On the streets of Skid Row it is common to find gutters lined
with trash and refuse, and tents housing the homeless lining the
streets.
This picture serves as a sharp contrast to the streets and shops
of Westwood Village which students are more inclined to occupy.
Students in the social welfare master’s degree program
were taken out of the Westwood environment Friday to walk the
streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
About 30 students from the program gathered at St.
Vincent’s Cardinal Manning Center, a homeless agency, for an
orientation before the tour.
During orientation, individuals involved with work on the 50
blocks of Skid Row came forward to discuss community issues.
Students were informed about services provided to the homeless
community and the history of both the tours and Skid Row.
After orientation, the students were separated into three
touring groups.
Many of the students had ideas about what they wanted to gain
from the experience before the tour began.
“I want a broader knowledge base about who’s really
here and the struggle that they’ve been through,” said
Kate Tellis, a program participant.
Tellis and the rest of the tour group were led down Skid Row by
a Homeless Outreach Program guide. The guides are individuals who
have been homeless on the streets of Skid Row.
Having guides who know the area and the community is important
because students can learn from someone who had experiences living
on the streets, said Arzina Robinson-Fuller, a tour guide.
Robinson-Fuller’s past experiences on the street became
learning tools for the students as she told them first-hand
accounts of homeless life.
A sense of community between members of the homeless population
was apparent through Robinson-Fuller’s interactions with
residents of Skid Row. Many members of the homeless community knew
her by name, and greeted her as she led her group.
Robinson-Fuller took her tour group to the nonprofit agencies on
the tour’s itinerary.
One agency featured on the tour is the Downtown Women’s
Center, which assists disabled and elderly homeless women.
Inside, a large group of women sat on benches, eating and
watching a television provided by the agency.
The students were then handed over to Resident Volunteer Sofia
Russell for their tour, while Robinson-Fuller consoled an elderly
woman who was crying.
The woman was one of many being aided by the agency’s
services.
Russell told the students older women do not get as much aid
from the government and society as other members of the
community.
“If you get to be an older woman in society, you’re
shut out of so much,” Russell said.
The agency provides beds, food and counseling for the women who
come through its doors.
Rules and regulations are also figured into residency. For
example, all the women must have tuberculosis shots before becoming
residents, and cannot bring drugs or alcohol onto the premises.
“(The DWC) is a safe and secure environment for us,”
Russell said.
Students were led through hallways and rooms. In one of the
rooms the tour group encountered women working on crafts to
decorate the building for the holidays.
After students saw the communal and personal rooms in the
building, they headed back outside for their next destination.
The Midnight Mission, an agency offering a variety of services
to the homeless, was the next stop for the group. At the Midnight
Mission, Boardroom Steward Roosevelt Floyd told the students about
being a cocaine addict on Skid Row.
Between going to agencies, students walked the streets of Skid
Row with their guide and viewed the community.
When Program Participant Samantha Popoy first came to intern on
Skid Row, she did not see as many families and kids on the streets,
she said.
Families of all ages are scattered on the streets of Skid Row in
small communities. Their shelter includes anything from tents to
boxes, and their belongings are stored on the streets and in
shopping carts.
Some of these shopping carts become the legal property of the
homeless through the aid of the Catholic Worker Community, an
agency that considers itself both a service and activist group.
The outdoor dining area of the agency seems like an oasis from
the streets. The area boasts running fountains, tile mosaics on the
surrounding buildings and a garden.
The patio serves as a peaceful area where the homeless can get
away from the grime of the streets, said Catherine Morris, a
volunteer for Catholic Worker Community.
Meals are served in the dining area three days a week, and as
many as 2,000 members of the homeless community attend every
week.
The agency’s volunteers have been involved in protests and
lawsuits, fighting for the homeless community’s rights.
“We see ourselves as advocates of the poor on Skid
Row,” Morris said.
The students’ last visit was made to Single Room
Occupancy, a housing corporation offering residence to the mentally
ill, disadvantaged and HIV/AIDS community.
With Single Room Occupancy, residents pay one-third of their
living expenses, and the rest is paid for by the federal
government.
Occupants are given their own room including a refrigerator,
bathroom, and stove.
The students left Single Room Occupancy for their debriefing
where they had a chance to share their feelings about the tour and
ask the guides questions.
“It’s a great tour. It’s such an experience to
see what’s been going on in this community,” said Jason
Rivera, a program participant.
Mary Brent Werhli, field liaison and faculty member for the
department of social welfare, said the positive feedback from
students is a sign that her initial goals are being fulfilled.
Werhli is the founder and creator of the Skid Row Tours. She
first began planning and organizing the tour in the spring of 1994
with the hope that students would want to work and intern on Skid
Row after their experience, she said.
The Skid Row Tours are a required program for MSW students, and
has been running for ten years. Three tours are given every
year.
Some students remain working with the Skid Row community after
graduation as a result of taking the tour.
After taking the tour and interning at Skid Row during her first
year in the MSW program, Lamp Community Clinical Director Shannon
Murray decided to dedicate her career to the Skid Row
community.
Lamp Community is an agency for mentally ill members of the
homeless community.
Murray is the poster child of the Skid Row tours because of her
work on Skid Row, Werhli said.
One of Werhli’s goals was to get students to realize that
assistance is needed on Skid Row through their experience with the
people.
“The nature of social work demands that our students
really have this kind of experience because our roots came from
working with the most marginal of people,” Werhli said.