NWCC students participate in Terrace homeless study, will use data as part of report for Terrace Council

Students in the Social Services Workers program at NWCC recenlty
helped out in the Terrace homeless count, they will now make use of their
data to provide a report on the homeless situation for Terrace City Council
(photo from NWCC photo feed)

Students at Northwest Community College that are enrolled in the Social Service Worker program at the college took to the streets in April as part of the Terrace homeless count, providing for volunteer hours in aid of the count and making use of the data collected to put towards a report they plan to deliver to Terrace City Council this month.

The project came as part of the Point in Time homeless study conducted in Terrace in April, with the students and other  community volunteers conducting the community homelessness survey over the course of two days and one night.

The students spent much of the last semester at college working on planning and how data can assist in their field of study, the Terrace homeless count provided them with hands on experience towards a better understanding of the issues of homelessness in their community.

Sarah Cootes, a second-year Social Services Worker Program student at NWCC outlined what they hoped to achieve from their work as they prepare to work on their report.

“We put a lot of effort into gathering information that included following the same methodology as Point in Time and consulting with them to make sure we could use their surveys and if they could provide any more information for us about the homeless count,” ...  “I think it will be interesting and I am glad this information will be useful to them."

The NWCC student also observed as to the nature of their data collection and how they approached the task.

 “Criteria for measuring a if a person can be considered homeless is based on whether or not they pay a set monthly rent,”  “We first ask for consent to be surveyed, go over privacy concerns and continue to ask them more questions laid out in the survey.” 

Chris Gee, an instructor in the Social Services program noted how the data collected will be used and who it will be shared with.

“The data will be used by the City of Terrace to inform its policies,” says Chris Gee, NWCC Instructor. “It will also be used provincially by BC Housing to build a regional understanding of the nature and scope of homelessness in our province and it can be used by local agencies to understand the utilization of services and the characteristics of the populations they seek to serve.”

The last Homeless count for Terrace took place one year ago, with the Terrace and District Community Services Society providing for a report featuring a comprehensive list of areas where the homeless were gathering, as well as feedback as to how the community could address the issue of homelessness.

Prince Rupert's Transition Society conducted the North Coast homeless count in March, no results from that count have been released as of yet.

You can learn more about the students efforts in Terrace here, while a larger overview of the Social Service worker program at NWCC can be examined here.

For more items related to post secondary education in the Northwest, see our archive page here.


Cross posted from the North Coast Review