City Gospel Mission

Evan Onusko, Summer 2017

I have benefited a lot from my summer with City Gospel Mission. From my very first day at CGM, the staff included me in all their conversations and decision makings, which proved to be an invaluable resource in my understanding of both poverty and effective responses to homelessness. Only nine employees are needed to make up the fulltime staff at city gospel mission employees, each of whom have years of experience and insight in working with the homeless. Each staff member is compassionate and personally invested in the success of CGM’s residents, but they also practical and effective when it comes to addressing homelessness. By working with them, I learned a lot about the ins-and-outs of homelessness in a very short amount of time. I learned what individuals can do to help break the cycle of poverty and what merely addresses the symptoms of homelessness.

The staff was very beneficial to my academic and strategic understanding of addressing homelessness, but working with the residents was much more informative on a personal level. I was given the freedom to design my own project with the Urban Health Project, and most of the work involved could be done alone with a computer. However, to get a more comprehensive experience, I spent almost all my time working on my project from the front desk at CGM. I spent an hour or two each day compiling and analyzing data, but most my time was spent with either residents or local community members. I was the resident’s go-to staff person, and I was the community’s access point to CGM. This role gave me the personal connection with people that makes Urban Health Project so valuable. For two months, I got to see the faces and hear the stories of people going through homelessness. These experiences have been very moving, and I believe that they will play a major role in the trajectory of my career.

Finally, I learned a lot about myself while working with CGM. I was given the opportunity to design my own project, and it was great to invest into a research project from start to finish, especially given the short timeframe. CGM also allowed me to involve myself to whatever extent that I felt comfortable with. I frequently challenged myself and stepped into uncertain situations, but I always knew that the population at CGM, whether they were a staff member or a resident, would be able to help me if needed. City Gospel Mission and the Urban Health project provided a great environment in which I could push myself both socially and intellectually while still having all the support I needed to achieve the desired result. It has been a rewarding, eye-opening, and enjoyable summer, and I will certainly remember the lessons that I learned and the friends that I made.