UMass student runs advocacy program at local shelter

In the fall of 2013, Shirin Hikim, a UMass Amherst’s Honors College senior, started a resource advocacy program at Craig’s Doors, a local shelter for the homeless living in Amherst, Mass. Along with fellow UMass senior Maggie Spring and Amherst College junior Christine Miranda, Hakim has acquired 20 student volunteers from UMass and Amherst to work as a part of the Craig’s Doors Resource Advocacy Program (CDRA).

“I think that people often overlook the potential for students to get involved [with] and help the homeless, who often don’t have the resources that [are needed] to get to the places they need to be,” Hakim stated.

Craig’s Doors-A Home Association, Inc. operates as an overnight shelter, called Craig’s Place, for people from Nov. 1 through April 30 in the First Baptist Church on North Pleasant Street. According to its website, “Craig’s Doors is committed to helping people to find ways to become empowered to improve the quality of their lives through the creation of safe, respectful shelter and housing.”

In a press release from Craig’s Doors on the CDRA, Kevin J. Noonan, Craig’s Doors executive director, commented on the positive nature of the relationship between the organization and the local college students. “Our shelter, Craig’s Place, is only open during the coldest months of the year and it has a limited operating budget. The CDRA students are a tremendous asset to our guests. The time and effort they voluntarily devote to our guests helps people to move away from the life threatening crisis of homelessness and onto more stable, life sustaining environments,” he told. The students are trained to assist guests at Craig’s Doors with finding resources relating to food, employment, housing, healthcare and transportation.

There are students volunteering at the shelter six nights per week and the CDRA requires students for at least two hours per week. Hakim mentioned that working with the CDRA is a large commitment. In addition to volunteering, the students have to attend a weekly case management meeting run by Hakim, Spring and Miranda.

Hakim got the idea to start this program with Craig’s Doors after her domestic exchange at Harvard University. While at Harvard, Hakim worked at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter as a resource advocate. The Harvard Square Homeless Shelter is run entirely by students, which appealed to Hakim who thought, “how neat, students involved in case management.”

As a public health major, Hakim had already interned at Craig’s Doors, so starting her resource advocacy program there seemed appropriate. Hakim, along with her friend Spring, the CDRA coordinator for UMass, performed basic advocacy work at Craig’s Doors three to four nights per week during the spring of 2013.

While there, Hakim met Miranda, who began working with Craig’s Doors as a freshman and eventually started interning for the organization during her sophomore year. Since then, Miranda has become a regular shelter staff member. Rebekah Wilder, the shelter director, connected the two students after Hakim formalized her plans for the CDRA program.

Regarding the upstart of the CDRA program, Spring said, “at the beginning of [the 2013-2014] school year, Shirin told me about her ideas for a Resource Advocacy program and her thesis project for school and asked me if I could be a part of it. I said of course.”

Spring added that the students at UMass have responded positively to the program and are extremely dedicated despite the challenges that these students face balancing busy schedules at school. “It isn’t easy with school and work and everything else, but they make the effort,” Spring reported. “I think everyone in the program is impressed with the motivation Shirin has to start something like this. I know I am.”

Similarly, Miranda believes that the students from Amherst have had positive experiences with the CDRA program. “At first, I think the students were a little apprehensive about whether they would actually be able to help people and understand local resources themselves,” she mentioned. “Now, after several months, I think the advocates have really enjoyed making personal relationships with guests, learning about the community and helping connect people to things they need.”

Miranda added that the students from Amherst have expressed interest in getting more of their peers involved. Similarly, Hakim plans to further develop this program and is hoping to work with UMass to integrate the program into a classroom setting. She is still in the process of researching how to best make the CDRA program a Five-College course or internship. She hopes that if CDRA becomes a Five-College program then students from Mount Holyoke, Hampshire and Smith Colleges will have an easier time participating as resource advocates. “I would love to see [this opportunity] offered to students from all five colleges,” she commented. Several MHC students who currently volunteer at Craig’s Doors have already approached Hakim and expressed their interest in joining the CDRA team.

Spring also hopes that the program continues to grow. She mentioned that her experiences at Craig’s Doors have given her a new perspective. “Although it is important for me to do my best in school, I have found that interacting with people at Craig’s Doors gives me experience I could never get in a class,” Spring said. She cited that working as an advocate has reaffirmed the importance of truly listening to other people and that a positive outlook is more valuable than material goods.

Miranda credited Craig’s Doors as helping her through a challenging sophomore year and allowing her to interact with a variety of people. “I think my experience with Craig’s Doors has also pushed me academically. I primarily study American Studies and Computer Science, and my work with the shelter reminds me of the importance of the structures and systems of power I engage with abstractly in the classroom,” she stated. Miranda mentioned that she hopes to develop a computer program that will help resource advocates gather and organize information.

“There is a certain humility in asking others for help and being vulnerable in trusting people you don’t know very well to make your situation better,” Spring observed. “It has taught me to be more open to setting aside my ego and asking for help in my own personal life.”