Safe Harbor Street Beat: Helping Those in Need
Authors: Shawnell Ponder, Kristen Green, Chinue Harris, and Derek Miller
Faculty Supervisor: Mary McGinnis, Ph.D.
Community Partner: Safe Harbor Street Beat
Abstract:
We created a new rack card that will be located in local gas stations, hospitals, and other local public areas. The community partner we worked with on this project was Safe Harbor Street Beat, a street outreach program that works on keeping young people permanently off the streets. The director of Safe Harbor Street Beat, along with other community members, worked on streamlining a process that assesses those in need and connects them with the appropriate community service organization. The system's name is Coastal Coordinated Entry Partners and Services (CCES), and there are over six different programs that fall under this system. These rack cards are so important because they will help educate so many people in need on programs they may not have known available to them. Knowing that there are programs available to them could help keep a family safe, warm and provide the help they may desperately need but not know existed. Working on this project gave my group awareness of an underprivileged social class we had not known in our local community. Thinking about all of the less fortunate people in our own neighborhood helped us realize all of the things we take for granted and how privileged we truly are. Knowing that we could take the resources we learned through this course is amazing, and the skills learned while working in a group assignment will have a lasting impact. The research, time management, communication, and organization skills learned through this project will have lasting effects way beyond the College of Coastal Georgia doors.
