What are Street College, Street School, SC Essentials?
As an umbrella collection of offerings, Street School and Street College are opportunities for street involved individuals to connect to a sense of empowerment, community building, solidarity, knowledge and skill exchange and harm reduction information. It is not a heavy handed distribution of harm reduction information and supplies; but really centers individuals, meeting them where they are at. The foundations of the offerings connect street-involved individuals with each other. Engagement is built on a recognition of skills learned through trial and experience. Under the Street College/Street School Umbrella exists a range of engagement styles to meet a range of needs of potential participants.
1. Make the opportunities available to people where they are at, and,
2. Allow people to challenge themselves with more course expectations and increasingly difficult subject matter.
The focus is not on knowledge that could feel abstract or irrelevant but expanding from the existing knowledge.
It Recognizes the value in unconventionally learned skills and wisdom, using them as a jumping point to learn more.
Street College is not about teaching people things you think they ought to know or pushing a public health message;
It’s about fostering community and building relationships to collaboratively respond to the socio-political context of the time and place you are in.
It’s about showing your solidarity towards those who are criminalized by virtue of their drug use.
Street School Street School is a “meeting folks where they are” drop-in education level of engagement. It is about bringing a topic, a tool, or a low-barrier activity into a drop-in type space. The commitment requirement is very low. These sessions are usually on one simple topic and are presented verbally over 15-20 minutes. The short nature of the session is reflected in a small honourarium (5$/20 min presentation as of 2018 or $2/”cash prize” for challenge related games or activities like, hitting a vein in the practice arm or playing a round of trivia).
One example of Street School would be bringing a practice injection arm into a drop-in space and offering folks a small cash honorarium or prize for hitting a vein. The person bringing the arm into the space should be knowledgeable enough to answer questions that may arise around vein care and related topics but doesn’t “deliver” this information as much as being available for questions. The facilitator makes themself accessible, but lets participants lead the process of inquiry.
This is also a good opportunity to provide connection building opportunities with other community supports. Examples could include; housing advocates, welfare advocates, street outreach workers, street nurses, family support workers, continuing education teachers, youth workers or food security program reps. These guests could present on one short topic, and meet folks where they are, connecting them to the offerings of their service(s).
Another approach is using a simple game structure, like a Jenga or Jeopardy style quiz game, where folks are free to participate on a single question basis. See game instructions in appendix 1.
Street College Essentials This is a dedicated program offering, but still relatively low barrier. Each session runs for about an hour, with each participant earning a small honourarium. A session will cover one aspect of one topic, the intent is not to over-program, or give an overwhelming amount of information. Throughout the modules, you will find a broad collection of topics and subtopics. Street College Essentials does involve a presentation, and it’s imperative in the design of the program that participants are not stigmatized, including being kicked out if they are nodding off. Often if people appear to be nodding off, they may still be listening or absorbing information. Barrier free programming understands that people may be participating in a wide range of ways.
An example would be a session hosted on a recurring weekday afternoon with an opportunity to sign up and also with drop-in participation is welcome. A video plays at the starting time of the session and participants may watch the video as others trickle in late. Conversations that may be happening during this time will still have space to exist. This isn’t school or a space held with punitive control. Following the video, the facilitator may ask the group a question, or a short series of questions building on the information theme. The facilitator may have a couple of facts to share or a tool to show-and-tell, but the bulk of the session is a group discussion. The facilitator is helping hold the space, welcoming participation from everyone there and helping direct conversations to stay around the general themes being explored. Some modules included from the original AVI program are also powerpoint presentations, which are purely graphics based from the participant perspective, with details and specifics embedded in the speaker’s notes sections.
Street College This dedicated program offers the opportunity for participants to sign up for the series over a 6-10 week period. The group will work together and get to know each other and some groups may choose to continue longer than the originally set out offering. It is beneficial if staffing budgets, space rentals or anything else that may restrict such potential developments have a flexible nature so that project participants can be supported in harnessing the momentum of self-organizing if it arises.
Over the course, the participants will explore a collection of topics, selected from the “menu/table of contents” or generated from current interests such as a local political action. Each session runs about 2 hours with a 15-minute smoke break. Again, this time frame includes space for elastic edges. It is counterproductive to the intent of the program to rush participants out of the room.
Session structures may vary depending on group size and facilitator style, but will generally follow the framework of the content presented in each of the sections. The collections of discussion topics, informational videos, resources and data that is gathered in each of the categories within this curriculum is immense. The intent is not to explore every single piece of content, but to have a lot to work from as course participants can drive the program to meet their needs. Certain discussions feel more interesting or relevant depending on the make up of the group, their drug use habits, current trends in drug availability and more. There is enough content to run a 6-8 week program many times through without repeating.
The Understanding Drug Related Stigma Course is the real bridge between this level of SC and the leadership stream.
Street College Leadership It is the intent of the project to engage and inspire street involved and drug using individuals (referred to as peers herein) to become more engaged in community activism that addresses their needs in community. One way that the project aims to achieve this is by offering opportunities for participants to transition into active and recognized leaders in both the program and the community agency hosting.
If the community already has a “peer-based” drug user support network, like SOLID, VANDU, REDUN, support can take the form of a person or people transitioning into leadership roles within these organizing groups. If such a group doesn’t exist or has ceased to be very active, this can be a way for that work to get new leaders who are activated.
Leaders from the Street College Program in Victoria have been responsible for hosting an annual Drug User Convergence, serving as both the event organizers and hosts, and giving presentations and leading discussions.
An additional function of SC leadership is that it creates and supports a democratic container to guide allies in their work supporting peers. Activists, researchers, students, HR workers can all play important and mutually supportive roles in relation to this track. Meaningful relationship building and democratic engagement are imperative in ensuring that this group doesn’t become a tokenized “pet group” of non-peer service providers. The current climate encourages service providers to be seen as inclusive of service users and PWUD in particular and a discretionary caution in the development of such a track is to ask “Why am I facilitating/holding space for this group?” If a group is being created or maintained in tokenistic or non-meaningful ways it doesn’t meet the aims set out in the creation of this content.
As an umbrella collection of offerings, Street School and Street College are opportunities for street involved individuals to connect to a sense of empowerment, community building, solidarity, knowledge and skill exchange and harm reduction information. It is not a heavy handed distribution of harm reduction information and supplies; but really centers individuals, meeting them where they are at. The foundations of the offerings connect street-involved individuals with each other. Engagement is built on a recognition of skills learned through trial and experience. Under the Street College/Street School Umbrella exists a range of engagement styles to meet a range of needs of potential participants.
1. Make the opportunities available to people where they are at, and,
2. Allow people to challenge themselves with more course expectations and increasingly difficult subject matter.
The focus is not on knowledge that could feel abstract or irrelevant but expanding from the existing knowledge.
It Recognizes the value in unconventionally learned skills and wisdom, using them as a jumping point to learn more.
Street College is not about teaching people things you think they ought to know or pushing a public health message;
It’s about fostering community and building relationships to collaboratively respond to the socio-political context of the time and place you are in.
It’s about showing your solidarity towards those who are criminalized by virtue of their drug use.
Street School Street School is a “meeting folks where they are” drop-in education level of engagement. It is about bringing a topic, a tool, or a low-barrier activity into a drop-in type space. The commitment requirement is very low. These sessions are usually on one simple topic and are presented verbally over 15-20 minutes. The short nature of the session is reflected in a small honourarium (5$/20 min presentation as of 2018 or $2/”cash prize” for challenge related games or activities like, hitting a vein in the practice arm or playing a round of trivia).
One example of Street School would be bringing a practice injection arm into a drop-in space and offering folks a small cash honorarium or prize for hitting a vein. The person bringing the arm into the space should be knowledgeable enough to answer questions that may arise around vein care and related topics but doesn’t “deliver” this information as much as being available for questions. The facilitator makes themself accessible, but lets participants lead the process of inquiry.
This is also a good opportunity to provide connection building opportunities with other community supports. Examples could include; housing advocates, welfare advocates, street outreach workers, street nurses, family support workers, continuing education teachers, youth workers or food security program reps. These guests could present on one short topic, and meet folks where they are, connecting them to the offerings of their service(s).
Another approach is using a simple game structure, like a Jenga or Jeopardy style quiz game, where folks are free to participate on a single question basis. See game instructions in appendix 1.
Street College Essentials This is a dedicated program offering, but still relatively low barrier. Each session runs for about an hour, with each participant earning a small honourarium. A session will cover one aspect of one topic, the intent is not to over-program, or give an overwhelming amount of information. Throughout the modules, you will find a broad collection of topics and subtopics. Street College Essentials does involve a presentation, and it’s imperative in the design of the program that participants are not stigmatized, including being kicked out if they are nodding off. Often if people appear to be nodding off, they may still be listening or absorbing information. Barrier free programming understands that people may be participating in a wide range of ways.
An example would be a session hosted on a recurring weekday afternoon with an opportunity to sign up and also with drop-in participation is welcome. A video plays at the starting time of the session and participants may watch the video as others trickle in late. Conversations that may be happening during this time will still have space to exist. This isn’t school or a space held with punitive control. Following the video, the facilitator may ask the group a question, or a short series of questions building on the information theme. The facilitator may have a couple of facts to share or a tool to show-and-tell, but the bulk of the session is a group discussion. The facilitator is helping hold the space, welcoming participation from everyone there and helping direct conversations to stay around the general themes being explored. Some modules included from the original AVI program are also powerpoint presentations, which are purely graphics based from the participant perspective, with details and specifics embedded in the speaker’s notes sections.
Street College This dedicated program offers the opportunity for participants to sign up for the series over a 6-10 week period. The group will work together and get to know each other and some groups may choose to continue longer than the originally set out offering. It is beneficial if staffing budgets, space rentals or anything else that may restrict such potential developments have a flexible nature so that project participants can be supported in harnessing the momentum of self-organizing if it arises.
Over the course, the participants will explore a collection of topics, selected from the “menu/table of contents” or generated from current interests such as a local political action. Each session runs about 2 hours with a 15-minute smoke break. Again, this time frame includes space for elastic edges. It is counterproductive to the intent of the program to rush participants out of the room.
Session structures may vary depending on group size and facilitator style, but will generally follow the framework of the content presented in each of the sections. The collections of discussion topics, informational videos, resources and data that is gathered in each of the categories within this curriculum is immense. The intent is not to explore every single piece of content, but to have a lot to work from as course participants can drive the program to meet their needs. Certain discussions feel more interesting or relevant depending on the make up of the group, their drug use habits, current trends in drug availability and more. There is enough content to run a 6-8 week program many times through without repeating.
The Understanding Drug Related Stigma Course is the real bridge between this level of SC and the leadership stream.
Street College Leadership It is the intent of the project to engage and inspire street involved and drug using individuals (referred to as peers herein) to become more engaged in community activism that addresses their needs in community. One way that the project aims to achieve this is by offering opportunities for participants to transition into active and recognized leaders in both the program and the community agency hosting.
If the community already has a “peer-based” drug user support network, like SOLID, VANDU, REDUN, support can take the form of a person or people transitioning into leadership roles within these organizing groups. If such a group doesn’t exist or has ceased to be very active, this can be a way for that work to get new leaders who are activated.
Leaders from the Street College Program in Victoria have been responsible for hosting an annual Drug User Convergence, serving as both the event organizers and hosts, and giving presentations and leading discussions.
An additional function of SC leadership is that it creates and supports a democratic container to guide allies in their work supporting peers. Activists, researchers, students, HR workers can all play important and mutually supportive roles in relation to this track. Meaningful relationship building and democratic engagement are imperative in ensuring that this group doesn’t become a tokenized “pet group” of non-peer service providers. The current climate encourages service providers to be seen as inclusive of service users and PWUD in particular and a discretionary caution in the development of such a track is to ask “Why am I facilitating/holding space for this group?” If a group is being created or maintained in tokenistic or non-meaningful ways it doesn’t meet the aims set out in the creation of this content.