Preparing Allied Health Students to Address Social Work’s Grand Challenge to End Homelessness

Abstract

ABSTRACT Meeting Social Work’s Grand Challenge to end homelessness requires skills in collaborating across professions and the ability to actively engage marginalized people who may have physical, mental, and social challenges. We present our experience building an interprofessional community service and training Center in a neighborhood with high numbers of people experiencing homelessness. The Center provides services to people unhoused while simultaneously providing practicum education to Health Science and Human Services students. The knowledge gained from our Center’s experience can assist Social Work educators with identifying strategies for increasing collaboration among university departments and community-based organizations while simultaneously targeting the professional training of students to combat homelessness. Allied health professionals’ collaboration is essential to systematically ending homelessness.