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eBooks (available 24/7, partial list)
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Down and Out in Los Angeles and Berlin by Los Angeles, California, and Berlin, Germany, have been dubbed "homeless capitals" for having the largest homeless populations of their respective countries. In Down and Out in Los Angeles and Berlin, Jürgen von Mahs provides an illuminating comparative analysis of the impact of social welfare policy on homelessness in these cities. He addresses the opportunity of people to overcome--or "exit"--homelessness and shows how Berlin, with its considerable social and economic investment for assisting its homeless has been as unsuccessful as Los Angeles. Drawing on fascinating ethnographic insights, von Mahs shows how homeless people in both cities face sociospatial exclusion-legal displacement for criminal activities, poor shelters in impoverished neighborhoods, as well as market barriers that restrict reintegration. Providing a necessary wake-up call, Down and Out in Los Angeles and Berlin addresses the critical public policy issues that can produce effective services to improve homeless people's chances for a lasting exit.Call Number: HV4506 .L67 V66 2013 eb -
Ghettos, tramps, and welfare queens : down & out on the silver screen by Ghettos, Tramps, an Welfare Queens offers a never-before-seen perspective on Hollywood as it shows how American movies have portrayed poor and homeless people from the silent era to today. It simultaneously provides a novel kind of guide to social policy, exploring how ideas about poor and homeless people have been reflected in popular culture and evaluating those images against the historical and contemporary reality.Call Number: PN1995.9 .P63 2017 eb -
Modern Homelessness by This in-depth examination reviews fundamental changes of the past decade that have reduced homelessness in the United States and other Western democracies. * A chronology of relevant key events of the last decade in the United States, England, Canada, and Australia * A glossary * A bibliography of print and nonprint resources, including electronic resources -
New Faces of American Poverty by A timely examination of the effects of the Great Recession on Americans and the resulting federal reforms to healthcare, employment, and housing policies as a means to alleviate poverty. * Offers a detailed analysis of the impact of the Great Recession on poverty rates across 21 distinct demographic groups, including immigrants, children, seniors, veterans, and various racial and ethnic groups * Provides a basis for understanding the causes of the economic crises and the impact on the daily lives of individuals, families, and groups * Includes more than 20 contributing writers from universities and anti-poverty programs from across the country * Presents charts and graphics to illustrate key aspects of the Great Recession * Examines multiple groups in society in terms of how they have been affected by the Great Recession, rather than being limited to one or two segments of the population * Looks across multiple regions in terms of groups, segments of the economy, and political trends * Provides secondary looks past the first group boundaries to delve deeper into the circumstances of those whose circumstances have drastically changed by the Great RecessionCall Number: HC110 .P6 N393 2014 eb -
Someplace Like America by In Someplace Like America, writer Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael S. Williamson take us to the working-class heart of America, bringing to life--through shoe leather reporting, memoir, vivid stories, stunning photographs, and thoughtful analysis--the deepening crises of poverty and homelessness. The story begins in 1980, when the authors joined forces to cover the America being ignored by the mainstream media--people living on the margins and losing their jobs as a result of deindustrialization. Since then, Maharidge and Williamson have traveled more than half a million miles to investigate the state of the working class (winning a Pulitzer Prize in the process). In Someplace Like America, they follow the lives of several families over the thirty-year span to present an intimate and devastating portrait of workers going jobless. This brilliant and essential study--begun in the trickle-down Reagan years and culminating with the recent banking catastrophe--puts a human face on today's grim economic numbers. It also illuminates the courage and resolve with which the next generation faces the future.Call Number: HD8072.5 2013 eb -
Street Kids by This timely book explores the complex and persistent problem of street kids in America, children who have run away or been forced to leave home--for reasons that include childhood sexual abuse and neglect, drug abuse, mental health and behavioral problems, sexual promiscuity, and issues related to gender identity. These children often become the victims of sexual exploitation by pimps, prostitution customers, pornographers, and pedophiles. Violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and substance abuse frequently result. The author discusses laws and programs designed to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of these vulnerable youth.Call Number: HV875.55 .F53 2010 eb -
Supporting Families Experiencing Homelessness by Homelessness among families with children in the U.S. is rising rapidly due to the economic downturn. Supporting Homeless Families: Current Practices and Future Directions aims to raise the standard of services provided to families without homes through practices that are strengths-based and culturally competent. This book provides a contextual overview of family homelessness. An ecological and developmental framework for understanding the implications of homelessness from infancy through adulthood are presented with reference to existing research. The book also addresses innovative designs for providing collaboration between and among diverse services that interface with families experiencing homelessness. In doing so, the importance of providing families with culturally competent services that support them during episodes of homelessness as well as the period of re-housing are addressed. Examples of empirically proven interventions and best practices are showcased, and roadblocks to success and sustainability are discussed.Call Number: HV4493 .S87 2014 eb
Books on the Library's Shelves (partial list)
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Evicted by New York Times Bestseller From Harvard sociologist and MacArthur "Genius" Matthew Desmond, a landmark work of scholarship and reportage that will forever change the way we look at poverty in America In this brilliant, heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut. All are spending almost everything they have on rent, and all have fallen behind. The fates of these families are in the hands of two landlords: Sherrena Tarver, a former schoolteacher turned inner-city entrepreneur, and Tobin Charney, who runs one of the worst trailer parks in Milwaukee. They loathe some of their tenants and are fond of others, but as Sherrena puts it, "Love don't pay the bills." She moves to evict Arleen and her boys a few days before Christmas. Even in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare. But today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers. In vivid, intimate prose, Desmond provides a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today. As we see families forced into shelters, squalid apartments, or more dangerous neighborhoods, we bear witness to the human cost of America's vast inequality--and to people's determination and intelligence in the face of hardship. Based on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data, this masterful book transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving a devastating, uniquely American problem. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.Call Number: HD7287.96 .U6 D47 2016ISBN: 9780553447439Publication Date: 2016-03-01 -
Homelessness by This essential resources discusses issues related to homelessness. Through a balanced collection of articles from a variety of sources, this book explores the seriousness of America's homeless problem, and factors that contribute to homelessness, such as the recession, mental illness, substance abuse, and domestic violence. Readers will evaluate housing policies, like vouchers and Housing First programs, that may benefit the homeless, and the government's role in addressing homelessness.Call Number: HV4505 .H65528 2012 -
Homelessness and Street Crime by Hundreds of thousands of Americans are without a home, sleeping on streets or in temporary shelters. Nearly one-fifth of homeless Americans suffer from an untreated mental illness. Due in part to reductions in state and city budgets, many who need assistance are left to live on the street. One natural byproduct of a life on the street is criminal behavior, as adaptation to illegal acts becomes a matter of survival. Could ending homelessness reduce crime? What are ways in which that could be achieved, and whose responsibility is it? Are the homeless being unfairly blamed for street crime? This volume offers a close examination of the issue from a variety of viewpoints.Call Number: HV4493 .H6585 2018 -
The Homeless by Homelessness is a tough topic to think about, but it's essential we do not turn a blind eye to a plight that can impact anyone at any stage in life. Give your readers the right kind of material that empowers them with a desire to learn about the homeless. Editor Louise I. Gerdes has compiled several primary source essays that examine two contrary sides to each issue considered. Across four chapters, readers will evaluate whether homelessness is a serious problem, that factors cause it, what housing policies will benefit the homeless, and what policies will best reduce homelessness.Call Number: HV4505 .H654 2007 -
The Librarian's Guide to Homelessness by "Homelessness is a perennial topic of concern at libraries. In fact, staff at public libraries interact with almost as many homeless individuals as staff at shelters do. In this book Dowd, executive director of a homeless shelter, spotlights best practices drawn from his own shelter's policies and training materials" --Call Number: Z711.92 .P66 D69 2018 -
Nomadland by From the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon's CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves "workampers."On frequently traveled routes between seasonal jobs, Jessica Bruder meets people from all walks of life: a former professor, a McDonald's vice president, a minister, a college administrator, and a motorcycle cop, among many others--including her irrepressible protagonist, a onetime cocktail waitress, Home Depot clerk, and general contractor named Linda May.In a secondhand vehicle she christens "Van Halen," Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects more intimately. Accompanying Linda May and others from campground toilet cleaning to warehouse product scanning to desert reunions, then moving on to the dangerous work of beet harvesting, Bruder tells a compelling, eye-opening tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy--one that foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, she celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these quintessential Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive. Like Linda May, who dreams of finding land on which to build her own sustainable "Earthship" home, they have not given up hope.Call Number: HD6280 .B77 2017 -
Poverty and Homelessness by The National Alliance to End Homelessness states that there are 564,708 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the U.S. The primary source writings in this anthology have been selected to provide your readers with a broad range of viewpoints on poverty and homelessness, including what role minimum wage plays. The essays in each chapter of this book represent contrasting viewpoints on government social assistance programs and income inequality. Students are encouraged to see the validity of divergent opinions, crucial to the development of critical thinking skills. An important question about the topic is presented in each chapter, and the viewpoints that follow are organized based on their response to the question. Fact boxes summarize important information for researchers, and an extensive bibliography is included.Call Number: HV4505 .P6792 2014 -
Street Teens by Editor Dedria Bryfonski has assembled several compelling essays in a for-or-against sequence that explore issues relating to street teens. Across four chapters, readers will analyze why teens run away, the consequences of becoming a street teen, how they can be helped, and whether street teens are a global problem. Are street teens in control of their lives? Do street teens indulge in risky sexual behavior? Are U.S. shelters inadequate in meeting the needs of street teens? Your readers will find out the answers. Sources include Noam Schimmel, Kira Cochrane, Macalane J. Malindi, and Linda C. Theron.Call Number: HV1421 .S774 2012 -
Student Engagement in Higher Education by Student Engagement in Higher Educationfills a longstanding void in the higher education and student affairs literature. In the fully revised and updated edition of this important volume, the editors and chapter contributors explore how diverse populations of students experience college differently and encounter group-specific barriers to success. Informed by relevant theories, each chapter focuses on engaging a different student population, including: low-income students, students of color, international students, students with disabilities, LGBT students, religious minority students, student-athletes, homeless students, transfer students, commuter and part-time students, adult learners, student veterans, and graduate students. The forward-thinking, practical strategies offered throughout the book are based on research and the collected professional wisdom of experienced educators and scholars at two-year and four-year institutions of higher education. Current and future faculty, administrators, and student affairs staff will undoubtedly find this book complete with fresh ideas to reverse troubling engagement trends among various college student populations.Call Number: LB2342.92 .S78 2015 -
Undocumented by An undocumented immigrant's journey from a New York City homeless shelter to the top of his Princeton class Dan-el Padilla Peralta has lived the American dream. As a boy, he came here legally with his family. Together they left Santo Domingo behind, but life in New York City was harder than they imagined. Their visas lapsed, and Dan-el's father returned home. But Dan-el's courageous mother was determined to make a better life for her bright sons. Without papers, she faced tremendous obstacles. While Dan-el was only in grade school, the family joined the ranks of the city's homeless. Dan-el, his mother, and brother lived in a downtown shelter where Dan-el's only refuge was the meager library. There he met Jeff, a young volunteer from a wealthy family. Jeff was immediately struck by Dan-el's passion for books and learning. With Jeff's help, Dan-el was accepted on scholarship to Collegiate, the oldest private school in the country. There, Dan-el thrived. Throughout his youth, Dan-el navigated these two worlds: the rough streets of East Harlem, where he lived with his brother and his mother and tried to make friends, and the ultra-elite halls of a Manhattan private school, where he could immerse himself in a world of books and where he soon rose to the top of his class. From Collegiate, Dan-el went to Princeton, where he thrived, and where he made the momentous decision to come out as an undocumented student in a Wall Street Journal profile a few months before he gave the salutatorian's traditional address in Latin at his commencement. Undocumented is a classic story of the triumph of the human spirit. It also is the perfect cri de coeur for the debate on comprehensive immigration reform. Praise for Undocumented "Dan-el Padilla Peralta's story is as compulsively readable as a novel, an all-American tall tale that just happens to be true. From homeless shelter to Princeton, Oxford, and Stanford, through the grace not only of his own hard work but his mother's discipline and care, he documents the America we should still aspire to be." --Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter, President of the New America FoundationCall Number: JV6456 .P33 2015 -
The Value of Homelessness by It is all too easy to assume that social service programs respond to homelessness, seeking to prevent and understand it. The Value of Homelessness, however, argues that homelessness today is an effect of social services and sciences, which shape not only what counts as such but what will?or ultimately won't?be done about it. Through a history of U.S. housing insecurity from the 1930s to the present, Craig Willse traces the emergence and consolidation of a homeless services industry. How to most efficiently allocate resources to control ongoing insecurity has become the goal, he shows, rather than how to eradicate the social, economic, and political bases of housing needs. Drawing on his own years of work in homeless advocacy and activist settings, as well as interviews conducted with program managers, counselors, and staff at homeless services organizations in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, Willse provides the first analysis of how housing insecurity becomes organized as a governable social problem. An unprecedented and powerful historical account of the development of contemporary ideas about homelessness and how to manage homelessness, The Value of Homelessness offers new ways for students and scholars of social work, urban inequality, racial capitalism, and political theory to comprehend the central role of homelessness in governance and economy today.Call Number: HV4505 .W54 2015 -
When a Heart Turns Rock Solid by A provocative and compelling study of how jobs, schools, and prison shaped the lives and choices of a generation of Puerto Rican youth at the turn of the twenty-first century. At the center of this riveting book—based on an unprecedented eighteen-year study—are three engaging, streetwise brothers from Springfield, Massachusetts: Fausto, incarcerated for seven years and in and out of drug treatment, an insightful and sensitive street warrior playing on the edges of self-destruction; Julio, the family patriarch, a former gang member turned truck driver, fiercely loyal to his brothers, family, and friends; and Sammy, a street maven, father of four, straddling two realms—the everyday world of low-wage work and the allure of the drug economy—as he shuttles between recovery and relapse. Timothy Black spent years with the brothers and their parents, wives and girlfriends, extended family, coworkers, criminal partners, friends, teachers, lawyers, and case workers. He closely observed the drug trade in Springfield, as well as street life; schools and GED programs; courtrooms, prisons, and treatment programs; and the young men’s struggle for employment both on- and off-the-books. The brothers, articulate and determined, speak for themselves, providing powerful testimony to the exigencies of life lived on the social and economic margins. The result is a singularly detailed and empathetic portrait of men who are often regarded with fear or simply rendered invisible by society. With profound lessons regarding the intersection of social forces and individual choices, Black succeeds in putting a human face on some of the most important public policy issues of our time. From the Hardcover edition.Call Number: F74 .S8 B53 2009
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DVDs on the Library Shelves (partial list)
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Almost HolyCall Number: BX729.5 .Z8 M65 2016
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The Cats of Mirikitani by Eighty-year-old Jimmy Mirikitani survived the trauma of WWII internment camps, Hiroshima, and homelessness by creating art. But when 9/11 threatens his life on the New York City streets and a local filmmaker brings him to her home, the two embark on a journey to confront Jimmy's painful past. An intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing power of community and art.Call Number: N40 .C38 2008
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Chop shop by "In a bustling wasteland of stolen cars, mechanics and street hustlers, Alejandro, a tough and ambitious street orphan, and his older sister, Isamar, must rely on each other to survive. Living and working in the Iron Triangle, a sprawling junkyard in Queens, New York, the two find their dreams threatened by the hard truths of life, only to find hope and salvation in one another."--Container.Call Number: PN1995.9 .M45 C467 2008 DVD -
The Florida ProjectCall Number: PN1997.2 .F56 2018 -
Rent: filmed live on Broadway by A year in the life of a group of friends who love, fight, and laugh together as they face important social issues such as AIDS, homosexuality, drug abuse, and homelessness.Call Number: PN1995.9 .M86 R468 2009 DVD -
The soloist by In 2005, the only thing hurting Los Angeles Times columnist and recent bike accident victim Steve Lopez more than his banged-up face, was his pressing need for story ideas. He soon discovers Nathaniel Ayers, a skid row schizophrenic street musician, who possesses extraordinary talent - even though he only has half-broken instruments to play. Inspired by Nathaniel's story, Lopez writes an acclaimed series of articles about him and attempts to do more to help both him, and the rest of the underclass of L.A. have a better life. Lopez's good intentions run headlong into Nathaniel's personal demons and the larger issues of social injustice facing the homeless. Regardless, Lopez and Nathaniel find a way to conquer their deepest anxieties and frustrations.Call Number: PN1997.2 .S65 2009 DVD
