Our Projects
The Village Connect's youth interns conduct research and lead projects in addressing some of the concerns we see in the Houston homeless.
The GED Gap: Surveying Barriers to GED Attainment Among Houston’s Homeless Population
Project Lead: Ethan Schott
This project examines the barriers that prevent individuals experiencing homelessness in Houston from obtaining a GED. In partnership with other local nonprofit organizations, I conducted surveys of homeless individuals who have not earned a GED in order to identify the structural, financial, and personal obstacles to educational attainment in their lives.
The goal of this project is to seek out the lived experiences of those most affected in order to uncover the barriers they face. By collecting and analyzing first-hand data, this project highlights how factors such as transportation, lack of information, needing to prioritize work, and more all limit access to educational opportunities. Ultimately, the project is designed to learn more about the difficulties homeless individuals face in acquiring GEDs so that community organizations and policymakers can leverage the information to create practical and impactful ways to expand access to adult education.
Bedside without Borders Social Support Program
Project Lead: [Name Redacted]
The goal of this initiative is to identify homeless individuals who are going through emotionally strenuous medical care without friends or family at their bedsides and pair them with trained university student volunteers who will have regular conversations with them and provide socioemotional support.
Homelessness & Emergency Department Recidivism Research
Project Lead: Sruthi Panja
Chronically populations often experience mental health and substance abuse issues and lack the resources to access long-term mental health care. As such, this results in high recidivism rates to EDs, many of which lack proper evaluation of post-ED services for these populations. As such, it is necessary to discuss the causes behind ED recidivism for chronically homeless populations and whether intervention methods offered for homeless populations experiencing mental health and substance abuse issues are effective in reducing repeat ED visits.
Naloxone Outreach Initiative
Project Lead: Giana Helin
The goal of this project is to inform and equip at-risk populations in Houston with the tools necessary to combat opioid overdose. By educating on opioid overdose and distributing naloxone (brand name: Narcan) to clients at no cost, we are giving people the ability to save lives. Clients are informed via a 30-minute educational presentation and take home a “Naloxone First Aid Kit” with naloxone in addition to informational and hygiene tools.
