Unfinished history report on homelessness

Here is my unfinished History report paper. I still have some tweaking to do.

The Homeless Community: How We Can Help

What is your favorite thing about Santa Barbara? Is it the sunny weather? The sandy beaches? There's a multitude of reasons to come to Santa Barbara County, but the one thing that many people’s eyes skip over is the homeless man sleeping on the park bench, or the homeless woman with a cardboard sign on the freeway exit. According to a study done in 2014, California has the sixth biggest homeless population in the US (This interactive map Movoto Blog). Most people don’t stop to acknowledge the homeless because they can’t get housing, and that needs to change.

The first step to getting the people of the streets is permanent housing. If everyone could help house the people on the streets, they could get a job. We should do this because they are people just like us, they are on the streets for different reasons, and they need our help getting back on their feet. The data and statistics of the homeless community have to change. Studies in 2016 that said that 11% of the homeless community are veterans who didn’t learn the skills needed to make a living after they finished their service (Survey finds number of homeless Noozhawk). These veterans are also typically homeless longer than the average person.

The homeless need our help because life on the streets is dangerous, and homeless children can’t get as good of an education and might end up staying homeless. The biggest cause of homelessness in Santa Barbara is the high real estate prices, and lack of housing. These problems affect us all. Another study showed that about 53 percent of homeless people lived in Santa Barbara before losing their homes, and 23 percent were from a different part of the state (Noozhawk). The homeless are our neighbors, and they need our help.

There have been many attempts to end homelessness, and while they work, there needs to be a more permanent solution. Homeless shelters are one solution that is being used now, and while work, emergency shelters are meant to be a holding action, and don’t provide a long-term option. The government spends a lot of money one homeless shelters and services, $20,000 per person, every year. Another way people are helping is by donations. Food donations are always good because that is one thing that people on the streets need, but when people give money they can’t guarantee how it will be spent. Clothing and camping supplies are also good, but to get homeless off the streets, they need homes.

Permanent supportive housing is the answer. It has been proven to work in other cities, so we should try it more in Santa Barbara. Permanent housing is housing that is rented by the government and then leased to the homeless for lower than market-rate housing. Services like care for the mentally ill and skill teaching are also included. Permanent housing helps homeless eventually get independent housing too. As proven in the Utah study, permanent housing is more cost effective in some cities than emergency homeless shelters (Utah found a Brilliant Solution Business Insider). Another study gave different housing assistance to 2,300 homeless families in cities like Denver, Colorado, and Honolulu. It showed that vouchers for permanent houses were less expensive than shelters. Honolulu is a city similar to Santa Barbara, so if permanent housing works in Honolulu, it could work in Santa Barbara. If Santa Barbara started to use more permanent housing, there would be less homeless on the streets, and more homeless would be able to get independent housing and get a job.

To wrap it all up, those on the streets are our neighbors that are there mostly because of the high real estate. There have been many studies that prove that permanent housing is more cost effective than emergency shelters. I believe that permanent housing is the answer to ending homelessness. By raising awareness about this solution, we can solve homelessness.

Letter to Rosa Parks

                                                                                                                                           Blog Prompt: Write an appreciation letter to Rosa Parks (if she was still alive) as yourself, with a picture.

Dear Rosa Parks,

          I would like to thank you for what you did. You have helped change the way we live, by showing everyone that black people shouldn't be treated differently just because of their skin color. I can't imagine what it must have been like for you, how badly African Americans were treated. To not be able to drink from the same water fountain sound so absurd now, and, thanks to you, wouldn't even be considered. I know that it wasn't all you, that there were thousands of other voices that made civil right more equal, but I appreciate you for being a symbol.

       Form
             Georgia Avery

A book that has transformed me

Blog Prompt: What is the most transformational book you have ever read and why?  Must be at least 6 sentences



    One book that has really transformed me was Black Beauty. I first read it when I was younger, and while I have read many other books, this was the one that made me realize that I liked reading fiction. Because I read it as a young age, I used the things I learned about in the book throughout my life. I had already known that I wanted to be a vet, but the book made me want to help animals even more. Because of Black Beauty, I tried to be more kind, I wanted to more understanding. Black Beauty was not the only book that has changed me. Maybe it had the most notable change, but all the books I have read have transformed me in some way.

4 paragraphs about The New Deal

Georgia Avery



Blog prompt: Identify and explain four ways that the New Deal still impacts us today. Focus on big ideas and/or individual programs that are still around today. For guidance, try looking at these six categories: banking/finance, workers rights, social, infrastructure, agriculture, and environmental. 

This is a four paragraph response. In each paragraph, explain the following about the lasting impact you are discussing: What was the importance then? Why is it important still today? How has it changed over time?





      There are many ways the New Deal affects us now. One is through the Agriculture Adjustment Administration (AAA). It is still used today. It was used to pay farmers to plant less crops and raise less livestock. The government also bought excess food to store for when there wasn't any food. It made food prices go up so that farmers could keep their farms. This is still used by the government today.
      A very important one is the Social Security Act. It helped old and poor people, handicapped, and children. It also made national pension happen. This is still very much in effect. It has changed a little, because now it helps put orphaned children in foster homes. Though it has changed over time it hasn't lost it's importance.
     The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped conservation efforts as much as it created jobs. People replanted forests and became firefighters. It is no longer in effect today, but that does not mean that it does not impact us today. Forests exist now because of their efforts. It also provided work and pay for men from ages 18-25.
     Soil Conservation Society (SCS) was created as a response to the "black blizzards" and dust storms that destroyed the farmland in the Dust Bowl. They planted trees in belts across the sandy eroded soil. These trees helped hold down the soil and stopped the winds from destroying everything. A version of the soil conservation service still exists, to protect the precious topsoil.

      

My essay

“Let us not forget, after all, that there is always a moment when the moral choice is made. Often because of one story or one book or one person, we are able to make a different choice, a choice for humanity, for life.” -Elie Wiesel (1928-2016). When I first read this quote I thought ‘No one is really influenced by people or books, everyone is their own person’. Then I realized that without my friends and family or all the books I have read, I would be very different. I have been changed by them. We are all unique, but we are influenced by almost everything we encounter. I can’t say that one thing has shaped my decision process. There is one book series that has had the most impact, the Harry Potter series.

Those seven books have influenced me in my decision making because they taught me empathy and how to put myself in other people’s shoes. I learned the that actions have consequences. There have been multiple studies which show that people who have read the Harry Potter books can be more tolerant and empathetic. The studies included groups of middle school, high school, and college students and they were asked questions about their opinions of refugees and immigrants. Those that had read Harry Potter were mostly more accepting of refugees and immigrants. Obviously these tests don’t prove that everyone who read Harry Potter automatically likes immigrants more than people who haven’t read the books. People who haven’t read the books can feel the same way. These tests just showed that the people who read them saw examples of discrimination between “pure-bloods” and “muggle-borns”, and they saw how it didn’t matter.

There is something about the main character, Harry, that readers identify with. He teaches us about ourselves and we can find situations in the book that happen to us in real life, if not in the exact same setting. Our decision making processes is shaped by our experiences, the experiences of people around us, and the experiences of people in books.

I now realize that books can influence you and change how you make your choices. I think that I would be a different person if I hadn’t read Harry Potter. The studies show that most people who have read Harry Potter make better ethical decisions. Harry Potter can not take all of the credit, my parents, my family, my friends, my teachers, and everyone I have met all are responsible for me being who I am. I am challenging everyone, to think about who has influenced them, no matter how small, and then think about who they have influenced. I hope it will make everyone a little more appreciative.

Describing the Museum of Tolerance experience

Our field-trip to the Museum of Tolerance

            Last Friday we traveled to the Museum of Tolerance and learned about the Holocaust. It was a changing experience. After the long bus ride we entered the museum and me tour guide Walter. You could tell that he was very passionate about whet he was talking about. It hurt him to expose us to what happened back then, but he wanted us to know what happened so it would never happen again. We wandered through the exhibits and watched the videos of survivors and descriptions of the horrible events that led up to the Holocaust. We went into a replica of a gas chamber and you could imagine gas coming out of the spigots and smell the toxic fumes. After we went through all of the exhibits we got the opportunity to hear a survivor talk about his escape form his country.

           The survivor's name was Rolf, and he described the fear and uncertainty that plagued his town and country. His words were powerful and reached a lot of the audience. Though he did not experience the prison camps of gas chambers, he told us his story of how he barely escaped and was one of the few lucky Jews to get sponsored by an american citizen.

           A quote by Elie Wiesel is "When you listen to a witness, you become a witness". This is true because now I know about the Holocaust, and I know how to prevent it from ever happening again. i have had the chance to speak to a Holocaust survivor! Not many people have that opportunity now a days. We all saw how the hate was started, and how easily another Holocaust could happen. That is why it is so important to know how to prevent this from happening.

A gas chamber

Blog prompt: General Lee's horse journal entry to General Lee about what we have seen

My blog prompt: General Lee's horse writing a journal entry about "what we have seen" to General Lee


Day 20 of traveling

It is me again. Your horse. I am keeping a journal about our journey. Today we traveled through the mud, and we didn't stop all day! There was some new grass growing on the side of the road, you didn't even let me have a nibble! The rows of people and horses made lots of noise. My legs hurt, but I prefer a long trek to a charge into battle like last night! There were explosions everywhere that lit up the night. When are we going to go back to the Pasture? I want to go home.
      Horse out.




 
                     Me in all my glory