Years ago, Reese Hundley learned firsthand what it felt like to be homeless.

After finding black mold in his rental property, Hundley packed up and left the property with his wife and their child. During that time Hundley and his family stayed with relatives, but the emotional stress of not knowing where they would live opened Hundley’s eyes: homelessness was often not a personal failing, it could happen to anybody.

“It stuck with me how easy it was for people to become homeless,” Hundley said. “Every single one of us is one event away from homelessness.”

Hundley is now a teacher at Vanguard Academy high school in Broken Arrow, a suburb of Tulsa, where 9% of residents live in poverty, compared to the state average of 14.9%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Last spring, a representative from the City Lights Foundation of Oklahoma, a nonprofit homeless support group, visited the school and spoke with the students about ways to prevent homelessness.

Feeling inspired from City Lights, and his own personal experience, Hundley approached Vanguard Academy administrators with an idea. Ultimately, he wanted students to learn about the reality of homelessness while helping create solutions.

Learning Through Projects

Hundley’s idea was to have students spend a full semester working with City Lights with the hopes that the students would gain a better understanding of their community.

That snowballed, and more community partners joined.

“This idea exploded from working with one organization to working with several,” Hundley said.

The organizations included Iron Gate, a food pantry in Tulsa, the BeHeard Movement, Housing Solutions, and other homeless prevention and support organizations.

Once multiple organizations got involved, the project’s mission became clear to Hundley: students need to see they can have an impact in their community, even at a young age.

Similar to a CareerTech, high school students in Broken Arrow Public Schools may attend Vanguard part-time, like an elective, or ful l – time, which requires an application and admission.

With a background in engineering, Hundley said it was important the students understood the scientific process behind making effective change in their community.

Homeless Prevention and Support The students quickly deduced that key factors in homelessness included a lack of mental health support services, eviction rates, post-incarceration and a lack of affordable housing in the state.

This was promising to Hundley, he said, because it showed the students began to understand that homelessness was not a personal failing; it could be structural.

“When we can recognize our misconceptions, that’s when learning happens,” Hundley said.

Penelope Mitchell and Jilian Jedamski, two Vanguard Academy students, chose to support homeless and impoverished communities through a food drive. In Oklahoma, one in four children live in a food insecure home.

When Mitchell and Jedamski were developing their project, the government shutdown had just begun. Soon after, SNAP benefits were cut. Knowing that, Mitchell and Jedamski began a food drive at their school. Working alongside Broken Arrow Neighbors, the duo raised over 900 items.

“Raising 664 pounds of food as high schoolers really inspired us,” Mitchell said.

Nearly 17% of the Oklahoma population relies on SNAP, and a quarter of renters are considered extremely low-income. That meant that when SNAP benefits were cut, many renters were left choosing between food and housing, which contributed to a rise in eviction rates in the state.

“They are having to choose between paying rent and eating food,” Jedamski said.

Another student project focused on mental health for veterans experiencing homelessness. They conducted research and interviews to present to community members that could help that community.

In October, a project in Oklahoma City housed 37 veterans experiencing homelessness. The students hoped to see something like that in Tulsa.

Ember Russell’s project took a direct approach to supporting people experiencing homelessness.

She established a coat drive to collect winter clothing for homeless children. By donating winter coats to schools in the area, Russell said she hoped to make a direct change for children during the brutal winters.

“Coats are a need,” she said. “I want kids to be able to pick something without worrying about the price.”

Students Brayden Curtiss and Harrison Rettedal’s project focused on education through a video the students produced for City Lights.

The duo sought to address what they described as the not in my backyard mentality — where people want to help the homeless but don’t want support services like affordable housing or shelters in their neighborhoods.

The students said they wanted to show how homelessness can happen to anyone, echoing Hundley’s sentiment.

“Even if we can just change one person’s mind, that’s a success,” Curtiss said.

Results

Hundley said the project was a success, and moving forward, he will continue to look for innovative ways to educate students.

After the students presented their projects and research to the community partners, Hundley said he hoped the community could learn as much from the project as the students did, and could apply that to future help for homeless services.

“As a teacher, these are the opportunities I am looking for,” Hundley said. “We can’t judge success by a test, we judge success by what our students can achieve.”

Jake Ramsey covers evictions, housing and homelessness. Contact him at (405) 370-3798 or jramsey@oklahomawatch. org.