Chart
This is my Gantt chart. I listed dates I plan to start each task. By the time I start the next
task, I expect to have finished the previous one. I will follow the guideline below to get my
project done. I am going to try my best to stick to this chart. That will help me finish all the tasks
I created. I finished the planning and design like the chart indicates. Saturday, 19th I will be
starting my research, then I will take the surveys. Then the interview with Emily Johnson for
more information. I already sat down with her for some information, but she said she would give
me more information. After I am done collecting all the information from the research, survey
and interview, I will start the writing process. The writing process includes submitting a draft for
peer review and making the corrections. Last step will be for me to submit the report.

Gantt Chart
Start Date

Completed

Submit Final copy

8/8/2014

Proof read

8/7/2014

Submit Draft

8/1/2014

Writing

7/30/2014

interview

7/25/2014

Surveys

7/24/2014

Design

7/11/2014

Planning

7/10/2014

0
0
0
0
0

7/19/2014

23

8/5/2014

Make corrections

Research

Remaining

22
19

15
13

9
8

03
10
10

Conclusion
I restructured my project to fit the analytical report assignment. I have the problem I
want to address. I still need to figure out how to phrase the question for my research. I need to
create questions for my interview and survey. I have a few questions in mind that I listed below.
These will be for my survey. I have my design ready to go. The things I still need to work on are
the research, get the surveys and interview, compile/write, and submit. I have all my seven
sources. I am ready to start developing the analytical report.
Sample Survey/Interview questions
1. Do you think the system I am proposing will work?
2. Is the time I gave the project enough or less?
3. What would be the ideal time?
4. Do you prefer the system to stay the way it is right now?

5. Do you have any other information you would like to share about the whole process?
Appendix
1. Link, Bruce, Schwartz, Sharon, Moore, Robert, Phelan, Jo, Struening, Elmer, Stueve,
Ann, and Colten, Mary. Public knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about homeless
people: Evidence for compassion fatigue? American Journal of Community
Psychology Vol.23 - 4 (1995):.533-555. Print.
This source examines whether it is true or not that the public is getting tired of
supporting things that help homeless people. The article says this is something that
the media is putting out there. Therefore, the researchers used different methods to
determine whether this is true or not. I will use this article to point out what the
people say about the benefits. People in one way or another, mostly fund the benefits
that the homeless people get. Therefore, I will use this particular article for examples
of what people think is necessary or what is not. This article is both background, and
a method source.
2. Hodgetts, Darrin, Stolte, Ottilie, Radley, Alan, Leggatt-Cook, Chez, Groot, Shiloh,
Chamberlain, Kerry. Near and far: social distancing in domiciled
characterization of homeless people. Urban Studies Vol. 48 8 (2011):
1739(15). Print.
This article talks about characteristics of domiciled homeless people. Knowing
some characteristics of domiciled homeless people is a very important aspect of
my proposal. I need to figure out the types of situations that these type of people
face. I will suggest some things that can be taught in classes/workshop[s that have

these people based off that knowledge. Therefore, I need to first learn the
characteristics of these homeless people. This is mainly a background source.
3. Chen, Fang-pei. Developing Community Support for Homeless people with Mental
Illness in Transitional Services: Discharge. Community Mental Health Journal
50 5 (2014): 520-530. Print.
This article provides information on how homeless people with mental illnesses
can be helped. I will use this article to suggest different things that can help
homeless people with mental illnesses. The idea of the class, I am suggesting is to
ensure that everyone gets help based off their personal and physical ability. Some
jobs and or resources can help people that became homeless due to some type of
mental illness. Therefore, I will use this article to figure out the types of things
that they suggest for developing a supportive community. This source is mainly
background for homeless people with mental illness.
4. United States, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy
Development and Research. Strategies for improving homeless peoples access
to mainstream benefits and services. (2010)
http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/StrategiesAccessBenefitsServices.pdf
5. Johnson, Emily. Personal Interview 14 July 2014
6. Homeless in America documentary. Oct 24 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwJQuwEi_8g
7. http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/7/the-growingcriminalizationofhomelessness.html