Homelessness in New York City
Is Our Policy Working?

Presented by:
Mr. Brent Nycz
PS 4 Duke Ellington
bnycz@schools.nyc.gov

“People who are homeless are not social inadequates. They are people without homes.” - Sheila McKechnie

Introduction

When you walk outside, sit on the subway, or play in the park, you see people of all races, genders, sizes, and religions on the street, looking for a little change, a bite to eat, or even a sympathetic ear. Homelessness in New York City is a problem that is all around you and many can easily mask themselves from the issue. Not you, though. Your conversations and insight over the last week, tracked by your favorite teacher, Mr. Nycz, have let a shining light on this ever growing concern in the city. Luckily for you, some of the biggest names in New York City have taken notice.

You were elected by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYC Councilman Robert Jackson to help head the commission on how to improve our outreach for the homeless. New York City is unique in regards to the thousands of men, women, and children who are homeless and the number of organizations and resources available for the homeless, but are these organizations enough? Can we do more? Can we do better?

Task

As appointed as the only elementary school students to be a part of this extremely important council, your job will be to look at the causes of homelessness and research some of the organizations that help fight homelessness every day. As a group, you will also assess and state whether you think the organizations are helping enough or what we can do to improve the fight against homelessness.

In groups of 3 each, you will split the tasks among each other and present the information in a Powerpoint (3-5 slides a person). Your group will be completing the PPA worksheets, but these worksheets will be used to assist you in completing your Powerpoint. You will present the Powerpoint in an oral presentation, but it will not be graded.

Process

You all will be separated into groups of three. If we don’t have enough for groups of 3, some groups may have four students working. In that case, two students should split up the role of Student #3. Roles will be defined by Mr. Nycz, but if a student wants a particular role, he or she may discuss why with Mr. Nycz and he will make an informed decision.

Though one/two people are in charge of organizing the opinions and thoughts of the group, the group is responsible for collectively sharing the information found on the causes of homelessness as well as the organizations that combat homelessness in New York City.

Student #1: Student #1 is in charge of looking up and gathering the causes of homelessness. Have at least 3 different causes to discuss with research gathered. Student #1 will be the lead person for Step 1 through 3 of the PPA. If using a website for research, please attach the link to the bottom of your PowerPoint.

Student #2: Student #2 is in charge of looking up and gatherings the names and information of three organizations that help combat homelessness in a variety of ways (shelter, education, food, etc). Student #2 will be the lead person for Steps 2 and 4 of the PPA. If using a website for research, please attach the link to the bottom of your PowerPoint.

Student #3: Student #3 is in charge of gathering opinions and thoughts from his or her group on whether the organizations are enough to help combat homelessness. State why or why not with examples or quotes from what your group discussed. Student #3 will be the lead person for Steps 5 and 6 of the PPA. If using a website for research, please attach the link to the bottom of your PowerPoint.

Each group will create a Powerpoint presentation of a minimum of 9 slides (3 for each person). Previously introduced before this Webquest, each step of the Public Policy Analysis (PPA) must be included as well. Each group will complete the worksheets linked below by using the web sites listed in the “resource” section as well as using outside sources, approved by Mr. Nycz. Though the entire project follows the six steps of the PPA, this allows Mr. Nycz to make sure each group is on task.

Worksheet # 1: Defining the Social Problem

Worksheet # 2: Gathering Evidence for the social problem

Worksheet # 3: Identifying the Causes for the problem

Worksheet # 4: Evaluating Current Public Policy

Worksheet # 5: Developing Solutions

Worksheet # 6: Selecting the Best Solution

Student #1 should use some of the information gathered in worksheets #1 through #3 to help develop his or her Powerpoint slides.

Student #2 should use some of the information gathered in worksheets #2 and #4 to help develop his or her Powerpoint slides.

Student #3 should use some of the information gathered in worksheets #5 and #6 to help develop his or her Powerpoint slides.

Use the PPA worksheets to develop your Powerpoint slides in each facet mentioned to create a simple but clear product to educate Bloomberg, Jackson, and your fellow classmates and council members about homelessness and whether our policies are working or not.

Depending on time, your group may be asked to present their Powerpoint slides to the class or even the school via an oral presentation. The students will only be responsible for presenting the slides that he or she completed. As mentioned before, however, the oral presentation will not be graded.

Resources

Mr. Nycz will provide you with at least 5-7 different resources for each student section, but feel free to use other resources gathered via search engines, approved by Mr. Nycz.

Causes for Homelessness:

1. The Causes of Homelessness in America by Daniel Weinberger

2. National Coalition for the Homeless – Why Are People Homeless?

3. HomeAid – Top Causes for Homelessness

4. Coalition for the Homeless – Basic Facts About Homelessness: New York City

5. NYTimes.com – NYC Homeless Shelters in Record Demand (can also be used for organizations)

6. Rosanne Haggerty – Getting to the Root Causes of Homelessness

7. NYC.gov – Understanding Family Homelessness in New York City

Organizations Combating Homelessness:

1. Coalition for the Homeless

2. HOPE Survey

3. Helping the Needy: New York Homeless Shelters

4. NYC Department of Homeless Services

5. The DOE Fund

6. Food Bank for NYC

7. The Bowery Mission

Opinions of whether services work:

1. Tina Rosenberg (NY Times) – Teaming Up to End Homelessness

2. CBSLocal.com – Michael Bloomberg Strikes Again: New York City Bans Food Donation

3. Global Research – Homelessness and Despair in New York City

4. Huffington Post – Homeless Children in NYC Shelters Rises to 19,000, Near Great Depression Highs

5. Huffington Post – Homeless Endure Hurricane Sandy in New York City

6. USA Today – NYC homeless boom puts shelters in lap of wealthy

7. NPR – To Test Program to Prevent Homelessness, New York Excludes Some

Evaluation

Though the Powerpoint requires collaborative effort, you will be judged on what you created individually in your slides, except for the Group Cooperation section. Mr. Nycz will be assessing how groups work throughout the entire WebQuest.

CATEGORY	4: Excellent	3: Very Good	2: Satisfactory	1: Unacceptable
Originality in PowerPoint slides	Presentation shows considerable originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in a unique and interesting way.	Presentation shows some originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in an interesting way.	Presentation shows an attempt at originality and inventiveness on 1-2 slides.	Presentation is a rehash of other people's ideas and/or graphics and shows very little attempt at original thought.
Content - Accuracy	All content throughout the presentation is accurate. There are no factual errors. The slides show full evidence of the students using PPA.	Most of the content is accurate but there is one piece of information that might be inaccurate. The slides show some evidence of the students using PPA with inaccuracies.	The content is generally accurate, but one piece of information is clearly flawed or inaccurate. The slides present some evidence of using some steps of PPA, but not all.	Content is typically confusing or contains more than one factual error. The slides present limited use of PPA.
Sequencing of Information	Information is organized in a clear, logical way. It is easy to anticipate the type of material that might be on the next slide.	Most information is organized in a clear, logical way. One slide or item of information seems out of place.	Some information is logically sequenced. An occasional slide or item of information seems out of place.	There is no clear plan for the organization of information.
Effectiveness	Project includes all material needed to gain a comfortable understanding of the topic. It is a highly effective project.	Project includes most material needed to gain a comfortable understanding of the material but is lacking one or two key elements. It is an adequate project.	Project is missing more than two key elements. It would make an incomplete project.	Project is lacking several key elements and has inaccuracies that make it a poor project.
Group Cooperation	Group establishes and maintains an equal sharing of the work among all students. Differences are dealt with maturely and students practice listening skills, leadership skills, and compromise skills.	Group makes attempts to maintain an equal sharing of the work among all students. Almost all differences are dealt with maturely and students practice listening skills, leadership skills, and compromise skills.	Groups make unsuccessful attempts to maintain an equal sharing of the work among all students. Only some differences are dealt with maturely as students attempt to practice listening skills, leadership skills, and compromise skills.	Group is unable to equally share the work. Differences are not dealt with maturely.

Grade of 16-20: Excellent
Grade of 11-15: Very Good
Grade of 5-8: Satisfactory
Grade of 0-4: Unacceptable

Conclusion

With all the PowerPoints created and presentations made, Mr. Nycz believes he can speak for Bloomberg, Jackson, and the rest of the council that you all did an incredible job on presenting the causes of homelessness, explaining what the numerous organizations in New York City that fight homelessness do, and if we are all doing enough to help the thousands of people without homes. Speaking for us all, Mr. Nycz is very impressed.

However, beyond what happened in this WebQuest, there is still much to be done. Much like many of the significant problems you will face in life, the power of fighting homelessness is in your hands. What will you do to support the fight?

Standards

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading

1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

Reading Standards for Grade 4 (Common Core)

Responding to Literature
11. Recognize, interpret and make connections in narratives, poetry, and drama, to other texts, ideas,
cultural perspectives, personal events and situations.
a. Self-select text based upon personal preferences.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
10. By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4–5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.