I am a senior at Principia Upper School, and am from Marin County, California. I have always had a passion for art, interior design, and poetry. I have taken online courses for interior design, and want to study interior design in college. I have always loved house hunting, homes, furniture, decor, and anything to do with the style of houses, inside and out, and I have been writing poetry and doing art for as long as I can remember. For my senior project, I want to publish a book full of the many poems I have written, and illustrate each one. I want to create many different chapters within the book, each with its own topic. I want to incorporate my love for interior design into the book by making a chapter dedicated to interior design as well as the community service that I will be doing.
The “problem” I am considering for my senior project is how interior spaces can impact people dramatically and how many people don’t have the access or resources to live somewhere that is aesthetically pleasing or that makes them happy. Personal environments can impact people's lives and the way they feel significantly. This problem manifests locally where I live in the Bay Area because there are many people that need help organizing or creating an inspiring, improved space where they live or without any place to live at all. Homelessness is a huge problem where I live in California and I have always wanted to do something to help with this issue. I want to volunteer at a non-profit organization that helps people in need to rebuild/design homes such as Habitat for Humanity or help the homeless problem in my town by volunteering somewhere such as the Ritter Center. As a volunteer at the Ritter Center, I would help prevent homelessness and serve those who are living in poverty or homeless in Marin County. I also want to design and create homemade greeting cards that I can sell and donate to the non-profits that I will be volunteering at.
Historically, homelessness emerged as a national issue in the 1870s but became a big problem after the Great Depression. The total count of people experiencing homelessness in Marin County is 1,034 individuals. According to the Marin County homeless census and survey report, “Of the 1,117 total persons enumerated during the 2017 Marin County Point-in-Time Count, 226 persons (20%) were staying in a shelter, 183 persons (16%) were staying in a transitional housing program, and 708 persons (63%) were living on the street, in abandoned buildings, in encampment areas, in vehicles, or in boats not moored to a dock and without electricity or sewage pump-out service.” The pandemic has made the homeless situation where I live and in California as a whole a lot worse, and I have been seeing more permanent encampments. This issue is especially important to me because I have grown up living in a town where homelessness is such a major issue and I see it and am surrounded by it all the time.
In my town, there are many programs, resources, and organizations that are helping with homelessness all of which have helped the amount of homeless people drop significantly over the past few years. I am connecting this issue to my project by writing poetry that has to do with this topic and spreading awareness in the book I will be publishing.
Here are links to interesting resources, videos, and organizations that have to do with the problem I want to help with:
Marin County homeless census and survey report: Shows statistics on the homeless problem where I live.
Ritter Center: Ritter Center’s roots date back to the early 1970s when a federally mandated Families and Children Committee was commissioned by the Marin County Welfare Department to determine the needs of low-income people and to implement supportive services then. In 2013, Ritter Center became a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) grantee serving as a Health Care for the Homeless site.
Homeward Bound of Marin: Homeward Bound of Marin is the primary provider of Marin County homeless shelters and services for homeless families and individuals in Marin, California.
Habitat for Humanity SF: Habitat’s heart is in homebuilding. They build affordable homes for working families earning between 40-80 percent of area median income.These families are in what we call “the missing middle” and are being put under incredible pressure due to our region’s housing and affordability crisis.
The Simple Way Everyone Can Help the Homeless: Ed discusses the little everyday things we can do to help homeless people.
Interior design is about more than wallpaper and bean bags: The impact interior design, space, and environment has on productivity and wellbeing.