“It’s sweeter where the bruise is”: making sense of the experience of family homelessness in a community–campus partnership

Abstract

Individual and family stories of homelessness that focus on the transition out of homelessness remain comparatively unexplored. Using hermeneutic inquiry and microstoria analysis to orient the inquiry and design the narrative, this case study involves the story of a woman overcoming homelessness with her family, and her participation in, and contribution to, a community–campus partnership during this period of time. “Delilah” describes aspects of the day-to-day experience of her transition to permanent housing as well as her understanding of “expert-driven” vs. collaboratively designed programming within community–campus partnerships. The author reflects on her relationship with this brilliant person and the complexity of participating in a respectful relationship with her, and outlines some policy recommendations for families facing similar circumstances. She posits that by appropriately partnering with grassroots individuals with deep knowledge of homelessness and other social conditions, education institutions participate in enriching communities and help improve practice to ameliorate social problems.