Member-Compiled Resources
Food, Shelter, and Other Emergency Support in CU | Last updated 2/18/18
Strategies for Socially Anxious Social Activists | Last updated 2/17/18
Community Psychology Labor Presentations
[Image description: A poster presentation titled, “How Poverty Affects the CU Community.” A subtitle is printed in italics underneath, reading, “PSYC 238 Social Issues Project - Sarah Han. ID: #37” The poster is divided into rectangular sections with lines between them, which all have beige backgrounds unless otherwise noted. In the top left-hand section, there is an image of a person standing in front of a table with a pot and bowls, handing another person a bowl of soup. Beside that is an image of hands locked on wrists in a square. Below is an image of two people holding boxes labeled “donation.” The last image in the square shows two people high-fiving with a third holding a phone and making a “yes” gesture with fists closed. The section to the right is titled “Our Intervention,” and reads, “Our program seeks to rent an empty facility on campus that can serve as a centralized place of gathering and organization for workers and those affected by poverty. This program will provide;” the text is followed by a grey pop-out box with bullet points that read, “Internships with small businesses, Meetings for repurposing and collectivism, Commonplace of comfort and community gathering.” The bullet points are followed by a paragraph that reads, “We plan to get funded by donations, applying for federal grants, and fundraising efforts.” The next section is titled “Tactics,” and lists bullet points of “Cool tactics: Creating a social media profile that posts statistics, data, and daily news; Spreading flyers around town, around campus, and in online communities to spread awareness of the program and the issues” followed by “Warm tactics: Setting up a booth or table from time to time at the Quad; Planning workshop days where organizations and businesses can collab at the worker center; Coordinating interviews for the radio, the local news, putting ads in newspapers” and finally “Hot tactics: Organizing a ‘Quad Day’ style event where booths from various organizations (i.e. Salt and Light, Habitat for Home, etc.) offer information about their causes and ways individuals can help; Collectively gathering and protesting in front of central hotspots, like in front of the Union or Alma Mater, or outside city hall; Planning a tuition strike for student workers and getting involved in bargaining with the institution.” The next poster section includes an image of two people hanging up shirts on a rack with boxes underneath, an image of two people (one with a trash pick up stick) putting plastic bottles in a garbage bag, and a third image of a person walking with full grocery bags. The first section in the next row is titled, “Introduction” and reads, “There are many people in the CU community who face challenges that incur from lack of finances. There is no single cause or factor that can be pinpointed, which also means that there is no simple, one-step solution that can alleviate problems of poverty. Those who are affected by lack of institutionalized support and lacking work conditions are many. We will be focusing on student and workers of CU.” A section under the introduction is titled, “Goals:” and reads, “We want to provide a worker center that is focused on long-term and developmental solutions for the CU community.” To the right, the next section is titled “Our vision:” and reads, “Our vision focuses on [bold text] creating flexibility [end bold text] in the capitalist economy [bold text] for individuals [end bold text] and making sure [bold text] voices of workers are heard.” The next paragraph reads, “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percent of persons in poverty was reported to be [bold text] 15% in Champaign, [end bold text] compared to the [bold text] 11.4% nationwide [end bold text] poverty rate (reported in 2020).” The next section, which extends across the center to the bottom of the poster, has a white background, is titled, “Mapping Root Causes” and reads, “When figuring out who is affected by poverty the most, our group mapped out major root causes to identify the core of the problem. We found that:” the text is followed by a bulleted list and the first bullet reads, “Major problem: unequal wealth distribution,” underneath which bold text reads, “Possible cause: Lack of institutionalized help,” underneath which are two sub-bullets: “According to out Salt and Light interview, there is no communication between welfare benefit programs; Student workers feel unheard from the administration of UIUC. Even when organizing and bargaining, unless there is drastic action and a last resort effort, the institution does little to accommodate for graduate students’ living costs and tuition for their program, as we learned from the interview with GEO.” A second piece of bolded text reads, “Possible cause: Rise of inflation and concentrated wealth” followed by two bullet points: “Increasing housing cost, lack of affordable housing, increased food costs; According to a literature review conducted by Davies and Shorrocks, inheritance was found to be a major cause of concentrated wealth.” A third and final piece of bolded text reads, “Possible cause: Labor market” followed by two bullet points: “Increased use and demand of robots and AI reduce jobs and increase competitiveness for remaining jobs; Many jobs are walled off to those with higher education (i.e., bachelor’s degree and above), which makes it hard for those who could not afford that education.” The next section to the right is titled, “Champaign-Urbana Needs,” and the text reads, “According to our interview with Salt and Light, there is a need for long term developmental programs. There is currently a rise in creation of emergency shelters and food pantries, which are a huge drain on resources and a temporary solution to a multi-faceted problem. Their program found success in helping people find jobs, improve skill sets, and build credit without getting taxed. Our program wants to model this type of program by becoming a connecting bridge between local businesses and those of the working class seeking to earn a higher wage.” There is an image in the section below the text of three interlocking hands in white outline, and another of three interlocking gears with simple outlines of a person in the center of each gear. The last section, under the “Our vision” section, lists two sources: “Davies, James B. & Shorrocks, Anthony F. (1999). The Distribution of Wealth. Handbook of Income Distributio Volume 1.” and “United States Census Bureau. ‘QuickFacts, Champaign County, Illinois.’ U.S. Department of Commerce, 2022.”]
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