During National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, CCH offers these essays by interns, staff and volunteers, writing about what inspires their work.
By Danielle Gibbins, Public Policy Intern
I chose to become a policy intern at CCH because of an interaction with a former client and my strong political beliefs about education.
A year ago, I worked in case management services at a psychiatric hospital. A client asked to speak with me. I felt surprised, because he rarely said a word on the unit. The client told me how he left home as a youth because his mom beat him. His dad raped him. A brother sexually abused him. Being homeless felt safer to my client than staying home.
Now a young man, the client had been in and out of protective services, running away and selling sex to survive. My client, who’s bi-racial, said whites had been “devils” to him, including his father. The client told me that he decided to talk to me, even though I am white, because he said I was kind and my lips reminded him of some black women with red lipstick whom he met on the street – he said they were the only people who had ever been nice to him. Surviving violence shaped my client’s world perspective. Sadly, school was never a consideration for him while growing up.
![Danielle Gibbins](https://s6624.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Danielle-Gibbins-photo-150x150.jpg)
After hearing the life stories of this client and other homeless youth, it’s shown me the importance of getting an education. The number of homeless youth in Illinois increased 93% over the past four years, while schools in Illinois identified 51,638 homeless students last school year.
As a policy intern, I help CCH advocate for Illinois to restore $3 million for school grants to serve homeless children and youth. These funds can impact the self-sufficiency of today’s homeless youth. I want to advocate for the resilient and bright youth who told me their experiences with homelessness.
Danielle Gibbins is a policy intern at CCH and a graduate student at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration. Her field of study focuses on issues of poverty and inequality. An Elmhurst native, Danielle earned a bachelor’s degree in history and art history at Vassar College in New York.