A free handout: Helping or hurting?

摘要

Every year hundreds of charitable and non-profit groups visit lower income areas to deliver various items such as food and clothing to people living on the streets. These outside groups think they are benefiting the people who live on the streets by donating some of their spare time to "form a relationship," and possibly giving a street person a pair of new shoes. What the outside groups do not understand is that they are giving these people items they may have no use for, thus creating an underground market for items like shoes, socks, food and blankets. This thesis suggests a more concrete answer to whether these outside groups are causing more harm than relief. To accomplish this, my methodology was structured in two ways: first, by participant observation in the skid row demographic; and secondly, through surveys distributed to NGOs and individuals living or working in the stated area. I lived on the streets for two- to three-day intervals during a three-month period. This aided in establishing report and relationships among those living on the streets in order to have the highest degree of accuracy in data collection. This allowed me to conduct participant observation and implement the qualitative portion of my field research in the context of my studies. In addition, this thesis offers varied solutions on the most efficient methods to engage and help those people living on the streets of Skid Row, Los Angeles and La Chureca, Nicaragua.