As the moon rose and the temperature dropped below 40 degrees Fahrenheit Nov. 9, eight students slept in Campion Student Center’s courtyard in solidarity with people experiencing homelessness.
The students were participating in a sleep out sponsored by Covenant House, a nonprofit organization that provides shelter and services to youth experiencing homelessness and human trafficking.
Ryan Huester ’25, who helped organize the event alongside Matt Dunne ’25 and Parker Hayden ’25, said the event was an opportunity to raise money for Covenant House and educate the community during Homelessness Awareness Month.
“We want people to have a better understanding of the realities of homelessness, especially in Philadelphia, and then we also want to inspire them to make a change going forward for themselves, having a whole different perspective,” Huester said.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reported 976 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Philadelphia in January 2024, up approximately 38% from 2023. The number of people experiencing sheltered homelessness (staying in an emergency shelter, safe haven or transitional housing) increased from 4,019 people in 2023 to 4,215 in January 2024.
Nationally, the number of people experiencing homelessness has increased, according to HUD’s 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress. On a single night in January 2023, 653,104 people experienced homelessness, an approximately 12% increase from 2022.
Dunne said he wanted participants to learn how their involvement can impact people’s lives and recognize the dignity inherent within those experiencing homelessness.
“These are people right next to you. These are people that you know,” Dunne said. “You never know who it may be, and I think we just need to do a better job of trying to help the person next to us and our neighbors and figure out how we can do better.”
The sleep out event began with speeches from Covenant House representatives, as well as Joan McConnon, adjunct professor of accounting, and David Brown, who shared his lived experience with homelessness.
Brown said his experiences with homelessness began when his father kicked him out of his home at age 13. Brown spoke about how he and others around him experiencing homelessness survived in Philadelphia, before he eventually encountered Project HOME.
“They didn’t just walk by me. They seen a human being, and that’s what I want y’all to see. When you see these people in the street, see a human being,” Brown said. “Understand that a lot of it is not their fault.”
McConnon is the co-founder of Project HOME, a nonprofit organization that provides services to people experiencing homelessness. McConnon said that seeing students participate in the sleep out was “energizing” and gave her hope that homelessness could be eradicated.
“It just gives me such hope that the generation to come will put a final end to this because it’s so unnecessary,” McConnon said. “My money’s on this generation to solve it.”
Seeing students participate in the sleep out was also impactful for Lusana Masrur, director of development for Covenant House, who noted how the students participating were in the same age range as the youth that Covenant House works with.
“You’re in college, you have aspirations, and the youth that we serve also have those aspirations,” Masrur said. “But they need to be connected to those opportunities.”
According to the 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, on a given night in 2023, 34,703 people under 25 experienced homelessness without a parent or guardian, over 4,000 more people under 25 than any given night in 2022.
Lianna Long ’25, who attended the event, said that Brown’s speech about his lived experience was very eye opening.
“Having David speak about his real experience was very humbling, and the biggest thing was him saying that he was homeless for 25 years, and then anything he makes now, he gives it back to the community to ensure no one experiences what he experience[d],” Long said. “He has so little, but he still gives everything that he can, and I just find that so admirable.”
Following the speeches, about 50 students gathered inside The Perch to watch performances by St. Joe’s musicians, hosted by 1851 Entertainment. Between performances, the musicians read facts and statistics about people experiencing homelessness.
The final presentation of the night was a showing of the documentary “Lead Me Home,” which told the stories of real people who have experienced homelessness, before students settled in the courtyard for the remainder of the night.
