I Helped Build That: a Demonstration Employment Training Program for Homeless Youth in Toronto, Canada
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RAE BRIDGMAN Department of City Planning, Faculty of Architecture University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2 Canada I Helped Build That: A Demonstration Employment Training Program for Homeless Youth in Toronto, Canada In this case study I present preliminary findings on the development of Eva's Phoenix—a pilot project designed to provide housing and employment-training opportunities for homeless youth in Toronto, Canada. I focus on the construction-train- ing program for youth and explore some of the tensions that can arise in a project of this nature. These include consulting youth about the project's directions and facilitating their participation, representational authority in relation to how the proj- ect is promoted, and the need to reconcile different values and expectations for delivering the program on the part of part- nering organizations and the youth themselves. I challenge perceptions of welfare and welfare reform in relation to youth and offer some insights into what types of services and interventions can potentially help homeless youth, [homelessness, youth, housing, employment training] n this case study I present preliminary findings on the youth and an appreciation of the multiple perspectives of development of Eva's Phoenix—a demonstration pro- many different actors (e.g., government officials, service Iject undertaken by Eva's Initiatives designed to pro- providers, private sector partners, media personnel) that in- vide transitional housing as well as training and employ- fluence the development of any project. ment opportunities for homeless youth in Toronto, Canada. An overview of themes that pervade the interdiscipli- The project addresses the needs of an ever increasing nary scholarly literature on homelessness and youth com- number of homeless youth in a major Canadian urban cen- plements a discussion of some of the recent changes in Ca- ter. Explored are some of the processes involved in devel- nadian social assistance programs for youth. These broader oping a pilot project believed to be unique in Canada contexts provide a backdrop for the ethnographic section (Sarick 1999). The employment training is intended to lead featuring some of the processes involved in developing to long-term careers (not just minimum-wage jobs or jobs Eva's Phoenix. In a discussion of several tensions that that end when placement is over). arose during the development and construction of Eva's The article concentrates on the early phases of the proj- Phoenix, three key issues are explored: consulting youth ect's construction-training program. Considered are the on the project's directions, representational authority in ways in which some of the youth have challenged the con- how the project is promoted, and reconciling different val- ditions under which employment and life-skills training ues and expectations for delivering the program. Finally, were provisionally offered to them. With grounded atten- the article concludes with a summary of some of the les- tion to the "small" and the "everyday," this article consid- sons being learned from the project, and suggestions for ers some of the barriers that homeless youth face and offers future research directions are offered. insights for understanding what types of services or inter- ventions can help them. These are vital questions requiring Documenting Processes further research, as has been suggested by Glasser and Bridgman in their review of anthropological research on Generally speaking, relatively little attention has been homelessness (1999:23). given to documenting the processes of developing housing The article is organized as follows. Stressed is the im- or programs for the homeless. Nor have there been many portance of documenting processes involved in developing attempts in the scholarly literature to draw together the a pilot project for homeless youth. A discussion of research multiple and "partial perspectives" (Haraway 1988) of the methods is followed by the theoretical inspirations under- many players involved in bringing such projects to fruition, lying the research together with its potential contributions. although researchers may devote a final chapter to housing These include both an appreciation of agency on the part of "solutions" to the problem. Typically these describe American Anthropologist 103(3):779-795. Copyright © 2001, American Anthropological Association 780 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST • VOL.103, No. 3 • SEPTEMBER 2001 proj-ects briefly but do not necessarily reveal the social tions of construction site work, and follow-through with processes by which they have come into being. As Martha job placement and support. Burt (1997) suggests, much of the homelessness research Some of YouthBuild's published material has been to date has concentrated on describing the homeless popu- helpful for rny own analysis of the Eva's Phoenix develop-* lation, rather than giving needed attention to documenting ment. For example, challenges when working with unions effective interventions for preventing and alleviating and union culture can clash with the youth empowerment homelessness. Novae, Brown, and Gallant point out that model of YouthBuild. Discussed are stages of transforma- "widespread funding constraints, which necessitate the de- tion youth go through in the program and the tensions that velopment of small local projects and low cost solutions, arise in teaching youth about standard on-the-job expecta- diminish opportunities for documentation and information tions and behavior, together with allowing youth to have a exchange regarding the strengths and weaknesses of new say in the program. projects, service innovations, and integration of multiple Comparison between the YouthBuild initiatives and services'^ 1999:3). Eva's Phoenix, however, can be problematic because of The present study represents an extension of my ongo- their apparently differing mandates and scales. YouthBuild ing program of research on homelessness in Toronto. That USA is an extensive program with substantial federal gov- research has involved documenting the life histories of in- ernment funding and numerous sites throughout most of novative housing models for alleviating homelessness, in- the United States. There are presently 145 operating cluding two generations of a housing project for chroni- YouthBuild sites in 43 different states. The program is cally homeless women and men in Toronto, known as geared to youth living in poverty who have not yet com- StreetCity and Strachan House (Anderson 1997; Bridgman pleted high school. Eva's Phoenix, by comparison, repre- 1998a, 1998b, 1999a, 1999c, 2000). StreetCity and sents a very small pilot project being developed specifi- Strachan House, developed by the Homes First Society, cally for homeless youth by a single organization, in have both received international attention for their success partnership with public, private, and nonprofit sectors. in helping to house homeless women and men. StreetCity Driving my own research project are two overarching has been cited as an example of one of Canada's ten "best questions: What lessons are being learned? and How do practices" for alleviating homelessness (Canada Mortgage participants conceive of the processes in which they are en- and Housing Corporation 1999). Strachan House, designed gaged? Preliminary analysis of research materials has fo- by Levitt-Goodman Architects, won the 1999 Governor cused specifically on ascertaining the degree to which the General's Award for Excellence in Architecture. My re- youth were directly involved in the early development search has also involved an in-depth study of the develop- processes of the project and how their participation was fa- ment of a safe haven shelter (named Savard's), again de- cilitated throughout these processes. Of particular interest veloped by the Homes First Society and designed by have been points of tension or conflict highlighting differ- Levitt-Goodman Architects for chronically homeless ent understandings of how best to address the needs of women in Toronto (Bridgman 1999b, 2001). youth. The larger study of which the present article forms a Several other researchers have documented the pro- part is ongoing. This article, however, is only based on data cesses of developing programs for the homeless, including from the first seven months of fieldwork. It considers initial Culhane (1992), who has studied an innovative housing developmental phases of the construction-training pro- model named Women of Hope. This project was started by gram. a group of nuns in Philadelphia and was designed to help chronically homeless mentally ill women transition from Research Methods the street. Fitzgerald (1993, 1995) has also documented a long-term residential program in Nova Scotia for homeless The research began in January 1999. At the time of writ- youth. ing this article, design and working drawings had been As well, there is a training manual for an interesting completed, funding was partly secured, construction was construction-related U.S. training program for young peo- well under way, and the first four-month training program ple who have dropped out of school (YouthBuild USA for nine youth was about to finish. The project was sched- 1999). The program began in 1978 and after much lobby- uled to open in spring 2000. ing received federal funding as of 1992. YouthBuild offers The opportunity for documenting the early stages of the construction skills training and assists youth in completing development of Eva's Phoenix