a study on leadership support for merging

A STUDY ON LEADERSHIP SUPPORT FOR MERGING INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY LIVING AND HOMELESSNESS IN RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA

BY THOMAS MICHAEL ODEEN

Capstone Research Project Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Sociology/Community Development in the Graduate College of South Dakota State University and the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (GPIDEA) 2016 Brookings, South Dakota

Adviser and Capstone Char: Dr. Meredith Redlin Capstone Committee Members: Dr. John Phillips and Dr. Julie Walker

ABSTRACT The social phenomenon known as Intentional Community (IC) living is an umbrella term for multi-person/multi-family intentional/sustainable lifestyles. Colloquially this social trend to share and conserve resources is often referred to as “live lightly” (Jarvis, 2010:573). Past research has shown that among the variations of Intentional Communities, there is a prevalence of positive social benefits including cooperative living, sharing resources, common purpose, increased civic involvement and a strong sense of community (Sargisson, 2012). Conversely, homelessness continues to be a social phenomenon that desperately needs solutions. Accordingly, the objective of this study set out to measure the attitudes and opinions of community leaders from five different sectors of the community toward the idea of using IC living to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota. In all, 26 community leaders participated in a mixed methods interview process where they shared their views on this topic. The five sectors of associated homeless influence for this study include: Homeless Shelter Providers, Nonprofit & Philanthropy, Civic Government, Native American leadership, and Health & Wellness. The creation of five sub questions served as a guiding framework for these leaders to advance their opinions. As a means to better understand leadership input, this study incorporated a strong reliance on the empirical foundations of well-being and social capital as contributing forces toward a strong community. Evaluation of the quantitative and qualitative data therefore, sought to observe any correlations that may exist toward the theoretical belief that IC living may hold some of the keys to mitigating homelessness. And do so in a way that simultaneously increases the social mobility, well-being and community contribution of the individual—thereby advancing social capital and overall community health. Although the results of this study remain largely theoretical in nature, the data revealed strong leadership interest, and support for the conceptual benefits that exist within an Intentional Community living context.

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Dedicated to my Children & Grandchildren… AND To Those Who Hope & Strive for a More Sustainable Tomorrow

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As a true work in progress the roots of this project began with my community development coursework under the umbrella of the GPIDEA consortium and several of my professors. Significantly, I wish to extend my sincere thanks to Dr. Teresa Lamsam of UNL and Dr. John Phillips of SDSU for their faith in me, and for their guidance and passion on addressing challenging matters related to Native American’s in the 21st century. To my adviser and Capstone project chair Dr. Meredith Redlin for her encouragement, patience and steadfast guidance in helping me reach this point, and to Dr. Julie Walker for her willingness to join my Capstone committee on such short situational notice. To my mate, companion and best friend Misty Bunnell for her unyielding love, support and patience in standing by my side as I reach for my goals. To my grown children, LeAnne, Laurie, Jennifer and Justin and their families who continue to give me hope and inspiration—my thanks to each of you for encouraging me to follow my dreams and for having faith in me on a long and special journey. My thanks also to the members of the Rapid City community who have given their time and transparency to help bring this project to fruition. Behind the scenes there were many people from many walks of life who took were part of the networking structure that resulted in the completion of this project— my thanks to each of you!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ……………………………………………………………………………………..…vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………...….1 Community Context and the Cultural Connection………………………………...……1-3 Statement of the Research Project and Sub Questions …...………………….………...…4 Purpose of the Study …...………………………………………………………….. …….5 Delimitations and Assumptions of this Study………………………………………..……6 Definition of Terms ……………………………………………………………….……7-9

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………..…….…10 Intentional Community (IC) living……………………………………………...……10-11 Homelessness: The Big Picture ………………………….......…………...….………12-13 Well-Being……………………………………………………………………....……14-15 Social Capital in Contemporary Society…………………………………………….16=17

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………….…18 Foundational Theory……………………………………………………………………..18 Research Design ……………………………………………………………….…….19-20 Process Implementation………………………………………………………………21-22 Data Collection ………………………………………………………………………23-25 Processing the Data ……………………………………………………………………..26 CHAPTER 4: DATA AND FINDINGS …………………………………………………..…….27 SQ1: (Sub Question #1) Identifying Participant & Organizational Community Involvement ………………………………………………………………………….28-32 SQ2: (Sub Question #2) Discussing the Potential Benefits of IC Living in Rapid City, South Dakota ………………………………………………………………..…....….33-41

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)

SQ3: Sub Question #3) Identifying Potential Leadership Roles within an Intentional Community Hypothetical…………………………………………………………….42-53 SQ4: Sub Question #4) Intentional Community living and Well-Being….……...…..54-63 SQ5: Sub Question #5) Evaluating Support for a Feasibility Study......……..………64-70 CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS …………………………………………….71 Part I Analysis ……………………………………………………….………………71-77 Part II Significance of this Project ………………………………………………………78 Part III Limitations of the Study ………………………………….……………………..79 Part IV Conclusions and Potential Applications ………………………………….…80-81 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………...….…82-84

APENDIX Appendix I List of Quantitative Survey Questions ………………………………………….85-87 Appendix II Qualitative (Recorded Interviews) Survey Questions ………………………….….88 Appendix III Intentional Community Presentation Movie “YouTube Links” ...………………..89 Appendix IV Research Introduction Sheet & Consent Form……….…………..……………90-91

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

COMMUNITY CONTEXT AND THE CULTURAL CONNECTION The Rapid City, South Dakota community is approximately 60 miles from the western edge of the state (less than an hour drive on Interstate I-90), and is geographically located on the eastern edge of the Black Hills. Regionally, this amenity-based community with its population of 70,812 people (State & County quick facts Rapid City, SD, 2015) is the 2nd largest city in the state and serves as the economic hub that “includes portions of 5-states and over 630,000 people within a 200-mile radius” (Retail Trade Area, 2016). Significant to a discussion on regional demographics, three of the poorest Indian reservations in the country are also included in this 200 mile radius. Geographically, this means that much of Rapid City’s transient (and subsequently homeless) population is comprised of poverty level citizenry. Regionally, this is important because in Western South Dakota, what affects Indian Country, affects Rapid City. For example, less than 100 miles from Rapid City, the Pine Ridge Indian reservation alone has a population estimated at 40,000 people (Stats about Pine Ridge, 2014). Putting the above information into perspective; along with a 12.4 percent Native American population (State & County quick facts Rapid City, SD, 2015), a recent homeless survey revealed that up to 75% of Rapid City’s homeless are Native American (Ross and Abrahamson, 2015). Moreover, the Cornerstone Rescue Mission alone helps “serve the spiritual and physical needs of more than 500 people every day” (About us, 2010). Additionally, “Native Americans dominate Rapid City's homeless population and waiting lists at the Pennington County Housing office, and officials from education to employment to healthcare, say that a lack of stable housing is at the root of hardships… Of the 225 homeless children and adults identified

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in a January 2014 survey, 170 of them were Native” (Ross and Abrahamson, 2014). Giving an even more vivid look at community homelessness a local news report cited that “The problem has reached an ‘epidemic level,’ said Rapid City Area Schools homeless coordinator Anita Deranleau. ‘The floodgates have opened. Only those that are working in the trenches have any idea’” (Colias, 2014). THE CULTURAL CONNECTION Understanding Land and Loss in Lakota Country: Historically, the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty that guaranteed the Great Sioux Nation that no white settlers would come to this land may rest between the pages of history books in most of the world, but not in the Black Hills of South Dakota. For these descendants of The Great Sioux Nation, the Ft. Laramie Treaty is very much alive and well. Even the Supreme Court of the United States in 1980 “determined that the US government had wrongly taken Sioux land through acts of Congress after the 1868 Laramie Treaty” (Crimes against humanity, 2008). Awkwardly, this means that Rapid City and its non-Native residents are quite literally, trespassing. From a community perspective, this issue that can only be resolved at the federal level, places every city official and resident (regardless of race) in an equally awkward position. As a part of the very fabric of this study then, it is crucial to mention that the community of Rapid City, and the entire surrounding Black Hills region continue to struggle with these ongoing tensions—tensions that affect the psyche, prejudices and decision making process of the residents who live here. Ultimately, the possible benefits imbedded within the construct of this research proposal cannot possibly hope to solve generations of unresolved hardships and attitudes that are inextricably tied to the past, but the manifestations and intractable nature of history nonetheless beckons the mention. 2

Other historical markers that have paved the way for this study: Broadly speaking there are numerous historical factors that have direct ties to this project including the end of the American Industrial Revolution, a series of economic downturns, and a growing population to name a few. In short, the post WWII America bursting with promise and the American Dream for the masses is no longer strong enough to either capture or carry the psyche of the American collective. Left in the wake of these historical shifts are record numbers of homeless and poverty stricken. The literature describing the roots of homelessness reveals that the early 1980s ushered in public concern regarding the phenomenon at a level not seen since the Depression years of the 1930s (Burt, 1991:169). Coupling this with the recent Great Recession it is easy to envision the severity of homelessness in America. Rapid City, SD has no exemption, and with a projected U.S. population of “438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005” (Passel and Cohn, 2016), the probability that homelessness will also continue to grow seems inevitable.

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STATEMENT OF RESEARCH TOPIC AND SUB QUESTIONS

The purpose of this study is to explore possible executive and/or management-level (i.e., “leadership level) variances in attitude across five regions of community influence toward the concept of utilizing Intentional Community living to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota. The five Sub Questions (SQ1-5) for this study are as follows: In order to move this research beyond a theoretical model, the following questions assume a critical role in the advancement of this project. (1) What are the social and structural factors of the organizations and institutions working to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota? (2) What benefits do organizational and institutional leaders see for Intentional Communities in Rapid City, South Dakota? (3) What potential role would organization and institutional leaders play in implementing Intentional Community living as an approach to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota? (4) How do leaders feel the well-being of Rapid City’s homeless populations would be improved through Intentional Community living? (5) What additional information and data do leaders feel are needed for a feasibility study of the IC model in Rapid City? These five questions are the guiding framework for much of this project and will be used in-depth as part of the data findings (chapter 4), and data analysis (chapter 5).

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PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY

Common knowledge suggests that by the year 2050 the global population will be around nine billion people. In this context, one of the questions community planners and leaders has to face is, how will communities be affected and what provisions are we making for population growth? Equally significant is how the probable population increases will affect the health and well-being of a given community. Accordingly, this study stands to provide insight into a housing alternative that is not only adaptable, sustainable and ecologically friendly, but stands to help provide homeless citizens with a means to move from a state of dependence to that of socially productive independence. Because this case study was designed to produce data from leadership-level participants, it provides valuable information that can be used for community planning, and raising the wellbeing of both community stakeholders and the community itself. Moreover, because this study extracted data from five regions of community influence, it is anticipated that the whole of this study may be of interest to other researchers, communities, established intentional communities, sustainability planners and/or civic, educational and social circles. Ultimately, this study was aimed at identifying leadership caliber members of the Rapid City, South Dakota community who understand the plight of homelessness, and securing their attitudes and opinions toward using the concept of Intentional Community living as a possible vehicle to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City.

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DELIMITATIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS OF THIS STUDY

Delimitations: Given the exploratory nature of this research and the uncertainty of data outcomes, the scope of this case study was intentionally limited to seeking data that focuses primarily on the community of Rapid City, South Dakota. Furthermore, because of its investigative and conceptual nature, (other than printed statistical information) this study does not include Rapid City’s homeless, or general population as a data source. And lastly, the suggestions toward the application of Intentional Community living as a working model in this research proposal are hypothetical in nature, and place no claims on being a model ready, or suitable for community implementation. Assumptions: The first assumption is that homelessness will continue to be a social phenomenon in Rapid City, SD. The second assumption is that Intentional Community living will continue to be a viable source of housing for multiple sectors of society. The third assumption is that, on the average, people who are provided with a livelihood above a marginalized and subsistence-dependent lifestyle will have a stronger chance of being contributing members of the community. The forth assumption is that Intentional Community living will not be able to eliminate homelessness in Rapid City, SD. The fifth assumption is that homelessness will continue to be a serious social concern, and any research that is generated toward expanding our understanding of homelessness, will be a welcome addition to the existing pool of knowledge.

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DEFINITION OF TERMS

The following definitions are being listed as an aid to better understanding the contextual nature of this project. Definitions (in alphabetical order) are being offered as correlations to both the statement of the project and the corresponding sub questions (i.e., SQ 1-5). Homelessness: For descriptive categorization this study recognizes the severity of homelessness under the definition put forth by the European model ETHOS European Typology on Homelessness and Housing Exclusion adapted from (Busch-Geertsema, 2010:19). It is anticipated that inclusion of this model into the mixed methods processes will result in qualitative and quantitative measurements related to homelessness unavailable in current statistical form. It is anticipated that this in turn will serve to broaden the scope of data results. Included in Appendix I is a full listing of the ETHOS model. Intentional Community (IC) living: Condensed, Intentional Communities are defined as “a group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values. The people may live together on a piece of rural land, in a suburban home, or in an urban neighborhood, and they may share a single residence or live in a cluster of dwellings” (Kozeny, 1995 as cited in Sargisson, 2012:31). Intentional Community Multimedia “Movie” Presentation: Integral to the participant interviews is the MS PowerPoint presentation that was converted into a movie using several public domain YouTube videos. This presentation serves as an introduction to Intentional Community living. Its intent is to provide data participants with an overview of how and why Intentional Community living may be conceptually suitable for mitigating 7

homelessness in Rapid City, SD. The content of the presentation provides a listing of various Intentional Community models followed by the imbedded videos. The three IC areas represented in the presentation are cohousing families with children, an ecovillage that was established in 1967 and has 100 members, and lastly, a 50+ cohousing community. The delivery time for the presentation is approximately 13 minutes. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: For this study, what is known in scientific circles as psychologist Abraham Maslow’s (1908-1970) Hierarchy of Needs—his “most enduring contribution to the field” (Noltemeyer, Bush, Patton and Bergen, 2012:1862) will serve as a baseline point of discussion for basic subsistence living, i.e., Maslow’s first tier on his five level hierarchy of needs scale. Operationally, Maslow postulated that there are “five basic needs—arranged in a hierarchy from lower-order to higher-order—are essential to optimal human existence. The lower-order needs, also called ‘deficiency needs,’ include physiological, safety, and love/belonging needs. Higher-order needs or growth needs, include esteem and self-actualization needs” (Noltemeyer, Bush, Patton and Bergen, 2012:1862). Social Capital: Historically, the origin of social capital date back to the early 1900s where it was used in literal sense by humanitarian scholars and educators such as John Dewey and L. J. Hanifan (Farr, 2004). In keeping with these historical roots, this study recognizes the working definition put forth by Flora and Flora (2013:11) who state that “Social Capital involves mutual trust, reciprocity, groups, collective identity, working together, and a sense of shared future.”

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Well-Being: As a correlate to operationalizing the conceptual layers of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs within this study, two measurable states of well-being, i.e., subjective well-being (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) as defined by Keyes, Shmotkin and Ryff (2002), are being utilized. Used in concert with Maslow’s model, SWB and PWB stand to enhance both understanding and data measurement for this study.

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CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

This literature review will focus on four primary areas of study: 1) A discussion and overview of Intentional Communities (ICs) in contemporary society. 2) A discussion on the different faces of homelessness in America and Rapid City, South Dakota. 3) A look at the concept of well-being and stakeholder community contribution through the lenses of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The operational models of subjective well-being (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) are introduced as a means to inject a measure of pragmatism to Maslow’s basic model. 4) And lastly, a discussion on the historical construct of social capital and its influence in both shaping communities as well as its usage in the context of visualizing attributes associated with healthy vibrant communities in the construct of modern society. INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES (ICs) Typologies: Shelter, one of our most basic needs has evolved over time into a multitude of constructs, motivations and models for living. From a macro perspective, the contemporary term intentional communities (ICs) provides a foundational basis from which to understand a number of various subgroups such as cohousing, ecovillages, ecological communities, collective housing, supportive communities, religious communities, communal communities, practical communities, permanent supportive housing, and permanent supported housing (Mulder, Costanza and Erickson, 2006; Meijering, Paulus and Van Hoven, 2007; Jarvis, 2011; Nelson & Saegert, 2011). 10

Societal Contributions and the IC Paradox of Mainstream vs. Stereotypes: Residents of intentional communities have been “identified by a deliberate attempt to realize a common, alternative way of life outside mainstream society” (Poldervaart, 2001 as quoted in Meijering et al., 2007:42). Some critics against intentional communities; however, perceive these residents as “deviant, dirty, noisy and not integrated in the wider rural community” (Meijering et al., 2007:49). Given the societal contributions of intentional communities; however, it is also “too simple to argue that intentional communities are completely outside the mainstream” (Meijering, et al., 2007:43). One study on civic participation concluded that “members of cohousing groups substantially ‘exceeded the national average’ in civic participation within and beyond their immediate community” (Sargission, 2012:49). Despite the stereotypes, Intentional Communities are also being funded by big name lenders such as “National Bank of Arizona, Evergreen Bank, Exchange Bank, Wells Fargo, Luther Burbank, and Horizon Bank” (Sargission, 2012:50). Societal attributes associated with ICs include, quality environments in which to raise and nurture children (Vestbro, 2014; Jarvis, 2011; Sargisson, 2012; Graber and Wolfe, 2004), “greater scope for mutuality, cooperation, reciprocity and exchange” (Jarvis, 2011:561), advanced QoL (quality of life) ratings regarding the personal importance of social capital (Mulder & Erickson, 2005), and a strong sense of community and home between members (Meijering, 2007; Nelson & Saegert, 2011). Intentional Community living in the realm of the marginalized: Among the variations of Intentional Communities exist a number of models that include accommodations for marginalized areas of society such as the elderly (Glass, 2009), homeless women with children (Graber and Wolfe, 2004) and people with intellectual disabilities (Randell and Cumella, 2009). Consistent with reports from other Intentional Communities, these types of models provide a 11

sense of belonging, help people to feel secure and useful, provide a place to build friendships and social networks (Rand and Cumella, 2009; Glass, 2009). HOMELESSNESS: THE BIG PICTURE Qualifying Homelessness: The word homelessness has various forms of reference including “an entrenched phenomenon, posing a consistent challenge to policymakers, advocates and public service providers alike” (Byrne, et al.,), an enmeshed crisis for advanced capitalist nations tied directly to the housing crises “in the late 1970s and 1980s” (Farrugia and Gerrard, 2015:3), and a lack of housing stability based on “a continuum: at one end of the spectrum is no access to housing of reasonable quality (complete instability), and at the other is access to housing of reasonable quality in the absence of threats (complete stability)” (Frederick, et al., 2014:965). Similarly, there are thirteen categorical listings of homelessness that exist under the umbrella of The European Typology on Homelessness and Housing Exclusion (ETHOS). A full listing of these questions are included in Appendix I. Homelessness in the United States: Nationally, the US experienced a 3.7% drop in homelessness between 2012 and 2013, but on any given “night in January 2013, 610,042 people were experiencing homelessness” (The State of Homelessness in America 2014 pdf, 2015:4). With these numbers hovering at near all-time highs (Motley and Perry, 2013), “Families with children are the most rapidly growing group” (US Conference of Mayors, 2007, as cited in Nooe and Patterson, 2010:110). In 2013 there were 222,197 homeless people classified as being part of a family—of these, 70,960 were family households; 58,063 were Veterans and 46,924 were youth (The State of Homelessness in America 2014 pdf, 2015).

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Homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota: With a population of over 70,000 and the second largest city in the state, Rapid City’s total homeless count for January 2014 stood at 225 of which 36 are children under the age of 18, 136 male, 89 female; 170 of the total are American Indian (2014 Pennington County Homeless Count Detailed Information, 2015:1). Regionally, there are homeless organizations in the Black Hills area that are focusing their efforts and initiatives toward the elimination of involuntary homelessness (Pennington County Homeless Count, 2012). The city of Rapid City “participates in the South Dakota Housing for the Homeless Consortium… [Whose] vision is to empower homeless individuals and families to regain self-sufficiency to the maximum extent possible” (Garcia, 2014:50). Rapid City has also “joined the 100,000 Homes for the Homeless movement and will be implementing the program with the goal of placing at least 2.5% of the chronic homeless into permanent housing within one year” (Garcia, 2014:50). The cost of homelessness in Rapid City: In the fall of 2015 the findings of a report were covered in a local news story that described how city and county officials had set out to measure the costs associated with 28 homeless people in Rapid City (Helping the homeless—a new approach, 2015). The findings of this study illustrate that “For one year, nine agencies in Rapid City tracked the costs of services associated with the same 28 homeless individuals. The results are eye opening. The total cost of services $931,441.27” (Helping the homeless—a new approach, 2015). In the same report Rapid City’s Mayor Steve Allender described how it is “’costing the tax payers around $30,000 per individual to keep them healthy enough to be treated like an animal, to eat out of dumpsters and to get free soup in the park’” (Helping the homeless—a new approach, 2015).

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WELL-BEING Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the Concept of Well-being: Operationally, Maslow postulated that there are “five basic needs—arranged in a hierarchy [commonly illustrated as a pyramid] from lower-order to higher-order—are essential to optimal human existence. The lower-order needs, also called ‘deficiency needs,’ include physiological, safety, and love/belonging needs. Higher-order needs or growth needs, include esteem and self-actualization needs” (Noltemeyer et al., 2012:1862). For example, Maslow’s conceptual framework suggests a family breadwinner or a student is functioning at peak contribution only when both higher-order and growth needs have been satisfied (Noltemeyer et al., 2012). Today, this basic model remains a valued contribution to understanding social phenomenon; however, 21st century advances to Maslow’s 20th century theory move beyond the lauded efforts and well-being of the individual achiever to focus on the value of interrelatedness and dependence on others (Hanley and Abell, 2002). “The truly fulfilled person will realize that we live in local and global communities and must see the effect of their actions on others in their neighborhood or community, as well as more global issues of the environment” (Hanley and Abell, 2002: 53). Measurements of Well-being and the realm of homelessness: General well-being can be thought of as “a state of satisfaction with material, social, and human aspects of life” (Thomas et al., 2012:780). Expanding this understanding to more scientific terms, subjective well-being (SWB) is empirically associated with overall life satisfaction and psychological well-being (PWB) “draws heavily on formulations of human development and existential challenges of life” (Keyes, Shmotkin and Ryff, 2002:1008). Simplistically, in the SWB/PWB conversation

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subjective well-being could be thought of as the macro (bigger picture) life perspective and psychological well-being could be thought of as the micro (small picture) situational dynamics. For example, when we consider subjective well-being we know that individuals live in objective environments but “it is their subjectively defined worlds that they respond to” (Keyes et al., 2002:1007). A portrayal of this dynamic is seen in the realm of homeless parents who report correlations between changes in financial and social conditions with emotional well-being and reduced behavioral issues with their children (Biswas-Diener and Diener, 2006:186). Conversely, science has increasingly been measuring PWB in terms of measurements such as self-acceptance, positive relations with others, environmental mastery, autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth (Keyes et al., 2002:1008). A vivid example in joining these concepts is found in the study of the elderly where studies incorrectly anticipated finding a correlation between aging and SWB (Keyes et al., 2002:1008). In other words, just because someone in a compromised or undesirable situation does not mean they are void of a personal level of well-being. Categorically, there have even been studies done on homeless individuals that qualify as satisfied loners and socially related and contented (Petersen, Andersen and Curtis, 2012). Strength-based homeless interventions have also shown that “Regardless of housing status, the freedom to pursue the aspects of life that are meaningful and valuable to the individual contributes to well-being (Sen, 2009 as cited in Thomas et al., 2012:781). Fittingly portrayed, one such example of human self-efficacy illustrates that “Participants used their personal strengths, daily activities and opportunities to maintain wellbeing in the face of homelessness and disadvantage” (Thomas et al., 2012:788).

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SOCIAL CAPITAL IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY Foundations, Debates and Full Circle: From its earliest known beginnings the term social capital has been synonymous with illustrating the inherent value of America’s citizenry (Farr, 2004; Putnam, 2000). “The community as a whole will benefit by the cooperation of all its parts, while the individual will find in his associations the advantages of the help, the sympathy, and the fellowship of his neighbors. First then, there must be an accumulation of community social capital” (Hanifan, 1916:130-131). Similarly, criticism of what was deemed an over dependence of the rote of the three R’s posited a direct underutilization of both human potential and social capital in the early 1900s (Farr, 2004). A more holistic approach cultivating individual minds represented “the keys which will unlock to the child the wealth of social capital which lies beyond the possible range of his limited individual experience” (John Dewey, as cited in Farr, 2004:17). These suggestions are all agreements of sorts that social capital presents itself in various forms as a positive societal attribute; however, “even with the evidence of social capital’s positive impact and powerful effects on individual, family and community, evidence of its impact is still met with skepticism” (Enfield and Nathaniel, 2013:16). Operationalizing Social Capital: An important elemental aspect within criticisms of social capital are not so much a disregard for the veneration it receives as a societal force, but rather “the problems in finding common definitional factors” (Magson, Craven, and BodkinAndrews, 2014:203). Similarly stated, the realm of research reveals broad support and convergence toward elements associated with social capital, but “What is not clear are what measurements or indicators of program and participant characteristics demonstrate a clear causality or strong correlation to social capital” (Enfield and Nathaniel, 2013:15). As a means to increase social capital empiricism, Magson, Craven, and Bodkin-Andrews (2014) conducted an 16

extensive mixed methods case study where they developed and used a measurement model called the Social Capital Cohesion Scale (SCCS). What the study was able to accomplish was what previously held beliefs could only theorize. Namely, the confirmation of previously held views that describe the multidimensional construct of social capital as well as validation that “higher levels of social capital across family, peers, neighbours, and institutions was related to lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress” (Magson, Craven, and Bodkin-Andrews, 2014:212). Bridging, Bonding and Linking: Two of the terms existing within the multidimensional construct of social capital are bridging and bonding. Bonding can be contextually understood as those close ties we have with similar groups of people while bridging associations “are usually single-purposed or instrumental, whereas bonding ties are affective or emotionally charged” (Flora and Flora, 2013:127). Another multidimensional term used to operationalize social capital is linking. Unlike bonding which functions on close social connections and then extending out further to “bridging,” linking has a vertical dimension to it that involves building alliances with people who hold positions of success (Terrion, 2006:158). It is also paramount to remember that within this multidimensional framework that reciprocity and trust remain “important functions of building and maintaining an individual’s social capital” (Putnam, 2000 as cited in Magson, Craven, and Bodkin-Andrews, 2014:206).

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CHAPTER 3 THEORY AND METHODS

FOUNDATIONAL THEORY Conceptually, this study considers and presents the inherent personal, social and community benefits contained within the various models of Intentional Community (IC) living (i.e., the independent variable), as a possible template to mitigate homelessness (i.e., dependent variable). To facilitate this process, the design of this case study was crafted in such a way as to be able identify the attitudes and opinions of Rapid City’s leadership base toward the idea of using IC benefits to help mitigate homelessness in the community. In colloquial terms it could be said that the basis of this study was crafted to find out if the community leaders who work with homelessness, think that the documented benefits of IC living could be used to help fight homelessness in Rapid City. One of the driving themes that remained constant throughout the whole of this case study is the theoretical foundation that it rests upon. In this regard, emphasis and reliance on the “conceptual” nature of Intentional Community living remained a priority. Another foundational component within the whole of this study is found in the scientific measurements of social capital and well-being. Specifically, both of these terms have well established historical associations with the vibrancy of communities and citizenry. Both terms also have strong empirical correlations to IC living. Furthermore, the scientific measurements of social capital, and the measurement of well-being within a social structure have strong associations to advancements in social mobility and citizen contribution. Through such a lens, this study gives consideration to both the individual and the larger community.

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RESEARCH DESIGN From a scientific perspective this exploratory study incorporated a mixed methods platform in a case study design. Choosing a mixed methods approach (i.e., quantitative surveys used in conjunction with qualitative face-to-face interviews), provided study participants with the opportunity to share their opinions using two methods. First, by participating in a multiple choice Likert Scale survey, followed by face-to-face recorded interviews. This provided study participants with an opportunity to qualify their attitudes and opinions toward the subject matter. In other words, utilizing mixed methods allowed this study to achieve a more comprehensive data set that would not have been otherwise available. Furthermore, given the small number of participants for this study, the qualitative element proved to be instrumental. Structurally, the unit of analysis for this study was person driven with its reliance on faceto-face interviews. At inception, the desired data were hypothesized to be imbedded in leadership caliber members of the Rapid City, SD community. Specifically, the early stages of this study took a two stage approach to locating this leadership base. The first step was grounded in being able to identify organizations or institutions that are working with, or had a vested interest in the plight of homelessness in Rapid City. Secondly, the study presupposed that once located, these organizations and institutions would have executive or management level staff that would be willing to participate in face-to-face interviews. Emphasis on the terms executive and/or management level is a foundational aspect of this case study because both are being used interchangeably and synonymously with “leadership.” With the above as a foundational building block, the next design goal was to achieve a high level of cross-community involvement. To accomplish this, five sectors of the community: (1) Homeless Shelters, (2) Nonprofit & Philanthropy, (3) Civic Government, (4) Native 19

American leadership, (5) Health & Wellness, were selected. The selection process for the five sectors began with a pragmatic approach. For example, given this study’s emphasis on homelessness in Rapid City, choosing Homeless Shelters and Civic Government were natural selections. Native leadership was also a natural selection given that the majority of Rapid City’s homeless population are American Indian. My choice to include Nonprofit & Philanthropy was simply based on my personal understanding of the importance of nonprofits in a community context. And lastly, the inclusion of Health & Wellness was established after the original working model had been created. In other words, as the framework for this study begin to take shape, I came to believe that securing the input of leaders from the field of Health & Wellness would lend a robust element to the overall data set. In hindsight, I believe that such an addition also provided an unexpected knowledge-based element that is crucial to understanding homelessness. Numerically, the target number of participants from each of the five sectors was set at 3 to 5. It was determined that achieving this number would provide ample data to conduct this study, and be able to illustrate any cross-sector differences that may exist. It was anticipated that this imbedded “Five Sector” design would carry an excellent level of experimenter reliability. From this research-based foundation it was also anticipated that the inherent triangulation connected to the five-sector design would insure strong internal and external validity

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PROCESS IMPLEMENTATION Tool Set: Content of the Mixed Methods: With the target data source identified, the next step was construction and implementation of the mixed methods. Specifically, there were three main components. The first was the creation of a quantitative survey (see Appendix I). The second was the creation of a set of qualitative survey questions (see Appendix II). And the third was the creation of a 13 minute video presentation that served as an introduction to Intentional Community living. This 13 minute movie was constructed using MS PowerPoint slides and three public domain YouTube videos that were imbedded into the PowerPoint presentation. Once complete, the MS PowerPoint production was converted into a movie format. Contextually, the first video was a mixed age cohousing community, the second was a long-standing ecovillage, and the third represented an age 50+ cohousing community. The megabyte size of the movie prohibits attaching it in this report; however, the three YouTube video links are listed in Appendix III. Using this three-tier mixed method approach allowed the study to achieve the conceptual promotion of Intentional Community (IC) living within an “Introductory” capacity. In preparation to be able show the video presentation, it was downloaded onto an 8 inch electronic notebook. The notebook also served as my instrument of choice for recording the qualitative interviews. This process will be discussed in more detail below. Stages of the Data Collection Process: In preparation to move the project from concept to implementation I created a project introduction sheet that described both the research being conducted as well as details on what would be required of the participants (see Appendix IV). The next step in the process was to arrive at the best method for contacting potential participants. Given the relatively small geographical area of Rapid City, I determined that a face-to-face 21

approach would yield the best results—this as opposed to an arduous, and time consuming mail campaign. Toward these ends I engaged in a web-based search of potential organizations and institutions using key words such as homelessness in Rapid City, homeless shelters and simply started making a list. Included in these initial and informal web searches were key word searches with data base companies such as Guidestar and GreatNonprofits. During this process I created my own MS Word doc directory with names, addresses, phone numbers and potential contacts for each of the five sectors. Once my informal directory started to take shape I began the dual task of physically going to the various business locations and/or making telephone calls. In addition, I began attending monthly meetings held by what is known as The Black Hills Regional Homeless Coalition. This networking process had three primary goals: (1) The acquisition of on the spot interviews when applicable (2) Set up an appointment for a return interview, (3) Ask for names of anyone who might be interested in my project or possibly participating in my project. Inherent to this process meant having everything needed to conduct the interviews available on the spot, i.e., project introduction/consent forms, copies of the qualitative interviews, electronic notebook, and a list of the qualitative questions. When applicable I left behind or delivered copies of the project introduction sheet/consent form along with one of my personal ID cards. As part of the networking process I also made sure to ask for referrals—that is, names of people and/or organizations who held positions applicable to this study. In a couple of cases I also left behind copies of the questionnaires at the prospect’s request.

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DATA COLLECTION The Physical Interview Process: When the physical interviews took place, each participant signed a consent form and was aware that the interview design was set at a maximum of one hour (see Appendix IV). Out of the 26 interviews there were approximately three that went over the one hour mark, and over half of the interviews were completed in approximately 45 minutes. All 26 interviews were completed without complication or interruption. As illustrated in the project information sheet/consent form, the mechanics of the interview process included three main components. Sequentially, these activities included: (1) Participant completion of the 13 question quantitative survey, see Appendix I, (2) watch the 13 minute video introducing Intentional Community living, and (3) participate in a face-to-face recorded qualitative interview. Another key component build into the study was that all data was pooled into the five sectors. In other words, there are no names, titles or specific organizations attached anywhere in this study—only the sector to which they were part of and that they met the criteria for participation as executive or management level staff with their respective organizations. All participants were aware and in agreement of which sector their data would ultimately be used. All 26 interviews took place during the months of November and December 2015. Quantitative: Step (1): In commencing the interviews, the normal chain of events included a reminder to the participants that IC living as a construct has many different models, and that this study is foundationally reliant on the larger conceptual framework. It is also noteworthy to mention that at this point, all of the participants had been given the opportunity to look over the project introduction sheet (see Appendix IV). These logistics paved the way for an easy transition to get the interviews underway. Participants were first given a paper copy of the quantitative questions to fill out. Implementing this step first allowed for the completion of all 23

paper work. Another consideration for getting the “paper work” done first was that if for some reason the participants were to get called away, at least some data would have been secured. Both the quantitative and qualitative questions were constructed to achieve maximum cohesion to the core goals of the project, and therefore, to each of the exploratory framework SQ1-5 sub questions. Delivery of the IC Movie: Step (2): To facilitate being able to show the IC movie without any complications, I had purchased a notebook case that allowed the unit to be set hands free on a desk or table. In all cases, the interviews were conducted at the participant’s location which meant that in most cases, they simply watched the video from the comfort of their desk. For some of the initial interviews I utilized a set of battery powered portable speakers which allowed participants to have their own volume control. I discovered; however, that the speaker on the notebook was superior in quality. As a result, I simply quit using the portable speakers after about the first 10 interviews. Face-to-Face Qualitative Interviews: Step (3): As part of the qualitative interview process I used a two-step approach to each question. For example, before turning on the notebook recorder I explained that the interviews would have five short segments that we would be transitioning through. I would begin each of the five segments with separate categorical statements; these would be followed by a maximum of two questions for each statement (see Appendix II). These preliminaries allowed the participants to understand exactly what was going to take place, and how many questions were going to be asked of them before the recorder was even turned on. It is my strong belief that this two-step method was highly successful in creating a predictive and easy going atmosphere.

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Introducing the qualitative process as the final step in the interviews also allowed each participant to be able to engage the IC conversation in a conceptual context. As anticipated, some participants were more familiar than others with the IC concept, but all were able to contribute. This method also put the participant in the driver’s seat regarding the pace of the interview. In other words, because they had the freedom to speak as little or as long as they wanted to for any given question, I simply waited for a pause, thanked them, and moved on to the next question. This process also facilitated a seamless ending to the interview. It is also noteworthy to mention that in almost every interview there was a strong networking element added to the process. That is, almost without fail the participants provided names of people who may be good candidates for this study. All total the end result was 26 completed interviews spread across the five sectors: Homeless Shelter sector (4 participants), Nonprofit & Philanthropy sector (6 participants), Civic Government sector (7 participants), Native American sector (4 participants), and Health & Wellness sector (5 participants).

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PROCESSING THE DATA Processing the quantitative surveys included the creation of MS Excel spreadsheets, graphs and charts. An important part of creating the Excel graphs and charts was simply processing them in sequential order until finished. Another method would have been to process them on an as needed basis while writing about the data findings; however, having all of them completed ahead of time was a welcome efficiency. In processing the recorded interviews I downloaded the recordings onto my PC under their appropriate heading. In other words, the only identifying component to the recordings was the respective codes. For example, H&W #1, #2 etc. After completing this process I created another similar file using the NVivo software I purchased to help facilitate the transcription process. The NVivo software helped provide a systematic approach to collating the recordings into their appropriate files. Once the files were created I transcribed each interview using the NVivo media player and then cut and pasted each interview into a MS Word doc for printing. To facilitate analyzation of the printed interviews, each individual paper copy was put through the manual coding process separately to identify information that best fit with each of the five sub questions. Strategically, this process consisted of assigning a different color highlighter for each sub question, finding information that correlated with each theme, and marking the information accordingly. I then created a separate file folder for each of the five sectors in which to store the paper copies for easy access.

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CHAPTER 4 DATA FINDINGS

Introduction: As outlined in chapter one, there are five sub questions that serve as the guiding framework for the foundation of this study. They were designed to serve as a platform from which to understand, and help measure the attitudes and opinions of community leaders on the theoretical idea of using Intentional Community living to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota. Equally foundational is the five sector approach this study utilized to secure those attitudes and opinions. Namely, the participation of community leaders spread across five different sectors of the Rapid City community—Sector (1) Homeless Shelters, (2) Nonprofit/Philanthropy, (3) Civic Government, (4) Native American and (5) Health & Wellness. All total there were 26 management or executive level staff that took part in this study. To illustrate the data findings, the sub question designations are laid out in sequential order in conjunction with data obtained and notated from each of the 1-5 sectors. Throughout this chapter, this sequential use of the sub questions is a constant; however, beyond the graphs and charts, the data shared from the qualitative interviews is by nature, more conversationally driven. In this regard it is noteworthy to mention that although there were slightly different numbers of participants across sectors, each of the following SQ 1-5 sections was created with a goal to achieve a high level of equal representation. It is also noteworthy to mention that the contents of this chapter serve as a testament to the complexities that exist within a topic that is largely centered on the plight of homelessness. Simply stated, launching a Q&A on a complicated social issue(s) with a diverse field of participants (within a hypothetical framework) is a place where ideas, solutions, curiosity, heartache and hope enter into one conversation.

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SUB QUESTION 1: IDENTIFYING PARTICIPANT & ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT Central to the goals of this study was securing information about how the organizations (and leaders) represented from the various participating sectors were specifically engaged in the fight against homelessness. Accordingly, the first sub question in this study asked: What are the social and structural factors of the organizations and institutions working to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota? The basic elements of this question are found in the participants of this study, and the organizations they represent within the community. That is, the structures (i.e., the organizations and institutions) visible in the community’s fight against homelessness, and the professionals who make sure the social mandates emanating from those structural organizations are distributed within the community (i.e., the executive or management level staff who participated in this study). To begin addressing these findings, figures 4.1 through 4.4 investigate the average length of time the study participants have been involved with issues related to homelessness. Another goal was to build an understanding toward what areas and/or activities of community involvement these community leaders represent within their respective organizations. The data reveal that the Rapid City community benefits from a wide range of leadership involvement across the five sectors. Figures 4.1 and 4.2 reveal that 92% of the study participants have at least 6 years in working with homeless issues, 65% have 11 to 20 years, and 30% have over 20 years working with issues related to homelessness. Figure 4.2 lists the percentages for each sector individually.

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Figure 4.1

(Data based on survey question #1 in Appendix I)

Years working with Homelessness N=26 10

9 8

8

7

6 4 2 2 0 0 0-1 year

By Sector, Figure 4.2 (1) Homeless Shelters (2) Nonprofit/Philanthropic (3) Civic Government (4) Native American Leadership (5) Health & Wellness

Totals

2-5 years

6 to 10 years

11-20 years

(Data based on survey question #1 in Appendix I) n= 2-5years 6-10years 11-20years 1 1 2 4 3 1 6 2 2 7 1 1 4 1 3 5

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8%

27%

20+ years

20+ years

34%

2 3 2 1

31%

Qualifying this organizational influence within the Rapid City community, the next two figures display the areas participants identified as part of their work with homelessness. For instance, as a collective group; figure 4.3 reveals the work of Community Outreach and Front Lines as the most prominent areas of influence among participants. Figure 4.4 provides a descending listing of participant percentages across the individual sectors. As a scale of measurement, these listings were designed to help achieve a collective understanding of community structural support toward homelessness. In this general sense they are not intended to be either comprehensive or limiting in scope. That being stated, the list does provide a unique look into some of the areas and activities associated with Rapid City’s ongoing work to mitigate homelessness.

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Figure 4.3

(Data based on survey question #2 in Appendix I)

N=26 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Figure 4.4 (Areas of community involvement most selected by study participants) Total Homeless Nonprofit & Civic Native American % Shelters Philanthropy Government Leadership N=26 n=4 n=6 n=7 n=4 Community Outreach 61% 100% 100% 42% 50% Front Lines 50% 75% 33% 71% 25% Education 42% 100% 66% 42% 25% Program Coordinator 38% 100% 33% 28% 0% Counseling 30% 0% 50% 28% 0% Housing 30% 50% 16% 42% 0% Grant Writing 30% 75% 33% 14% 0% Health Care 30% 0% 16% 14% 75% Managerial 26% 100% 0% 14% 0% Friendship 23% 0% 50% 14% 25% Spiritual Support 23% 75% 50% 14% 0% Financial Support 15% 0% 33% 28% 0% Food Service 11% 0% 0% 28% 25% Research 11% 0% 16% 14% 0% Other 11% 25% 16% 0% 25%

Health & Wellness n=5 60% 40% 20% 40% 60% 40% 40% 60% 40% 20% 20% 0% 0% 20% 0%

Homelessness as Viewed by the Participants of this Study: Hand in hand with understanding the caliber of leaders fighting homelessness in Rapid City is taking effort to look through the lens of homelessness from their vantage point. For example, as a means to more accurately measure the plight of homelessness in Rapid City, participants were given questions designed to help build a greater understanding their ongoing work. Displayed in figures 4.5 and 4.6, participants were asked to qualify homelessness in Rapid City in comparison to their 30

knowledge of similarly sized cities. As an interesting side note: Although only asked to choose one of five possible answers, several participants who chose “more severe” also chose “more challenging.”

Severity of homelesness in Rapid City 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ABOUT EQUAL Civic n=7

MORE SEVERE

Health & Wellness n=5

LESS SEVERE

NonProfit n=6

LESS CHALLENGING

Shelter n=4

MORE CHALLENGING

Native Leaders n=4

Figure 4.5 (Data based on question #3 on the quantitative survey in Appendix I)

Severity calculations measured using percentages only About equal to other similarly sized cities More Severe Less Severe Less Challenging More Challenging

Figure 4.6 Health & Wellness n=5

Total N=26

Homeless Shelters n=4

Nonprofit & Philanthropy n=6

Civic Government n=7

Native American Leadership n=4

23%

20%

17%

28%

50%

0

58% 4% 4% 50%

60% 0 0 0

67% 0 0 67%

42% 0 0 85%

50% 0 0 25%

60% 20% 20% 40%

In consideration of the above information regarding “challenge and severity,” and the caliber of the people that created the data spike, it is logical to consider possible correlations. A search for possible correlations becomes even more relevant given the untied sentiment across 31

sectors. As a means to better understand this dynamic as viewed through a leadership lens—the words of two participating leaders may help to advance our understanding: “There’s a mislabeling of homelessness people that is always with negative connotations. They come here because they feel there is a way out of their poverty on the reservation and what happens is they come here and they are judged and labeled. And they find out its no better so that’s why there are so many migrant people among the homeless” (Native American).

“Homelessness in Rapid City is a complex problem. We have a unique situation with the reservations around us in that they don’t have employment on the reservation so they come to Rapid to try and have jobs, but the wages aren’t enough to maintain housing” (Civic Government).

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SUB QUESTION 2: DISCUSSING THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF IC LIVING IN RAPID CITY, SD Having established a measure of understanding toward the community leaders participating in this study, the next objective was to secure participants’ initial impressions toward Intentional Communities. It is worth noting here that some of the participants seemed very familiar with the concept of Intentional Communities—others were being formally introduced to the term for the first time. Establishing such a measurement was not incorporated in the design of this study. This introductory-based reality does not restrict or inhibit the data findings, but it does serve to validate why the foundation of this study leans heavily on the “concept” of IC living. With these limitations in mind, the second sub question asked: What benefits do organizational and institutional leaders see for Intentional Communities in Rapid City, South Dakota? From a literal perspective, participant comments toward this question were both enthusiastic and pragmatic. They also highlight the theoretical limitations inherent to this study. For instance, participants were asked during the interview process for any thoughts or comments they may have on what the concept of Intentional Community living could offer to the homeless or the community at large. Candidly, one participant commented, “The concept would work, but I don’t know exactly who it would work for” (Civic Government). This quote in particular is indicative to the complex nature of this topic as seen through the eyes of these community leaders. In other words, from a conceptual construct perspective, there was virtually unanimous support across sectors for the potential benefits of Intentional Community living; however, the hypothetical nature of the study cultivated a series of equally hypothetical questions, comments, and concerns. To begin evaluating this dynamic, several 33

comments from Sector #1 Homeless Shelters are shared below. Following the Homeless Shelter data, the same basic outline will be used with comments and concerns from the remaining 4 sectors. Sector #1 Homeless Shelters Key words: Community Potential, Addictions, Alcoholism, Homeless Network, Homeless Codes, Native Culture, Need for Self-Sustaining, Ultimate Tax Savings, Cautious Optimism

SQ2: Identifying IC Benefits: The familiar theme of support for the IC living on a concept level received enthusiastic support from the Homeless Shelter sector. In search of identifying benefits, they also did so with a pragmatically optimistic tone. For example, “If it’s a program that is does well it can be very beneficial to everybody involved including this community” (Homeless Shelter). Continuing the favorable attitudes toward the IC concept one shelter participant expressed strong support, but did so while echoing the collective concern for the detriments of substance abuse. “It has a lot of potential to helping the problem in Rapid City. The only hiccup in it in my mind is keeping the problem of addictions and alcoholism out of the community” (Homeless Shelters). Similar to other sector views on the potential benefits of IC living, another participant brought up the communal factor. “It would be a positive; I think the homeless people would have a place where they feel they can be with other people that they chose to be with, their friends. The homeless have a very expansive network… They kind of have their own homeless codes that they follow, but some of them would like being in an intentional community, some of them would want to stay in the camps, but some of them would really enjoy that neighborhood feeling… especially traditional Native culture where everybody kind of looks after each other which is really cool” (Homeless Shelters).

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Regarding the potential effects Intentional Community living may have at the community level another participant provided yet another pragmatic suggestion. “Showing the community a model of them becoming self-sustaining will pull more community support. It’s crucial to show them that this isn’t going to be the community supporting them forever. Becoming selfsupporting so that they see an end goal of less tax money going to that” (Homeless Shelters). Sector #2 Nonprofit & Philanthropy Key words: Social Demographics, Felons, Children at Risk, Segregation, Supportive Environment, NIMBY, Affordable Housing, Living Wage

SQ2: Identifying IC Benefits: This sector proved to be fertile ground for advancing IC benefits; it also expanded the conversation to include some new demographic considerations: “As far as felons returning to the community it’s a great concept because it has worked in other places in bigger cities. Because people monitor each other; they build life together and they make it because it’s a supportive situation. I believe that there’s a chance it could work for kids moving out of foster homes because they still have some strength and are not beat down so far that they could really help each other in an intentional community” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy). This illustrates the complexity of need associated with homelessness. It also highlights the complexities community leaders in Rapid City are grappling with when it comes to integration within segments of the populous. For instance, when given the opportunity to elaborate on the potential benefits Intentional Community living may offer to the homeless or the community at large another participant said, “Working toward an integrated community is important. It’s important for us not to geographically and socially separate ourselves. You take Coral Drive School and they may have two to three percent of their student body on free and reduced lunch and cross that with General Beatle School and you have 97 percent that would qualify. I don’t think that’s healthy for either North Rapid or South Rapid City to be so isolated” 35

(Nonprofit & Philanthropy). Conversely, another community participant who acknowledged the potential IC benefits also illustrated that as a society “there is so much of ‘Not in My Backyard’ kind of thing, or ‘Don’t Destroy My Neighborhood’ or ‘You know what those people are going to do to the neighborhood, it’s going to bring everybody’s property values down” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy). What is seen from this dichotomy is another confirmation of the complexities that exist within the homeless conversation; within the midst of these complexities, the concept of IC living received favorable support, “It’s something that’s definitely needed in Rapid, especially with the lack of affordable housing and lack of living wages. It’s something that would be very beneficial and potentially very successful” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy). Sector #3 Civic Government Key words: Affordable Housing, Sense of Community & Belonging, Untapped Talent, Native American Stereotypes, Spiritual Counseling, Support Beyond Structures, Families in Poverty,

SQ2: Identifying IC Benefits: As previously illustrated, most of Rapid City’s homeless population is Native American—a fact that was repeatedly discussed in some way during conversations based in identifying benefits of IC living. The words of one participant serve as an example to this dynamic: We have a huge housing gap which if we were able to fill that would probably solve 2/3 of our homeless issues… If we could get housing within that range, and that sense of community that helps keep them there, and learn how to live together with people” (Civic Government). This statement alone provides insight into several ongoing concerns within the Rapid City community. Similarly, when another participant was asked what IC living could offer to the homeless or the community at large, they commented: “It would offer hope, opportunity, and give people a

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sense of belonging by helping them with their identity needs, if its work therapy, if it’s spiritual counseling—any type of academic or vocational skill they may need. It could provide an opportunity for people to share their talents and provide stability and support for each other. We have a lot of our people—especially Native Americans who are homeless have a ton of talent; artistic talent. And I see that as a valuable resource that is not being exposed” (Civic Government). Much of the data surrounding the theoretical benefits IC living could bring to Rapid City centers the dynamics associated with providing physical housing. Echoing the need to incorporate the bigger picture, another participant commented, “We can’t just throw people in a village and expect them to make it. We’ve done that—it’s called Lakota Homes and we did that to people. We set people up to fail because we don’t come alongside them, we just expect them to know and that’s not a fair assumption. And people are standing back and go, ‘Well, people are just lazy; I told you they were lazy; I told you they can’t keep anything nice’ and that’s not true.” (Civic Government). From a researcher vantage point it was fascinating to witness how the interviews became unavoidably interconnected to current community challenges. The above example in particular illustrates concern for integrating Native culture in the planning process. Another supportive SQ2 theme that surfaced in the realm of civic government surrounded IC living and its potential influence as a construct. The following participant was elaborating on the strong presence of cultural differences in the Rapid City community and how the IC model would require both open mindedness and the need to realize that periodic conflicts are part of the package—so to speak. “But people that really wanted to work and wanted to build this kind of a community—I think it would work. I see that social connection would really build for families— that’s what families in poverty are lacking; they’re lacking the social connections to help them 37

maintain” (Civic Government). Similarly, another participant said, “I could see it as a lower end of the stepping stone for some of the homeless as a community like that; a community where people come together, work together and get the resources to actually move forward” (Civic Government). The data obtained from the civic sector provides a unique vantage point from which to consider how Intentional Community living may benefit Rapid City as a community. Furthermore, looking at things from a civic perspective also serves as an excellent vantage point to integrate and consider data from the remaining sectors.

Sector #4 Native American Key words: Creating Community, Conservatism, Pilot Program, Holistic Mindset, Resources, Jobs, Daycare, Poverty, Extended Family, Tiyospaye, Increased Involvement

SQ2: Identifying IC Benefits: There was a pragmatic strategy-based theme voiced by Native American leaders. Among the many logistical suggestions, one Native American participant commented that “Rapid City is a very conservative town and it would be the kind of thing that might take some time to implement and see a payoff, kind of a long term investment. Once it were to get going it would be very effective… It’s creating community” (Native American). There was also considerable conversation regarding families and what families would require to be able to function and contribute to the larger community. The discussions were congruent with other sectors in what can be described as a hopeful theme. “There is a place for intentional communities in Western South Dakota whether that be in Rapid City proper or outside somewhere in the Black Hills. Absolutely, we need to try, we need a pilot” (Native American). Another cautiously optimistic Native American participant commented “It’s a good concept, but when you are going to go into a concept of assisting with poverty, you’ve got to look

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at all of their economic and personal problems too. Because with the homeless, they’ve learned to survive, and they’ve learned to survive with the stress” (Native American). When given the opportunity to express their thoughts on what Intentional Community living could offer to the homeless or the community at large the conversation expanded to jobs and families. “If you do something like this you’re going to have to provide a lot of different resources to help them, build more education and more skills… In order to work they have to have daycare; that’s one of the major problems is either having daycare or a ride to keep their job so those are the kinds of things you have to think about” (Native American). Another recurring theme throughout the five sectors was consistent admiration for the unconditional acceptance Native Americans display toward family and friends. Comments from one Native American participant in particular provide significant insights for this sub question and beyond. The word that was emphasized in this particular discussion is “Tiyospaye” (or extended family) in the Lakota language. This Native American participant expanded on the historical significance of the extended family (Tiyospaye) being directly connected to Native American homelessness “It’s just in our nature to take care of our families and people in the community and I think that there’s a larger percentage of homeless and homelessness because of this Tiyospaye extended family system that is way underrated. Everybody that I know has three or four people that are relatives that are homeless. And in Rapid City I don’t think there’s enough recognition of the need. I don’t think there’s enough involvement that focuses on the need of homelessness” (Native American).

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Sector #5 Health & Wellness Key words: Need for Solutions, Lifestyle Choices, Mental Health, Basic Needs, Chronically Dependent, Native American Culture, Empowerment vs. Enablement, Homeless Stereotypes, Untapped Opportunities

SQ2: Identifying IC Benefits: The Health & Wellness sector produced a balanced optimism as viewed through a wide and candid lens. As one participant explained in conversation about the potential benefits of Intentional Community living in Rapid City, “I have a strong opinion here that this community is starved for solutions, real solution to our homeless problem” (Health & Wellness). Another participant in the Health & Wellness camp discussed in length the need for homeless people to be given the opportunity to make their own choice to participate (or not) within an Intentional Community living construct. This same point was also brought up in other sectors. “The people have to choose to live that way… All people need social interaction, so it’s not necessarily a homeless distinction—they just happen to not have the resources for whatever reason, so the best way to find out is to go and talk with them. Would they want to do this? I’m guessing yes, but maybe not all of them because just like the general community, not all of them want to live this way” (Health & Wellness). Highlighted by the Health & Wellness sector was concern over the categories of the populous; namely, the severely disadvantaged and mentally ill. “Our offices have somewhere between 800 and 1000 folks we work with throughout the Black Hills area. Quite often they come to us and they’re not housed, or not housed adequately. If they have health needs, or emotional needs or mental health needs they’re not usually adequately addressed and so we work with them on trying to get the basics… So if you’re talking about the chronic, that’s something that will get in your way, but there’s a lot of people who live well under the communal nature of the mission. So there’s some folks that it would really work well for. In the Native Community,

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there’s some great potential, it fits culturally into the way they view the world” (Health & Wellness). Another participant suggested “If they have the support to do it in a way that’s not enabling but empowering—that’s huge! Because it needs to be self-sustaining and there is a sense of self-respect, an identity that comes from empowerment” (Health &Wellness). And as with previous sectors another community participant outlined a number of specific community benefits that might be derived from IC living. “It would offer the homeless that missing component where they would elevate loneliness and isolation, let alone share expenses. The other thing is that there is a great deal of intelligence and resource among the homeless population that is stereotyped—‘They’re homeless, they have these negative attributes’—rather than ‘they’re homeless but what do they have to offer?’ It gives me chills that there are homeless who have so much to offer and it would be an opportunity to access that” (Health & Wellness).

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SUB QUESTION 3: IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL LEADERSHIP ROLES WITHIN AN INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY HYPOTHETICAL Looking at Intentional Community living as a possible tool to help mitigate homelessness, another goal of this study was to find out what types of support (in favor of moving closer to an official IC working model) might be available on an organization and institutional level. Toward these ends, question number 3 of 5 asked: What potential role would organization and institutional leaders play in implementing Intentional Community living as an approach to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota? Similar to the previous section, the idea of finding clear cut answers to these sub questions remained elusive under a theoretical model. In other words, support for the IC concept was easy to find, but it is understandably, a challenging prospect for any community leader, organization or institution to reveal what their active role would be within the construct of such a theoretical model. With that being said, much of the information shared by these community leaders does suggest that the illusiveness of role identification in challenging situations may have much in common—such as was alluded to in figures 4.5 and 4.6 (severity and challenges). With this in mind, the information shared in this section has been laid out in two parts. The first section uses graphs and charts—many of which are directly connected to the quantitative survey questions. The second part will follow the format used in the SQ2 section where a more in-depth, sector by sector dialog will be outlined. As with the model used for sub question 2, each sector will begin with a key word guide exposing data from the qualitative interviews. In the continued search for “role identification” participants were asked two quantitative questions in conjunction with the idea of launching a formal feasibility study toward the creation of a nonprofit owned, professionally staffed Intentional Community (IC) to help mitigate 42

homelessness in Rapid City. The first question asked if their respective organization would be willing to provide logistical support for such a study, and the second asked if they felt such a study could expect to receive strong community support. As can be seen in figures 4.7 and 4.8, over 90% agreed or strongly agreed that such support would be available. The collective and sector-by-sector data for this topic is illustrated with both percentage and mean score measurement. Interestingly, there is a “strongly agree” spike in several of the sectors. Figure 4.7 (Data corresponds to Question 10a in the quantitative survey—Appendix 1) Respondent organizational Total Homeless Nonprofit & Civic Native support for a feasibility N=26 Shelters Philanthropy Government American study n=4 n=6 n=7 Leadership n=4 % and mean scores Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree (mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

23% 69% 8% 0

50% 50% 0 0

17% 83% 0 0

43% 43% 14% 0

50% 50% 0 0

20% 80% 0 0

1.9

1.5

1.8

1.7

1.5

1.8

Figure 4.8 (Data corresponds to Question 10b in the quantitative survey—Appendix 1) Belief that there would be Total Homeless Nonprofit & Civic Native strong community support N=26 Shelters Philanthropy Government American for an IC feasibility study n=4 n=6 n=7 Leadership n=4 % and mean scores Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree (mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

Health & Wellness n=5

12% 81% 3.5% 3.5%

0 100% 0 0

17% 66% 0 17%

14% 86% 0 0

1.9

2

2.2

1.9

43

Health & Wellness n=5

0

20% 60% 20% 0

2

2

100%

Professional “Live-In” Roles: Correspondingly tied to potential leadership “roles” within an Intentional Community concept, the participants were asked if they thought professional care givers (or experienced families who have lived in an IC environment) would be likely to accept a basic benefit package in exchange for their participation toward the creation of an Intentional Community. Specifically, an “expenses paid” arrangement to live and serve in an IC community alongside selected homeless candidates (survey question #11 in Appendix 1). As can be seen from the mean scores in figure 4.9, such a prospect received favorable majority support; however, for reasons unknown, this question was left blank by several of the participants as is defined in red. Clearly, the overall low number of participants is easily recognized here, but the consistency across sectors also establishes a level of noteworthy agreement in the search to identify roles within a hypothetical framework. Figure 4.9 Basic needs package as a means to involve seasoned IC families or professional care givers as “live ins”

(4 out of 26 participants left this question blank) Total Homeless Nonprofit & Civic N=26 Shelters Philanthropy Government (N=22) n=4 n=6 n=7 For this n=2 n=5 question

Native American Leadership n=4

Health & Wellness n=5 n=4

% and mean scores Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree (mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

4% 69% 8% 4%

0 100% 0 0

20% 80% 0 0

0 71% 14% 14%

0 100% 0 0

0 75% 25% 0

2.13

1

1.8

2.4

2

2.25

On the qualitative side of the search for identifiable “roles,” the level of correlative idea-sharing generated from the field of participants was considerable. Facing the same hypothetical limitations previously discussed, the information to follow reveals that there is no single vision 44

or recommendation that defines the collective. What can be seen; however, is a high level of desire and cooperation to create and achieve positive results. In testament to what could be seen as a brainstorming venue toward role creation, two community leaders help set the bar. Their comments serve as representations toward the types of idea sharing dialog that persisted throughout the five sectors: “I would love to be a contributing person who could be involved in this effort; I really would. Yes, get me involved!” (Native American).

“So if people were to get together to talk about intentional communities, what support programs would be helpful in making that successful? I think the whole community in some ways” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy).

Communication Across Sectors: Advancing the topic of leadership roles, this study incorporated an opportunity for community leaders to help measure existing attitudes toward communication within a community leadership context. Each participant was asked if Rapid City’s network of organizational professionals working to address homelessness enjoyed strong channels of open communication. As figure 4.10 illustrates, 81 percent of study participants either agreed or strongly agreed that there were strong open channels of communication across sectors, leaving 19 percent in the disagreement category. As a leadership collective of 26 participants, 60 percent of the disagreement with this topic is found in the Native American sector with the Civic Government and Health & Wellness sectors respectively making up 0.08 percent (0.04= one person in each of those two sectors).

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Figure 4.10 Strong channels of open communication

% and mean scores Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

(Based on question #4 of quantitative survey in Appendix I) Total Homeless Nonprofit & Civic Native N=26 Shelters Philanthropy Government American n=4 n=6 n=7 Leadership n=4

Health & Wellness n=5

23% 58% 15% 4%

0 100% 0 0

50% 50% 0 0

29% 57% 14% 0

0 25% 50% 25%

20% 60% 20% 0

2

2

1.5

1.9

3

2

(mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

Significantly, when broken down further on a sector by sector basis, 75 percent of Native American leaders that took part in this study either disagreed or strongly disagreed that there is strong open channels of communication. Similar to other topics covered, the ability to expand on these variances is beyond the scope of this study. In consideration of these variances; however, it is noteworthy to draw equal attention to both the small number of study participants as well as the data spikes. IC ROLE IDENTIFICATION: A SECTOR BY SECTOR CONVERSATION Sector #1 Homeless Shelters Key words: Cyclical Poverty, Addictions, Types of Homelessness, Stereotypes, Community Connections, United Front

SQ3: Leadership Roles: It is safe to say that the “roles” here on the front lines of homelessness bring yet another unique perspective. For example, one of periodic but consistent themes being illustrated throughout the five sectors is the term generational poverty and the struggles to help those who are homeless to break the cycle. As one homeless shelter participant illustrated from their front line position, “I see a lot of homeless people in Rapid City who have a

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job, but they don’t have enough money to pay the rent, or they lost their job and within a very short time they find themselves homeless. So there’s a lot of them living right on the edge and when they hit that hopelessness it’s very easy to fall into the alcoholism with the other homeless people—so that’s the cycle” (Homeless Shelter). Another participant commented on the need to develop an expanded understanding of supportive housing, the elderly and the different faces of homelessness. “There are so many different types of homelessness are not really looked at. The person out on the street is what the picture is and it’s so much more… It can be an individual, but the impact in the family and what that really means needs to be addressed. Both types of issues—how it’s impacting the whole community” (Homeless Shelter). Other conversations from the shelter participants regarding roles, centered on the logistics of making the IC community functional. For example, in elaborating on the dynamics of case management check-ups, housing vouchers and general functions within an IC structure, this participant illustrated, “That would all be part of the community living; when you have community you have wealthy, poor and the middle class— that’s what makes a community and everybody is working together” (Homeless Shelter). One of the things that remain consistent is participant willingness to brainstorm and share ideas. These illustrations also serve to illuminate a number of the complexities that exist in providing for the homeless. In the search to identify supportive roles there was also visibility in the homeless shelter sector for a united front. For instance, in a discussion about potential community support for moving Intentional Community living past the concept stage, one shelter participant said, “It is an issue that’s been continuing, it just needs to come to the forefront. There’s been a lot of work done and I like the idea about bringing in the community and the business community—so it’s not just nonprofit. Bringing in some of those other resources and

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getting them on board could be part of the discussion—maybe move it to the next step” (Homeless Shelter). Sector #2: Nonprofit & Philanthropy Key words: Collaborative efforts, Current housing projects, Block grants, Funding & Expertise, People in the Trenches, Moving beyond Crisis mode

SQ3: Leadership Roles: Within the nonprofit & philanthropy sector there were significant similarities in conversation with those found in the civic government sector. A trend that likely has a strong correlation to the community collaborative mentioned by one of the civic leaders (i.e., “35-40 people at the table” see pp. 49-50). In validation of this collaborative, one nonprofit participant commented, “Right now there are some good efforts underway for building integration between different community organizations and if there was a push to make something like this happen, I think being involved with those efforts would be good” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy). Another participant also alluded to the collaborative effect but did so with comments regarding the current status of both role and available housing. “The building part of it has been part of our problem. There hasn’t been city infrastructure to provide funds to get some of this built with the exception of right now. Right now there are some funds available through the community development block grant, and they were just allocated to a couple of different projects. One was the Garfield Project and one was the Hague Project and so that’s relatively new. And so in my opinion that’s one of the reasons there isn’t affordable housing—the community hasn’t come together yet. They’re starting but they haven’t come together yet in ways that are needed to facilitate this complicated issue. It takes a lot of upfront money and it takes

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people who really know the ins and outs of making this kind of stuff work. There’s a lot of people talking about it right now so its good timing” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy). The data from the Nonprofit & Philanthropy sector provides serval overall insights. First and foremost it provides verification that a collaborative effort is ongoing in the Rapid City community. Secondly, the data also provides vivid look and insight into the changing and dynamic structure of “roles” within a community context. As one voice from the nonprofit & philanthropy sector summarized, “There’s just a lot of good people in the trenches every day working hard to help those that are battling homelessness. It’s a need to provide services for people who are battling homelessness, but it’s also a need to provide what’s next where others can come in… You’ve got to move beyond the crisis and start building up what’s next” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy). Sector #3: Civic Government Key words: Sustainable Community, Ongoing Collaborative, Community Identity Crisis, Detox, Case Management, Community Support

SQ3: Leadership Roles: Participants from the civic government sector elaborated on a number of areas that could serve as fertile ground for advancing role identification. Three areas in particular are mentioned. The first is the base of community leaders that exist beyond the scope of this study—community leaders who are already working together to address not only homelessness in Rapid City, but community advancements on multiple fronts. The second addresses one leader’s view toward a community role in fighting homelessness, and the third provides an inside look at some of the roles initiated within a governmental context. First, in discussing the similarities between IC living and some of the ongoing projects and ideas being implemented and/or considered for Rapid City’s homeless, one participant commented, “The city

49

has a committee for sustainable living that fits right in with this. A whole other group who are already working together to create a more sustainable community within our community… We probably have 35-40 people at the table all trying to figure out and make those types of things happen” (Civic Government). Second, another civic participant shared views from a more social and cultural perspective. “Our fight against homelessness has been largely beneath the surface and the community is largely uninvolved. Rapid City has a bit of an identity crisis which spreads out to other topics like homelessness. We don’t know how to heal yet because we don’t know who we are and what our responsibilities are as a community” (Civic Government). And third, while expounding on the plight of homelessness and the roles played out by various community entities, one participant talked about how “Detox has done a study where they started getting managers of some of the homeless people that came in on a frequent basis. They actually assigned a person to help manage five of them; by the time they figured out the cost of emergency rooms and detox costs it was 35-40 thousand a year. So yes, a community like that could work, but no matter what you’re going to have some problems to work through… Does it happen right away? No, but it can happen and something like that would work for them if it was affordable” (Civic Government). What is clear from these three examples is that the civic government sector is not only actively involved in the fight against homelessness, but is also actively involved in identifying and implementing new ways to meet the challenges that come with homelessness. When given the opportunity to share their thoughts on the community taking a supportive role in advancing IC living for the homeless beyond the concept stage, another civic participant said, “I think the idea of community support is improving in Rapid City. There are certainly a number of 50

individuals and organizations committed that would be supportive and I think the community is becoming more aware of what needs to be done. They’re becoming more willing, I believe. So I think there would be good support for a program” (Civic Government). Sector #4 Native American Key words: The Elderly, Loneliness, Lakota Culture, Intergenerational Living

SQ3: Leadership Roles: Earlier in this chapter several data insights from the Native American sector were highlighted (see pp. 38-39). Among them is leadership concern for a greater understanding of Native American culture as well as strong correlations with other sectors to advance the collaborative goal of identifying roles in the fight against homelessness. The data also revealed a void in how many of these Native American leaders view communication channels between them and other parts of the leadership in the community. Despite this void in communication there is no shortage of ideas for IC implementation. For example, one discussion in particular centered on idea-sharing toward a functional IC community in both Native and mixed context. “Not just Natives but a lot of elderly people are so lonely but they still have so much to give… Would it be that people the same age 50-70 or is it more feasible to have generational differences. If you were having a more Lakota culture type community you would want to have it more intergenerational type” (Native American). Sector #5: Health & Wellness Key words: NIMBY, Conservatism in SD, Bigotry and Racism, Challenging the Status Quo, Adolescent Homelessness,

SQ3: Leadership Roles: Consistent with the other sectors in this study the health & wellness sector proved instrumental in the realm of identifying potential roles within an IC construct. The discussions that took place within the qualitative context included significant

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emphasis on the role of community and some of the challenges there within. This dynamic was particularly visible in one participant’s comments about potential community support for IC living for the homeless beyond the concept stage. “The big thing you run into all across the country is ‘Not in My Back Yard!’ People may say ‘I love that concept but don’t build it next to me, don’t build it in my neighborhood, don’t build it in my town.’ And then there’s the other thing that we’ve gotten away from which is—build absolutely nothing. But we can pretty much rally around the fact that we need to do something… We’re not likely to cram something down somebody’s throat here in South Dakota, but we are well on the way to not having that road block, that hurdle. There’s enough people in town who have created a core to deal with that nasty job” (Health & Wellness). Visible once again is the strong presence of the community collaborative discussed previously. What is also visible here is the continuing theme of seeing organizational and institutional leaders of Rapid City expressing strong optimism in looking for ways to address homelessness—even in the face of long standing cultural challenges. When given the opportunity to share any additional comments toward homelessness in Rapid City, one participant said, “Homelessness in Rapid City, I love living in South Dakota but there are times I am embarrassed because there’s a lot of narrow mindedness, there’s a lot of bigotry, and there’s a lot of racism. As part of the process, anything we do that challenges that is a good thing. Any type of project or process that gets people thinking about it at least is a good thing” (Health & Wellness). Another prominent area illuminated in the data from the health & wellness sector is the synonymous nature of roles and meeting needs within the community. For instance, one health & wellness participant expressed concern over kids that turn 18 who are no longer eligible for 52

certain benefits. “Once they turn 18 they’re really not an adult and now they’re technically homeless. If they had a place like this that they could go to and be a part of… They have the potential to have a job and to transition into a place like this and start their lives. But they don’t have these places right now because they can’t afford them and they can’t find them” (Health & Wellness). In similar frustration, another participant commented, “Personally, I feel a sense of fear for their safety. I personally worry about whether or not the harsh climate of the Dakotas, or other elements—whether or not they’re going to be safe” (Health & Wellness). Fitting to this sector, what this information shows is a genuine concern for the whole of the community.

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SUB QUESTION 4: INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY LIVING AND WELL-BEING From a literary and structural perspective, Intentional Community living has been cited as providing both physically and emotionally for its residents. Contextual to these types of viewpoints the fourth question in this study asks How do leaders feel the well-being of Rapid City’s homeless populations would be improved through Intentional Community living? In answer to this question this section serves as a continuation of the ideas and concerns that have been prevalent from each and every sector in this study. And as would be expected under this continuing theoretical framework, the attitudes and opinions of the participants on the subject of well-being represent another broad stoke on the canvas of this study. Once again, there is also an unavoidable measure of information that overlaps between the various sectors. For example, considerable previous emphasis has been placed on housing, but it is impossible to argue that housing is not directly related to well-being. Similarly, with well-being as one of the foundational aspects of the entire study, it is also impossible to move beyond a generic understanding without knowing “whose” well-being is being discussed. Accordingly, figures 4.11 and 4.12 will illustrate the demographics of homelessness as selected by the five sectors. Within these examples it is clear that there are many facets to homelessness. “Homelessness in Rapid City isn’t always what we stereotypically perceive it to be. It is anybody living on the streets, living in a shelter, a car, hotel room, living doubled up in a home or apartment. The homeless issue in Rapid City is a lot greater than many people give it credit for… Everything from generational poverty to situational poverty to individuals with doctorate degrees—we have seen this. And so poverty and homelessness do not discriminate and it’s a much broader spectrum than we often notice” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy).

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In an effort to help build an more in-depth understanding of Rapid City’s homeless population participants were asked to choose five areas from a list of 24 categorical possibilities that identify different types of homelessness (see Appendix I for a full listing). As part of the survey they were asked to pick five areas that they felt were prevalent. They were not asked to rate them. For example, illustrated in figure 4.11 are the five levels (or types) of homelessness that received the highest overall vote count as chosen by the 26 participants across the five sectors. What is interesting about this survey activity is that it provides a look at “where” each of the sectors visualizes homelessness—different sectors = different lens. Figure 4.12 sequentially lists the several highest score categories chosen for each sector. For example, in sector #1 Homeless Shelters, three of the four leaders (75%) chose women’s shelter accommodations as one of their five choices. Figure 4.11

(Data based on survey question #13 in Appendix I)

Overall top five most prevalent areas of homelessness in Rapid City N=26 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Temporarily with Public space or Penal institutions family/friends external space

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Night shelter

Women’s shelter accommodation

Figure 4.12

(Data based on survey question #13 in Appendix I) Institution Type of Homelessness Sector #1  Women’s Shelter----------------------------------------Homeless Shelters  Transitional Supported Accommodations ----------n=4  Penal Institutions --------------------------------------- Temporarily with Family/Friends -------------------- Police Record Incidents -------------------------------Sector #2  Night Shelter--------------------------------------------Nonprofit & Philanthropy  Women’s Shelter ---------------------------------------n=6  Penal Institution----------------------------------------- Temporarily with Family/Friends -------------------- Public Space or External Space ----------------------Sector #3  Public Space or External Space-----------------------Civic Government  Night Shelter--------------------------------------------n=7  Temporarily with Family/Friends-------------------- Women’s Shelter---------------------------------------- Temporary Accommodations-------------------------Sector #4  Temporarily with Family/Friends--------------------Native American Leadership  Penal Institutions----------------------------------------n=4  Public Spaces or External Space---------------------- Temporary Accommodations-------------------------Sector #5  Temporarily with Family/Friends --------------------Health & Wellness  Penal Institutions----------------------------------------n=5  Norm of overcrowding--------------------------------- Public Spaces or External Space---------------------- Night Shelter---------------------------------------------

Percentage 75% 50% 50% 50% 50% 67% 67% 67% 67% 50% 100% 71% 71% 57% 43% 100% 75% 50% 50% 80% 80% 60% 40% 40%

Looking at this data with an understanding that different sectors show variations in the way they identify homelessness also presents the means to build a stronger understanding of where these community leaders focus their energies in the fight against homelessness. For example, figure 4.12 shows that 100 percent of the civic government participants chose the category “public spaces or external spaces” as one of the five most prevalent areas of homelessness in Rapid City whereas only 50 percent of nonprofit & philanthropy chose that category. The goal once again is to understand that an expanded conversation on well-being is multifaceted. In the following section the SQ4 sector by sector overview will use the same format outline as in the previous sections. This topical discussion also affords the opportunity to introduce several sector wide survey results on the topic of well-being in a homeless context.

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IC LIVING AND WELL-BEING: A SECTOR BY SECTOR CONVERSATION Sector #1: Homeless Shelters Key words: Homeless are People too, Distancing, Human need for Connection, Being Alone, Safe Environment

SQ4: Well-Being: In consideration of a day to day perspective within a social context, one homeless shelter participant described homeless people as “Wonderful people, down on their luck, sometimes there is mitigating circumstances such as drug and alcohol abuse or mental illness, but they’re wonderful people and I think they’re kind of ignored in the community when they shouldn’t be. You know you can sit down and have wonderful conversations with them—we get that comment a lot from church groups that come in and serve meals, but when people see them out on the street they don’t want to talk to them or engage with them” (Homeless Shelter). As can be seen from this illustration there is a significant disconnect on a social level for the homeless. Similarly, another participant commented, “Sometimes we forget the social part. It’s a basic need because you need that and that’s what’s going to make you safe, that’s what’s going to ownership. You need that part to actually be a community otherwise your still not—you’re still alone” (Homeless Shelter). What the information suggests is a correlation between a person’s well-being and feeling connected to the community. To provide a more comprehensive view of these dynamic participants were asked if they felt homeless people seem happier when able to contribute to the larger collective in some way. As illustrated in the charts below (see figure 4.13 and 4.14), ninety two percent of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that homeless people seem happier when able to contribute to the larger collective in some way. In figure 4.14 the same data is broken down by sector. The basic suggestion here serves to illustrate a possible correlation between feeling part of the community and a person’s level of 57

well-being. Taking the conversation specifically back to the basis of the SQ4 objective to gain leadership perspective on well-being in an IC living environment, one interview question asked how the cooperative spirit promoted within an IC living environment might affect the homeless of Rapid City: “If you have a group of people together that have similar wants and desires that you promote that sense of community, and when you feel a sense of community you’re going to feel safe” (Homeless Shelter). What this information reveals is another example of the strong sentiments that were witnessed throughout the leadership ranks. It is also a strong testament to the 100 percent agreement found in figure 4.14 from the homeless shelter participants. Figure 4.13

Homeless People Seem Happier when able to Contribute to the Larger Collective in Some Way 20 15 10 All n=26

5 0 STRONGLY AGREE

AGREE

DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

(Data based on results from survey question #6 in Appendix I) Figure 4.14 Happier when able to contribute to the larger collective

Total N=26

Homeless Shelters n=4

Nonprofit & Philanthropy n=6

Civic Government n=7

Native American Leadership n=4

Health & Wellness n=5

19% 73% 8% 0

0 100% 0 0

17% 83% 0 0

28% 57% 14% 0

0 75% 25% 0

40% 60% 0 0

1.9

2

1.8

1.9

2.25

1.6

% and mean scores Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree (mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

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Sector #2: Nonprofit & Philanthropy Key words: Balanced approach, Realism

SQ4: Well-Being: One of the constant trends encountered in the interviews was a consistent display of pragmatic realism. Such was the case during one of the nonprofit interviews when the participant was asked how the promotion of a cooperative spirit within an IC living environment might affect the homeless of Rapid City. “If you look at the spectrum of people who are living under the umbrella of homelessness and that question becomes too difficult. For some on the end of the spectrum that are dealing with addictions, mental health issues and lack of support—it sounds like a disaster area… For someone who is just dipping in to homelessness it could be a fantastic experience where they get that boost they need to fly” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy). Sector #3: Civic Government Key words: Pragmatism, Group Interactions, Lack of Rehabilitation Services, Addictions & Mental Illness, Creating Safe Environment

SQ4: Well-Being: One of the qualitative interview questions was designed to find out how the phenomenon of “group cooperation” displayed in the presentation videos might be of help to the homeless (question #4 of Appendix II). Specifically, the question inquired of study participants, how the cooperative spirit promoted among existing Intentional Communities might influence the homeless of Rapid City. In response, one civic participant commented, “That’s a tough call. Anytime you put a group of people together some are going to work out, some aren’t going to work out. And you’ve got to expect that not everybody can get along in those types of situations” (Civic Government). What this illustrates is a pragmatic response to a hypothetical question. It also once again points to the limitations of this study as a theoretical model. Another civic participant commented on the same question by illustrating, “From what we’ve seen many 59

of our homeless congregate together for protection, for comradery—their drinking buddies. Several of them have been placed in housing but every day they still go down and join their friends, and then they go home to their apartment at night” (Civic Government). What the above information suggests is that comradery and friendship are directly connected to a measure of well-being. Another civic participant expressed their views on what IC living could bring to the community, “It could offer a safer environment in a more rehabilitative structured setting. In Rapid City we are without rehabilitative services to the homeless. We house and feed but we really don’t do much to treat it and a safer environment is important, but won’t mask the baggage that the homeless will bring to the table—such as addictions and mental illness” (Civic Government). In correlation to these examples, part of the data obtained was more comprehensive in scope. Specifically, participants were asked if personal involvement for the homeless in some kind of social activity is a crucial element toward the well-being of homeless individuals. As can be seen from the graph (see figures 4.15 & 4.16), one hundred percent of participants agreed or strongly agreed.

Figure 4.15

(Based on answers to survey question #9 in Appendix I)

Personal involvment in social activity is a crucial element in well-being of homeless individuals N=26 20 15 10 5 0 STRONGLY AGREE

AGREE

60

DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

Figure 4.16

(Based on answers to survey question #9 in Appendix I) Total Homeless Nonprofit & Civic Personal involvement N=26 Shelters Philanthropy Government crucial element to homeless N=25 n=4 n=6 n=7 person’s well-being For this n=5 question % and mean scores Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree (mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

Native American Leadership n=4

Health & Wellness n=5

28% 72% 0 0

25% 75% 0 0

20% 80% 0 0

43% 57% 0 0

50% 50% 0 0

0 100% 0 0

1.72

1.75

1.8

1.6

1.5

2

Sector #4 Native American Key words: A Second Chance, Being Human, Social Care Network

SQ4: Well-Being: When given the opportunity to comment on how the promotion of a cooperative spirit within an IC living environment might affect the homeless of Rapid City, one Native American participant commented, “For those who need the embracing, need to be given a second chance—this is a good avenue… I can’t say a number or a percentage, we know we can capture and give a whole new life to many people and be truly human beings ourselves” (Native American). The theme of this participant’s message provides a strong example of what is needed in the community from both structural and social perspectives. The sentiment of the comment is also representative of that found across the five sectors. Another participant expanded on these themes by illustrating their thoughts from a foundational perspective. “The social network probably would be the basic foundation because if you have that network you get emotional support. You start to get people who care about you, care about whether you fell off the wagon or whatever. If you start to provide that network you start to hit a number of different issues” (Native American). What this data reveals is yet another 61

illustration of how IC living can be envisioned as a theoretical vehicle for affecting the wellbeing of the homeless on several social fronts. Sector #5: Health & Wellness Key words: Sense of Belonging, Generational & Cyclical, Identifying “Home,”

SQ4: Well-Being: As previously discussed, there is to some extent a number of issues regarding homelessness that are overlapping and thereby complicated in nature. For example, the data thus far has shown that IC living may work well for some homeless people, and hence raise their level of well-being, but it may not work for others. In other words, when it comes to measuring well-being it is impossible to escape the subjective nature of the conversation. As one health & wellness participant illustrated, “I know people who are drawn to homelessness to meet a need of belonging and to alleviate loneliness and isolation. I think it’s pretty cyclical and pretty generational in part because of unmet need” (Health & Wellness). Continuing on this same theme, another participant commented that “Homelessness is not just having no home, but having no permanent home—and how much that affects someone’s life as much as not having a home” (Health & Wellness). As a means to better understand this dynamic, participants were asked if ongoing emotional support is equally as important as housing when it comes to empowering the homeless. As can be seen in the charts below (see figure 4.17 & 4.18), ninety two percent of the 26 participants agreed or strongly agreed. Significant to the conversation, of this ninety two percent, seventy nine percent strongly agreed that ongoing emotional support is equally as important as housing. This information is broken down by sector in figure 4.18. It is also noteworthy to mention that among all the measurable data collected, this category received the highest overall “Strongly Agree” score. 62

Figure 4.17

Importance of ongoing emotional support in comparison to housing for the homeless (N=26) 20 15 10 5

0 STRONGLY AGREE

AGREE

DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

(Data based on survey question #8 in Appendix I) Figure 4.18 Importance of ongoing emotional support equally important as housing

Total N=26

Homeless Shelters n=4

Nonprofit & Philanthropy n=6

Civic Government n=7

Native American Leadership n=4

Health & Wellness n=5

92% 19% 0 0

75% 25% 0 0

83% 0 16% 0

71% 29% 0 0

75% 25% 0 0

60% 20% 20% 0

1.4

1.3

1.3

1.3

1.3

1.6

% and mean scores Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree (mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

In summary, SQ4 findings show is strong correlations between sectors on key areas of homelessness and wellness. Significantly, the ability to be able to learn about a topic such as wellness from the perspective of these community leaders is unique. Each of the five sectors brought a strong voice to the subject matter which helps provide an expanded understanding of how IC living could serve as a conduit to well-being for the homeless in the Rapid City, community. 63

SUB QUESTION 5: EVALUATING SUPPORT FOR A FEASIBILITY STUDY One of the most consistent and visible manifestations of this study has been the level of idea sharing that has come from each of the five sectors—a manifestation that proved fruitful in a study designed to gather attitudes and opinions on Intentional Community living. Accordingly, the last of five sub questions asks: What additional information and data do leaders feel are needed for a feasibility study of the IC model in Rapid City? To begin, participants were given the opportunity to qualify what they felt were key areas to include in a feasibility study. The resulting themes across sectors display a strong united front, but are connected to the overlapping of ideas that has been prevalent in other sections of this study. For this reason the sector by sector data outlined below will be briefer in content. Some of the noteworthy highlights and common themes laid out by the participants include: the need to investigate various housing models, concern over choice of location, inclusion of Native American culture, considerations for mothers with children, the elderly, and concerns for which categories of homeless people may work well together. Other suggestions included the need to investigate other ongoing initiatives that have similar objectives as well as consideration for Veterans and the hundreds of men and women entering Rapid City from the prison system each year.

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IC LIVING IN RAPID CITY: A DISCUSSION ON A FEASIBILITY STUDY Sector #1: Homeless Shelters Key words: Inclusions for Families, Logistical Pragmatism

SQ5: Ideas for a Feasibility Study: The key driver for this sub question was the last question given to participants during the qualitative interviews. Specifically, question #5 (Appendix II) asked “If a feasibility study were to be proposed toward using Intentional Community living to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, are there any key areas that you would recommend be part of such a study?” Commensurate to the types of responses generated across sectors, one homeless shelter leader commented, “If you’re looking at a community that’s going to have families, childcare needs to be part of that community immediately. That needs to be thought about. Transportation, to make it a real community we need to look at what the needs are going to be so definitely bring it back to the people that are going to use it” (Homeless Shelter). What can be seen from this source is making sure that a feasibility study includes a strong emphasis on the logistical needs of the residents and not just creating a place for them to live. Sector #2: Nonprofit & Philanthropy Key words: Substance abuse , Mental Health, Families & Children, Leveraging Existing Spending

SQ5: Ideas for a Feasibility Study: When given the opportunity to share their thoughts on identifying key areas for a feasibility study, one nonprofit & philanthropy participant offered the following considerations: “Mental health, substance abuse, the chronically homeless or the homeless. If its families you want to be really cautious of the children’s quality of life, enrichment child care and access to schools. Health care and emergency services; make a case for prevention. There’s a lot of these folks accessing those services so if there’s a way we can 65

leverage these funds and can use them for prevention” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy). From the nonprofit and philanthropy sector there was also a significant call to merge any formal feasibility study efforts with existing discussions and projects that are currently underway in Rapid City. Sector #3: Civic Government Key words: Limiting Alcohol use, Importance of Case Management, Untapped Community Resources

SQ5: Ideas for a Feasibility Study: “The only thing I would say is no matter what happens, whether this concept applies or another one—we have to somehow manage or limit the availability of the alcohol to our homeless people” (Civic Government). As has been illustrated numerous times in this chapter, there continues to be a united concern for the challenging task of dealing with alcohol and substance abuse. When another civic participant was given the opportunity to share their thoughts on key factors for a feasibility study the call was for “Funding, rehabilitative efforts and case management. With this crowd case management is crucial. We have a good group of community members who would complement something like this. And there are thousands and thousands of volunteers in this town—they just haven’t been asked” (Civic Government). As a correlate to the call for funding, it is noteworthy to mention that each of the participants were asked if Rapid City’s homeless shelters find both workers and resources stretched uncomfortably thin on a regular basis. Figure 4.19 and 4.20 show the collective response across sectors. Figure 4.19

(Data based on survey question #5 in Appendix I)

Resources stretched uncomfortably thin on a regular basis 20 10 0 STRONGLY AGREE

AGREE

66

DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

Figure 4.20 (Data based on survey question #5 in Appendix I) Homeless shelter resources Total Homeless Nonprofit & Civic stretched uncomfortably thin N=26 Shelters Philanthropy Government on a regular basis n=4 n=6 n=7

% and mean scores Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Native American Leadership n=4

Health & Wellness n=5

58% 38% 0 4%

50% 50% 0 0

50% 30% 0 17%

57% 43% 0 0

75% 25% 0 0

60% 30% 0 0

1.5

1.5

1.8

1.4

1.3

1.4

(mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

Sector #4: Native American Key words: Collective Initiative, Ownership & Self-Empowerment

SQ5: Ideas for a Feasibility Study: In response to the closing interview question one Native American leader made suggested the following inclusions to a feasibility study: “Let’s say the philanthropist part of it and the religious part of it, and the housing part of it. All of these people that are stakeholders or providers—they would have to be involved if it’s going to work” (Native American). What can be seen here is a strong emphasis on building a collective front of support. Another comment offered was for IC living to be successful it would have to create a structure that made the residents responsible to each other and their own success. “Ownership! They have to have ownership for their decisions or it doesn’t work” (Native American). Sector #5: Health & Wellness Key words: Ownerships & Self-Empowerment, Training for Success

SQ5: Ideas for a Feasibility Study: When asked to share their thoughts on identifying key areas for a feasibility study and what it would take to move the IC concept beyond the concept stage, one H&W participant echoed the call for ownership. “You need to ask the homeless what 67

they want. I think they need to be at the roundtable, they need to be a major part of identifying what needs to go into it” (Health & Wellness). “We have to recognize if we don’t train people and give them tools they don’t have a future. You can give them a house but you can’t give them a future” (Health & Wellness). This information serves as another illustration toward moving the homeless beyond basic needs. It is also representative of the overarching themes emanating from each of the five sectors. Another feasibility-directed element of this study was included as part of the quantitative questionnaire. Specifically, the idea that was presented asked participants if they thought Intentional Community “resident co-ownership” would be a significant consideration for a feasibility study. Significantly, 100% of study respondents were in agreement with this idea. A sector by sector listing of this data is provided in figure 4.22. Figure 4.21

(Results based on survey question #12 in Appendix I)

Resident Co-ownership would be a significant consideration in a formal feasibility study (N=26) 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 STRONGLY AGREE

AGREE

68

DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

Figure 4.22 Inclusion of Resident coownership as part of a hypothetical

% and mean scores Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree (mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

(Results based on survey question #12 in Appendix I) Total Homeless Nonprofit & Civic N=26 Shelters Philanthropy Government N=25 For n=4 n=6 n=7 this question n=5

Native American Leadership n=4

Health & Wellness n=5

24% 76% 0 0

25% 75% 0 0

20% 80% 0 0

29% 71% 0 0

0 100% 0 0

40% 60% 0 0

1.8

1.8

1.8

1.7

2

1.6

One final element that lends congruency to the resident co-ownership idea is found in the results of the survey question that asked if those homeless for over 1 year simply lacked the financial means to achieve a healthy level of independence. Significantly, sixty five percent of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with this question (see figures 4.23 and 4.24). Figure 4.23

(Data based on survey question #7 in Appendix I)

Those who remain homeless for 1yr or longer simply lack the financial support necessary to achieve a healthy level of independence 14 12 10 8 6 4

2 0 STRONGLY AGREE

AGREE

69

DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

Figure 4.24 (Data based on survey question #7 in Appendix I) Homeless 1yr or longer simply Total Homeless Nonprofit & Civic lack the financial support n=26 Shelters Philanthropy Government necessary for a healthy level of n=4 n=6 n=7 independence

Native American Leadership n=4

Health & Wellness n=5

% and mean scores Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree (mean score) 4 Point Scale 1=Strongly Agree 2= Agree 3=Disagree 4= Strongly Disagree

0 35% 46% 19%

0 0 75% 25%

0 50% 50% 0

0 43% 28% 28%

0 25% 50% 25%

0 40% 40% 20%

2.95

3.25

2.5

2.9

3

2.5

One of the interesting elements here is that there is majority support for considering resident co-ownership, but disagreement that funding is an answer to the problem. Evaluating these types of dichotomies will be a primary focus of the chapter 5 analysis. In summarizing the data for this chapter there have been several themes that have remained constant. Among them has been the overwhelming level of idea sharing from all five sectors. Another key element was the type(s) of interactions that manifested working within a hypothetical framework—such will be another of the foundational building blocks in the following analysis.

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CHAPTER 5 DATA ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION PART I: ANALYSIS The findings of this study suggest that there are leadership caliber members of the Rapid City community who believe that the “concept” of Intentional Community living has the potential to help mitigate homelessness in Rapid City. Statistically, there were no reportable variances in attitude discovered toward the concept of utilizing Intentional Community (IC) living to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota. Unexpectedly, there was in fact a strong level of unanimous support for such a concept. Equally unexpected were qualitative interviews that attracted as much discussion on the dynamics of homelessness in Rapid City as there was on the subject of Intentional Community living. Some of the common themes within those discussions were ongoing concerns of alcohol and substance abuse, mental illness, consideration for homeless families with children, affordable housing, jobs, life skills training, living wages, expansion of ongoing community housing projects, the elderly, and race relations. The literature provides support for the heart of these leadership concerns when it reports that past “findings on the importance of affordable housing stock for decreasing homelessness underscore the need for policies that either increase the supply of affordable housing or provide additional safety net supports to households to help them afford housing and decrease competition for a finite number of low-rent units” (Byrne et al., 2012:621). Beyond the primary objective to locate concept variances, the exploratory design of this study produced a significant amount of data that is more nuanced in nature. These findings were derived from the five sub questions that provided the framework for the delivery of the mixed

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methods interviews. One of the most prominent findings within those nuanced discussions was the repeated mention of how the communal nature of the Native American culture seems like a quality fit within an Intentional Community living environment. This study does not include any race-specific literature for IC living; however, in a lateral context, it does reveal that within “Intentional Communities exist a number of models that include accommodations for marginalized areas of society such as the elderly (Glass, 2009), homeless women with children (Graber and Wolfe, 2004) and people with disabilities (Randell and Cumella, 2009). Consistent with reports from other Intentional Communities, these types of models provide a sense of belonging, help people to feel secure and useful, provide a place to build friendships and social networks (Rand and Cumella, 2009; Glass, 2009). ANALYSIS OF THE FRAMEWORK SUB QUESTIONS 1-5 #1: Leadership Connection to Social and Structural Factors: The findings for this part of the study more than exceeded expectations. Collectively, the data revealed a seasoned group of leaders that are openly concerned about the plight of homelessness in Rapid City. The data also revealed what could be interpreted as a consistent level of frustration within the confines of their respective sectors. This is an understandable phenomenon in consideration of the available homeless literature on Rapid City: “The problem has reached an ‘epidemic level,’ said Rapid City Area Schools homeless coordinator Anita Deranleau. ‘The floodgates have opened. Only those that are working in the trenches have any idea’” (Colias, 2014). The data produced a number of comments that would support such a statement. One of the most vivid confirmations of this is found in the unexpected data displayed in figures 4.5 and 4.6 on page 31 of chapter 4) where over half of the collective study group felt that homelessness in Rapid City was both more challenging and more severe than other cities 72

with similar sized populations. Significantly, sector #3 (Civic Government) stood out above the pack with 85% reporting that homelessness in Rapid City is more severe. Evaluation of these types of data spikes is beyond the scope of this study, but the literature provides some considerations. For example, there are federal homeless assistance programs, but they become inefficient “without a decrease in the number of people who become homeless… Communities, states, and the federal government need to invest in affordable housing so that households are able to obtain and maintain housing independently in their own community” (The State of Homelessness in America 2014 pdf, 2015:6). The data obtained in this study lends strong support that Rapid City’s social and structural systems are actively pursuing these types of agendas. #2:Exploring the Benefits of Intentional Community Living: One of the driving forces in the implementation of this study was the literature that expounds on the success of various types of Intentional Communities around the world. Beyond the literature; however, it could be said on a colloquial level that the design of this study broadcasted a “Hey, do you think this might have a chance of working” message attached to it. From this vantage point the data produced what is conservatively, a long list of possible benefits that Intentional Community living could bring to the Rapid City community, but as has the data has illustrated, it is a certain uphill climb. In this context it is noteworthy to mention that many of the individual and family based ideas put forth on advancing IC living for the homeless are based in the supportive housing and block grant initiatives already being implemented. In and of themselves, these initiatives fit nicely under the larger IC umbrella. The significance in mentioning this here is that although these current initiatives are reaching only a small number of Rapid City’s homeless, the data shows the progressive nature of the ongoing program initiatives. In validation of this progress 73

(Randell & Cummella, 2009:717) give mention to what is described the largest study ever done in the UK measuring “quality of life and cost of different forms of supported housing (Emerson et al. 1999) found that on several indicators intentional communities provided less institutional regimes and higher quality of life than other types of supported accommodation.” This suggestion of a balance between supportive living and independence displays strong correlations to the data emphasis this study generated on the need for the homeless to take ownership. A philosophy that finds further support in the realm of self-efficacy: “The adoption of strengths perspective by social workers and other health professionals counters a focus on problems and pathology and promotes personal and community capacity” (Fawcett & Reynolds, 2010 as cited in Thomas et al., 2012:781). Similarly, the data obtained in this study displayed a strong understanding of the need to empower and build human capital into the homeless population. In this regard there was an equally strong call across sectors to build a future for the homeless that moves beyond common stereotypes. “When homelessness becomes an illness of the individual, and is not recognized as an illness of the system, and when homeless individuals are considered devoid of the ability to adequately care for themselves, homeless people are more likely viewed as dependent upon the efforts of others for their day-to-day survival” (Schneider and Remillard, 2013:105). Among the many frustrations voiced by participants, the data they provided highlights a genuine concern to disassociate homelessness with helplessness across sectors. #3: On the Subject of Leadership “ROLES” Within an IC Construct: Despite the inherent challenge of not being able to identify or pledge participatory roles within the construct of this study, there was strong support toward the idea of forming a feasibility study to merge IC living with homelessness. The data suggesting there would be 74

organizational cooperation and support toward a feasibility study came in at over ninety percent (see figure 4.3, p. 43). Although such support lacks detail toward future scope and reach of these data results, it is noteworthy to point out that this particular hypothetical received 100 percent agreement from 25 of the 26 participants. The obvious implications are that if a formal feasibility study is pursued, that there are people who are willing to be involved. Similarly, the civic mention of 35-40 people being involved in a collaborative effort to actively mitigate homelessness in Rapid City lends more proof toward Rapid City’s progressive agenda—one that could be highly significant within any hypothetical expansion. This dynamic lends itself as a strong correlate to the literature on social capital. “The community as a whole will benefit by the cooperation of all its parts, while the individual will find in his associations the advantages of the help, the sympathy, and the fellowship of his neighbors. First, then, there must be an accumulation of community social capital” (Hanifan, 191:130-131). From an elemental perspective there were also strong strategic components imbedded in the data. For instance, in lieu of direct roles, many of the conversations took on what could be called a pave the way approach. One vivid illustration is found in the multiple mentions that openly addressed frustration with the NIMBY (not in my back yard) effect. Equally visible were multiple illustrations across sectors on the topic of racial prejudice. In a conversation about the destructive forces of NIMBYism within a social capital context, author Robert D. Putnam offers the following advice, “Social capital, in short, can be directed toward malevolent, antisocial purposes, just like any other form of capital… Therefore, it is important to ask how the positive consequences of social capital—mutual support, cooperation , trust, institutional effectiveness— can be maximized and the negative manifestations—sectarianism, ethnocentrism, corruption— minimized” (Putnam, 2000:22).

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#4:Well-Being, Homelessness and the Whole Person: The topic of well-being and Intentional Community living was one of the more vigorous social issues to focus on within the framework of this study. As can be imagined, there were strong attitudes and opinions on the subject. One in particular that establishes a vivid baseline for this conversation is the somber reminder that “People are dying” (Nonprofit & Philanthropy). With strong numerical representation, the data on well-being also provided a branching effect to other parts of the community. More vividly, it could be argued that it was the topic that the participants in this study focused on most. This branching effect also finds support in the literature. For example, when well-being is measured from several social economic and environmental perspectives, past research on Intentional Community living suggests that there is a topical interconnectedness that cannot be avoided. (Lockyer et al., 2011:11), stated that the “categories are not perceived to exist independently of one another, but rather that they are quite integrated into a larger yet diffuse cultural model of what constitutes a livable life.” From a literary perspective, the realm of well-being is foundationally understood with the help of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In its most basic form we learn from Maslow’s model that if a person’s most basic needs are not met, i.e., food and shelter, that it makes it pretty tough to make their way to a more productive place in the community—the path of self-actualization. In this context there was strong support across sectors for what IC living could offer to the homeless as is illustrated in the data from charts 4.13 through 4.18 in chapter 4. As suggested in the literature, well-being is contemporarily thought of in two forms, subjective well-being (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB). Simply stated, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs provides for an excellent starting point and visual for understanding the process of self-actualization, but it is limited in scope. More specifically, there are many 76

homeless people that are very psychologically stable. Their PWB can be as high as anyone’s, but their level of subjective well-being—that is, their level of happiness with their circumstances in life may be considerably lower overall. As (Biswas-Diener and Diener, 2006:201) illustrate, “Our findings run counter to Maslow’s (1954) classic basic needs theory, in which he suggests that physical and material needs must be met before social and psychological health can occur… we do not argue here that material needs are unimportant, or less important than social needs, but that the two may deserve an equal place in the hierarchy of psychological health.” #5: A Discussion on What Could Go Into a Feasibility Study: As one of the supports under the framework of this study, the proposal toward launching a feasibility study produced a significant amount of data—or perhaps more appropriately stated, a “what to consider if you are going to do this checklist.” With this topic of discussion being the closing question in the interview process, it could also be analogized that these conversations were like mini round table sessions where participants elaborated on logistics, possible road blocks, architecture, funding, demographics, locations, bi-laws, regulations, challenges, pitfalls, hopes and dreams. In this regard it would seem fitting that another line item on the checklist could be to take all these mini round table discussions and put them in one room. In the spirit of such gatherings (Brooks, 2002:86) offers the following insight: “Because institutions serve as the repositories of knowledge inherited from their past members, their collective available knowledge is apt to be far greater than that of any individual member.”

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PART II: SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROJECT The significance of this project can be discussed from a number of different perspectives. Beginning with a conservative view, it could be said that any study that expands our base knowledge on the plight of homelessness is significant. Additionally, the multidimensional design of this study was successful at generating a collective voice from executive and management level staff representing five different sectors of the Rapid City community. The snapshots of homelessness these leaders provided serve as a panoramic view from which to observe some of the pressing social issues affecting the Rapid City community—both inside and outside the direct realm of homelessness. Another vantage point from which to discuss the significance of this study is found in its measurable accomplishments. For instance, this study served as a means to showcase the historical and hypothetical benefits that are offered under the Intentional Community living umbrella. Within such a context this study was successful at giving these leaders an opportunity to express their viewpoints on IC living. Equally important, the completion of this research will provide the participants with the opportunity to see how their cohorts responded with the findings here within—a vantage point that may lend a perspective that they may not otherwise have had. Strategically, this study has played a part in locating and generating a strong community interest in the creation of a feasibility study for IC living—both in the possible creation of a working model, and the potential that such a model holds to help reduce many of the concerns expressed within the data. Most significantly; however, is the potential this study holds to help release the latent potential of those burdened under the weight of homelessness.

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PART III: LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY Structural Limitations: One of the most significant limitations of this study is the theoretical base that it rests upon. As shown by the literature, there are multiple forms of IC community living constructs and there is no “one size fits all” structure. Another limitation of this study is that it lacks input from both the general public and the homeless. The small number of participants also serves as a limitation—twenty six in all is a very small sample size and even smaller when measured by sector. Future studies of this kind may also wish to expand the demographic data collected from the participants, i.e, sex, level of education, age etc. Another factor in the design of this study is the limited usage of the word “leadership.” More specifically, community leadership is not limited to executive or management level staff. In this context, future studies of this kind may wish to select a panel of diverse community stakeholders to create and initiate a “leadership” selection process. Cultural Limitations: A significant amount of the data produced by this study illuminated the ongoing racial tensions between Native American and non-Native peoples. This study may have served as a venue to discuss how some of these ongoing challenges may be addressed within an IC context, but that is as far as its design goes. It could also be deduced that the data revealing the majority of the participants felt that homelessness in Rapid City is more severe and more challenging than other similarly sized cities is directly connected to the majority Native American homeless—a conversation also well beyond the scope of this study. Design Limitations: From an introductory level this study relied on a thirteen minute video presentation to bring people into the discussion. Future studies may wish to consider a slower more comprehensive approach, including bi-laws and lay outs in conjunction with giving participants a longer time period to consider the information prior to interviews. 79

PART IV: CONCLUSIONS AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS Among the many comments that could be made in summary of this project it seems fitting to borrow an analogy from one of the Civic Government participants who alluded to there being no magic pill, but finding “a glass of water needed to swallow the magic pill is a huge part of the issue.” Secondly, I am thankful to each of the participants in this study to whom without their participation none of this would have been possible. The candor and passion that each and every one of them displayed has both inspired and humbled me. Their combined level of experience with homelessness and community serves as a powerful voice toward the larger discussion. Future considerations: The most relevant and logical future consideration for this study is where to go from here. It is clear from the data results of this study that there is a sincere interest within the Rapid City leadership ranks to find out more about Intentional Communities and how it might be used to help mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, SD. The logical next step would be to consider advancing this topic into an official feasibility study. Given that the completion of this project coincides with my graduation from SDSU, I would consider it an honor to be a part of any ongoing discussions. Logistically, whether my involvement is incorporated, one consideration may be to advance a feasibility study using a three to four tier system—something that was part of my original design, but was beyond the capacity of this study. Cultural Considerations: Another future consideration for future studies of this kind would be to do a much more extensive literature review to see if there are any race-specific Intentional Communities. Such information would be invaluable to building an IC program in South Dakota. This study incorporated a five-sector, five-question exploratory design. A future 80

consideration could be build a more comprehensive design that also incorporates several communities. This could also be accomplished on a regional level—within the context of the Nine Tribes of South Dakota, such a regional study may help direct policy considerations. Another consideration would be to expand the data findings of this study on communication variances between Native and non-Native leadership within a community construct. Another consideration for the Rapid City community would be to use the data identifying the types of homelessness (figure 4.12, Appendix I) to advance a consensus on where Rapid City’s homeless are located. Even within a subjective context it would seem reasonable that building a research-based consensus on this typology could serve as an asset to future planning. Lastly, this study produced a significant amount of cross-sector appreciation for the communal spirit displayed in the Native American community—including the chronic homeless. In this regard if a feasibility study is pursued, it is my strong recommendation that considerable study goes into identifying how these attributes could be specifically incorporated and advanced within an IC construct. CONCLUSION In closing I will simply say that the creation, delivery and presentation of this project have been a learning experience that has both enhanced my knowledge and given me a greater appreciation for the plight of homelessness. The community leaders with whom I have had the privilege of sharing this project have shown us that there are many faces to homelessness, including children, families, the marginalized, the chronic and the educated. In short, it is a social problem that affects us all. With the completion of this project then it is my belief that Intentional Community living may well have the potential to place Rapid City’s homeless on a path to personal growth, independence, and community contribution. Thank you. 81

REFERENCES 2014 Pennington County Homeless Count Detailed Information (2015). In South Dakota Housing for the Homeless Consortium . Retrieved March 11, 2015. Berliner, D. C. (2013). Inequality, Poverty, and the Socialization of America's Youth for the Responsibilities of Citizenship. Theory Into Practice, 52, 203-209. About Us (2010). In The Cornerstone Rescue Mission . Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://www.cornerstonemission.org/about.html Biswas-Diener, R., & Diener, E. (2006). The subjective well-being of the homeless, and lessons for happiness. Social Indicators Research, 76(2), 185-205. Brooks, D. P. (2002). Planning Theory for Practitioners (pp. 1-217). Chicago, IL: American Planning Association. Burt, M. R. (1991). Causes of the growth of homelessness during the 1980s. Housing Policy Debate, 2(3), 901-936. Busch-Geertsema, V. (2010). Defining and measuring homelessness. Homelessness Research in Europe. Brussels: FEANTSA, 19-39. Byrne, T., Munley, E. A., Fargo, J. D., Montgomery, A. E., & Culhane, D. P. (2013). NEW PERSPECTIVES ON COMMUNITY‐LEVEL DETERMINANTS OF HOMELESSNESS. Journal of Urban Affairs, 35(5), 607-625. Colias, M. (2014, December 28). District's homeless count reaching 'epidemic' level . In Rapid City Journal . Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/district-s-homeless-count-reaching-epidemiclevel/article_edf7da4b-0952-53d8-92b7-15336b71610f.html Crimes against humanity (2008, December 10). In Republic of Lakotah . Retrieved May 8, 2015, from http://www.republicoflakotah.com/tag/united-states-v-sioux-nation-of-indians/ Farrugia, D., & Gerrard, J. (2015). Academic Knowledge and Contemporary Poverty: The Politics of Homelessness Research. Sociology, 0038038514564436. Frederick, T. J., Chwalek, M., Hughes, J., Karabanow, J., & Kidd, S. (2014). HOW STABLE IS STABLE? DEFINING AND MEASURING HOUSING STABILITY. Journal of Community Psychology, 42(8), 964-979. Farr, J. (2004). Social capital a conceptual history. Political theory, 32(1), 6-33. Flora, C. B., & Flora, J. L. (2013). Rural Communities: Legacy and Change (Fourth ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Garcia, B. (2014, April 29). 2014 Rapid City Anual Action Plan . In City of Rapid City . Retrieved July 13, 2015, from http://www.rcgov.org/searchresults.html?cx=006576877739378775501%3A7lactx1_efm&cof=FORID%3A11%3BN B%3A1&ie=UTF-8&q=2014+anual+action+plan+&sa=Search+the+City+web+site

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Glass, A. P. (2009). Aging in a community of mutual support: The emergence of an elder intentional cohousing community in the United States. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 23(4), 283-303. Graber, H. V., & Wolfe, J. L. (2004). Family support center village: A unique approach for lowincome single women with children. Journal of Family Social Work, 8(1), 61-73. Hanifan, L. J. (1916). The rural school community center. Annals of the American Academy of political and Social Science, 67, 130-138. Hanley, S. J., & Abell, S. C. (2002). Maslow and relatedness: Creating an interpersonal model of self-actualization. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 42(4), 37-57. Helping the homeless - a new approach (2015, November 18). In KOtA Territory News . Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://www.kotatv.com/news/south-dakotanews/helping-the-homeless-a-new-approach/36406884 Jarvis, H. (2011). Saving space, sharing time: integrated infrastructures of daily life in cohousing. Environment and Planning, 43, 560-577. Keyes, C. L., Shmotkin, D., & Ryff, C. D. (2002). Optimizing well-being: the empirical encounter of two traditions. Journal of personality and social psychology, 82(6), 1007. Lockyer, J., Benson, P., Burton, D., Felder, L., Hayes, D., Jackey, E., & Lerman, A. (2011, November). "We Try to Create the World That We Want" Intentional Communities Forging Livable Lives in St. Louis. Center for Social Development, 1-23. Magson, N. R., Craven, R. G., & Bodkin-Andrews, G. H. (2014). Measuring Social Capital: The Development of the Social Capital and Cohesion Scale and the Associations between Social Capital and Mental Health. Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 14, 202-216. Meijering, L., Huigen, P., & Van Hoven, B. (2007). INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES IN RURAL SPACES. Journal of Economic and Social Geography, 98(1), 42-52. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9663.2007.00375.x Motley, C. M., & Perry, V. G. (2013). Living on the Other Side of the Tracks: An Investigation of Public Housing Stereotypes. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 32, 48-58. Mulder, K., Costanza, R., & Erickson, J. (2005). The contribution of built, human, social and natural capital to quality of life in intentional and unintentional communities. Ecological Economics, 59(1), 13-23. Nelson, G., & Saegert, S. (2010). Housing and quality of life: An ecological perspective. In Handbook of disease burdens and quality of life measures (pp. 3363-3382). Springer New York. Noltemeyer, A., Bush, K., Patton, J., & Bergen, D. (2012). The relationship among deficiency needs and growth needs: An empirical investigation of Maslow's theory. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(9), 1862-1867. Nooe, R. M., & Patterson, D. A. (2010). The ecology of homelessness. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 20(2), 105-152. 83

Passel, J. S., & Cohn, D. (2016). U.S. Population Projections 2005-2050. In PEW Research Center . Retrieved April 23, 2016, from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/02/11/uspopulation-projections-2005-2050/ Pedersen, P. V., Andersen, P. T., & Curtis, T. (2012). Social relations and experiences of social isolation among socially marginalized people. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 29(6), 839-858. Pennington County Homeless Count (2012). In City of Rapid City . Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://www.rcgov.org/Community-Development/homeless-programs.html Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. Randell, M., & Cumella, S. (2009). People with an intellectual disability living in an intentional community. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 53(8), 716-726. Retail Trade Area (2016). In Rapid City Economic Development. Retrieved March 8, 2016, from http://www.rapiddevelopment.com/maps/retail-trade-area/ Ross, D., & Abrahamson, J. (2015, March 18). Lack of Stable Housing At Root of Many Native American Hardships . In Black Hills Knowledge Network . Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://blackhillsknowledgenetwork.org/south-dakota/10387-lack-of-stable-housing-atroot-of-many-native-american-hardships#.VUqbL_DMD1E Sargisson, L. (2012). Second-Wave Cohousing: A Modern Utopia? Utopian Studies, 23(1), 2856. Schneider, B., & Remillard, C. (2013). Caring about homelessness: How identity work maintains the stigma of homelessness. Text & Talk, 33(1), 95-112. State & County quick facts Rapid City, SD (2015). In United States Census Bureau . Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/46/4652980.html Stats about Pine Ridge (2014). In Backpacks for Pine Ridge . Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.backpacksforpineridge.com/Stats_About_Pine_Ridge.html Terrion, J. L. (2006). Building social capital in vulnerable families success markers of a schoolbased intervention program. Youth & Society, 38(2), 155-176. The State of Homelessness in America 2014 pdf (2015). In National Alliance to End Homelessness . Retrieved February 15, 2015, from http://www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/the-state-of-homelessness-2014 Thomas, Y., Gray, M. A., & McGinty, S. (2012). An exploration of subjective wellbeing among people experiencing homelessness: a strengths-based approach. Social work in health care, 51(9), 780-797. Vestbro, D. U. (2014). Cohousing in Sweden: History and present situation. In Cohousing NOW. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from http://www.kollektivhus.nu/english/history.html

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APPENDIX I LIST OF QUANTITATIVE SURVEY QUESTIONS Instructions: If applicable and unless otherwise indicated, please mark one possible selection for each of the following questions. #1) I have been working with issues directly related to homelessness for? 0-1 year___

2-5 years___

6 to 10 years___

11-20 years___

20+ years___

#2) I would classify my work with homelessness as follows (please mark all that apply for this question): Front lines____ Financial Support____ Counseling____ Housing ____ Food Service_____ Managerial____ Recruiting____ Research______ Grant writing______ Health Care____ Program coordinator_____ Education________ Friendship_____ Spiritual Support_____ Community Outreach______ Other ________

#3) Based on my knowledge of similarly sized cities, the severity of homelessness in Rapid City is: ABOUT EQUAL_________

MORE SEVERE__________

LESS CHALLENGING___________

LESS SEVERE_________

MORE CHALLENGING__________

#4) The organizational network of professionals working to address homelessness in Rapid City have strong channels of open communication with one another.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

#5) Rapid City’s homeless shelters find both workers and resources stretched uncomfortably thin on a regular basis.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

#6) It has been my experience that homeless people seem happier when they have the opportunity to contribute to the larger collective in some way.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

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4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

#7) The vast majority of people who remain homeless for a year or longer simply lack the financial support necessary to achieve a healthy level of independence.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

#8) Ongoing emotional support is equally as important as housing support when it comes to empowering homeless people.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

#9) Personal involvement in some kind of social activity is a crucial element toward the well-being of homeless individuals.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

#10) If a feasibility study for a professionally-staffed, nonprofit-owned, Intentional Community that included provisions for Rapid City’s homeless were to be formalized: a) I believe our organization would be willing to provide theoretical logistical support.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

b) I believe there would be strong community support for such a study.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

#11) If professional care-givers or long-term cooperative housing families (or individuals) were offered the opportunity to have their basic housing needs paid for—it is probable that they would be willing to serve and live in such a hypothetical housing model along-side qualifying homeless candidates.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

#12) The prospect of “Resident co-ownership” would be a significant consideration to include in a feasibility study toward using Intentional Community living to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City.

1 STRONGLY AGREE

2 AGREE

3 DISAGREE

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4 STRONGLY DISAGREE

#13) The chart below is a definitional list of homelessness adapted from the European model ETHOS European Typology on Homelessness and Housing Exclusion (Busch-Geertsema, 2010, p. 19). Choosing from the 24 numbered areas marked in RED ink, please circle what you consider to be the top 5 areas of homelessness most prevalent in Rapid City. Conceptual Category ROOFLESS

1

Operational Category People living rough

Living Situation 1.1

Public space or external space

People staying in a night ROOFLESS

2

shelter

2.1

Night shelter

HOUSELESS

3

People in accommodation for

3.1

Homeless hostel

the homeless

3.2

Temporary accommodation

3.3

Transitional supported accommodation

HOUSELESS

4

People in a women’s shelter

4.1

Women’s shelter accommodation

HOUSELESS

5

People in accommodation for

5.1

Temporary accommodations

immigrants

HOUSELESS

HOUSELESS

6

7

reception centres 5.2

Migrant workers’ accommodation

People due to be released from

6.1

Penal institutions

institutions

6.2

Medical Institutions

6.3

Children’s institutions/homes

7.1

Residential care for older homeless

People receiving longer-term support (due to homelessness)

people 7.2

Supported accommodations for formerly homeless persons

INSECURE

INSECURE

INSECURE

8

9

10

People living in insecure

8.1

Temporarily with family/friends

accommodation

8.2

No legal (sub)tenancy

8.3

Illegal occupation of land

People living under threat of

9.1

Legal orders enforced (rented)

eviction

9.2

Repossession orders (owned)

People living under threat of

10.1

Police recorded incidents

People living in

11.1

Mobile homes

temporary/non-conventional

11.2

Non-conventional building

structures

11.3

Temporary structure

People living in unfit housing

12.1

Occupied dwelling unfit for

violence INADEQUATE

INADEQUATE

11

12

habitation INADEQUATE

13

People living in extreme overcrowding

13.1

Highest national norm of overcrowding

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APPENDIX II Intentional Community Living Research Project Interview Questions (FALL 2015) South Dakota State University IRB Approval # IRB-1509007 Project Director: Graduate Student, Thomas M Odeen

A note to participants: Take as much time as you like for each question. There are no right or wrong answers. For each of the five short sections the project director will read a categorical statement followed by one to two related questions.

(1) Statement/Category: Some general questions about Homelessness: When we talk about the word homelessness, what are some of the things that come to mind for you personally and professionally? In your experience are there big differences between average, poor and really good days in the fight against homelessness? (2) Statement/Category: Regarding the concept of implementing Intentional Community living within already existing Communities such as Rapid City: Do you have any thoughts or comments on what the concept could offer to the homeless or the community at large? (3) Statement/Category: Possible community support beyond the basic concept of Intentional Community Living: If planning sessions were to be advanced beyond the concept stage, do you have any thoughts toward what kinds of community support could be available? Do you have any comments on what kind of challenges implementing such a concept might encounter? (4) Statement/Category: Group interactions among residents of Intentional Communities: Based on your first impressions do you have any thoughts on how the cooperative spirit promoted among existing Intentional Communities might influence the Homeless of Rapid City? (5) Statement/Category: Advancing Intentional Community Living beyond the concept stage: If a feasibility study were to be proposed toward using Intentional Community living to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City are there any key areas that you would recommend be part of such a study?

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Do you have any additional comments that you would like to make toward Intentional Communities or Homelessness in Rapid City? Thank You!!

APPENDIX III The following YouTube links are the videos that were used in the creation of the 13 minute PowerPoint/movie presentation that was shown to the community leaders that took part in this case study. They are listed sequentially in the order they were delivered in the video. (1) Jamaica Plain Cohousing Community Boston, MA https://youtu.be/t87KjgKnfOA (2) Twin Oaks Ecovillage, Central Virginia, USA https://youtu.be/SepSuOGCuwE (3) Silver Sage Cohousing, Boulder, CO. https://youtu.be/VwI-36C9RfQ

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APPENDIX IV Information Sheet/Consent Form Participation in a Research Project (FALL 2015) South Dakota State University Brookings, SD 57007

Department of Sociology Project Director: Thomas M Odeen of Rapid City, SD Phone No. 605-545-2120 E-mail: [email protected] Date _____________________ IRB Approval # IRB-1509007-EXM

Please read the following information: 1. This is invitation for you as a management level community leader to participate in a research project under the direction of the SDSU Department of Sociology 2. The project is entitled: A STUDY ON LEADERSHIP SUPPORT FOR MERGING INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY LIVING AND HOMELESSNESS IN RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA 3. Project Purpose: You are being asked to participate in a survey and interview process that seeks to better understand organizational and management level thoughts/opinions toward the idea of using Intentional Community living to mitigate homelessness in Rapid City, South Dakota. 4. If you agree to participate, you will be asked to engage in three activities during a maximum one hour interview. The first is to complete a two part questionnaire. The second is to watch a 13 minute MS PowerPoint and video presentation on Intentional Community living which will be followed by a recorded interview where participants will then be asked a series of pre-established questions. All community interviewees are being asked the exact same questions. To ensure your anonymity, no names are being collected from any of the participants. The only thing that is being used in identifying participants in data collection is their status as management level (or above) within their respective region of influence. 90

The five regions of community influence being used in this study include: 1) Homeless Shelters 2) Non-Profit/Philanthropy 3) Civic 4) Native American Leadership 5) Health and Wellness 5. Participation in this project is voluntary. You have the right to withdraw at any time without question. If you have any questions, you may contact the project director at the number listed above. 6. There are no known risks to your participation in the study. 7. As a leader in the organization your participation will provide valuable insight into what future direction such a concept may be directed. 8. There is no monetary compensation for your participation in this study; however, upon completion of this research a one-time $100.00 donation is being presented to the United Way of the Black Hills giving credit to any participating organizations that wish to be mentioned as having participated in this study. 9. Your responses are strictly confidential. When the data and analysis are presented, you will not be linked to the data by your name, title or any other identifying item.

PARTICIPANT AUTHORIZATION: I have read the above and understand the nature of this study. I understand that by agreeing to participate in this study I have not waived any legal or human right and I may contact the researcher (SDSU Graduate Student Thomas M Odeen) at 605-545-2120 at any time regarding this study. I agree to participate in this study. I understand that I may refuse to participate or I may withdraw from the study at any time without prejudice. I also understand that I can contact the Research Compliance Coordinator at South Dakota State University (605-688-6975) or [email protected] for any questions I may have regarding this research. Participant will receive a copy of this consent form to keep.

This project has been approved by the SDSU Institutional Review Board, Approval No.: IRB1509007-EXM Participants signature: ________________________________

Date: _____________

Researcher’s signature: _______________________________

Date: _____________

Adapted in part from model outlined by Leedy & Ormrod 2010 Practical Research Planning and Design Ninth Edition.

_____ Please include the name of the organization I represent in the United Way donation 91

being given in conjunction with this research project.

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