Shelter: Where Harvard Meets the Homeless

Shelter: Where Harvard Meets the Homeless

Every winter night the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter brings together society's most privileged and marginalized groups under one roof: Harvard students and the homeless. What makes the shelter unique is that it is operated entirely by Harvard College students. It is the only student-run homeless shelter in the United States. Shelter demonstrates how the juxtaposition of privilege and poverty inside the Harvard Square Shelter proves transformative for the homeless men and women taking shelter there, the Harvard students volunteering there, and the wider society into which both groups emerge each morning. In so doing, Shelter makes the case for the replication of this student-run model in major cities across the United States. Inspiring and energizing, Shelter offers a unique window into the lives of America's poorest and most privileged citizens as well as a testament to the powerful effects that can result when members of these opposing groups come together. "Scott Seider's rich and insightful study of Harvard students who run a homeless shelter provides an informative portrait of today's young leaders and their struggle to understand and confront injustice." - Dr. Peter Levine, Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Tufts University "Scott Seider's study of a homeless shelter in the shadow of Harvard Yard promises to catalyze conversations about what it means to be a civilized society. This insightful book could not be more timely or more important." - Dr. Howard Gardner, Harvard University "This book about a homeless shelter run by Harvard students is also about topics that too often fall off our radar; how we treat - and ought to treat - the marginalized and down and out among us, the particular, powerful contributions that young people can make to improving the lives of others, how young people develop mature ideals and, perhaps most essentially, what economic class means in America...It's a book that brims with wisdom and humanity." - Dr. Richard Weissbourd, author of The Parents We Mean to Be: How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine Children's Moral and Emotional Development "This highly readable in-depth case study of a homeless shelter run entirely by college students has a lot to teach anyone concerned with the civic engagement of young people...It reinforced my belief that given an opportunity, young people can, and will, do extraordinary things to improve their world." - Elizabeth Hollander, Executive Director, National Campus Compact, 1997-2006 "This is more than a compelling study of young students doing community service with a homeless population. It is an examination of life histories and narratives, class conflicts, the meaning of human care, and the discovery of self and community." - Dr. Thomas Cottle, Professor of Education, Boston University Scott Seider is an Assistant Professor of Education at Boston University where his research focuses on the civic development of adolescents and emerging adults.