In 2016, a real news story about a homeless student at EMU surprised many, but he isn’t the only one. Shawntae Harris helps homeless college students achieve their goals through community support systems including Ozone House programs. Shawntae tells a compelling story of how and why she came to work with homeless college students.

When I was a senior in college, I was one of the 58,000 students that experiences collegiate homelessness annually. I had been living independently since I was 18 and worked to support myself. When the economy crashed in 2008, I lost my job. Shortly after, I lost my car and my apartment. I “couch-surfed” for several months while I searched for work. Towards the end of 2009, I found work as a youth care specialist at a teen runaway and homeless shelter in Flint. When I moved to Ypsilanti to attend Graduate School at EMU, I immediately sought out a way to volunteer with the Ozone House. Now, I serve as the Co-Chair of the MOB (Millennial Ozone House Board), overseeing Community Awareness operations for our group. I also work for both EMU and WCC and work closely with the offices on each campus that are involved with the MORE program.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx