Social care students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) were given an eye-opening tour of the hidden side of America’s Sunshine State, working with Florida’s poor and homeless.
Students on the Youth Work and Community Development BA and related degrees were inspired to make a difference in the world of community work in the UK, after they were given a real-world insight into the reality of conditions for the poor and vulnerable in Orlando, Florida, with #DMUglobal.
#DMUglobal is the university’s programme giving students valuable international experience, with many opportunities, including this Florida trip, offered as part of their degree.
Although Florida is often associated with sunshine and prosperity, Central Florida experiences high rates of poverty, unemployment and other social problems.
During the 11-day trip, students experienced the work of important life-changing projects in Florida, including Cross Winds Youth Services, Aspire Health Partners and the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida.
On their return to the UK, they presented their findings from the trip, evaluating Florida’s response to poverty and social policy and comparing support offered in the UK to that offered in the US.
One student Natasha, in her final year of BA Youth Work and Community Development, said: “The visit allowed us to experience in practice what we had learnt in theory and relate it to our own professional development, and I will be able to reflect on what I have learnt when I go to interviews.
“I will also be able to relate this to my current placement with Leicestershire AIDS Support Services and I would now like to work for an organisation supporting people who require transitional housing.”
She added: “I chose DMU because it was the best university for my course and I love it here.
“The course has been brilliant. My lecturers have been very supportive and I couldn’t have picked a better university.”
Designed to develop students’ knowledge of social policy and responses to poverty, the trip helped reinforce students’ desire to work in the area of social care, and gave them the chance to speak to American practitioners and students of social policy.
One inspirational project, Knights Pantry, is run by students at University of Central Florida, and has been giving other students access to free food during hard times since 2009. So inspired by this project, students on this #DMUglobal trip are now wanting to set up something similar at DMU.
The trip also involved a visit to Second Harvest, a food bank in Central Florida which distributes donated food to 550 local programmes including soup kitchens and shelters.
#DMUglobal offers real-life international experience to students in countries across the world including the latest opportunities to study Cuban society, game development in Finland, help at a children’s home in Sri Lanka and many more.
For the latest opportunities with #DMUglobal, please visit the programme’s dedicated website.
Posted on Friday 4 December 2015