United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Fellowship
Support Our Community: A Project-based Assignment to help improve the lives of the
homeless.
Courtney Webb, MA MA, Pima Community College (Arizona);
Jeanie Moon, Montgomery College (Maryland)
2021-2022
Introduction:
You are a part of a collegewide effort to increase access to education and empower students
through "open pedagogy." Open pedagogy is a "free access" educational practice that places you
- the student - at the center of your own learning process in a more engaging, collaborative
learning environment. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve greater social justice in
our community in which the work can be freely shared with the broader community. This is a
renewable assignment that is designed to enable you to become an agent of change in your
community through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). For this work, you will integrate the disciplines of Applied Linguistics, Sociology, and
Careers to achieve SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. In assignments 1 and 2,
students will research the field for information about the homeless situation in general and in our
community in particular. They will develop their own design to assist the homeless.

Learning Objectives:
A. Identify and converse about the challenges of taking an online course.
B. Identify who the homeless are, what they represent in our society and who helps them.
C. Who provides electricity, Internet services, phone, computers, charging stations,
showers/toilet free medical and dental care for the homeless now?
D. What Agencies/organizations are already providing services? Locate their specific
addresses.
E. Design a resume that stresses student interests, background and abilities that would be
required to work for one such organization.
F. Write a cover letter to the hiring authority of an organization Seek to get an interview to
talk about internships and jobs.
G. E. Make contact with the organization for an interview and seek to get the job.

Purpose/Rationale:
A. This is a project-based assignment that aims to provide students with information about
the nature and extent of the growing homeless situation in our communities. This part of
the assignment is to familiarize students with agencies already involved in the business of
helping the homeless and low-income persons. 210UA students will be transferring to the
University of Arizona. This project is aimed at getting them interested in Green jobs for
the future and to also help mold their decisions about choosing a major at U of A.
B. The assignment will teach students affordable ways to decrease inequalities of the
homeless by giving them better access to toilets/showers. laundry facilities, Internet
services, free phones/computers, sustainable food gardens and the like.
C. Learners are expected to gain and promote their authentic knowledge about the place they
live and local policies. Also, it will improve their writing and interviewing skills, They
will be able to assess their own learning needs and reach out to seek support using
community resources.

Instructions:
Students visit the UN website and learn about the Sustainable goals. Students will research the
history of homelessness in our community; what are root causes? Who are the homeless? In
addition, what are the greatest needs of the homeless and who does or does not help them?
Students will interview a staff member at the UofA to help research their project. They will locate
the name/address of a local Green employer. They will create a resume and cover letter and send
it out. They will follow up on the letters to seek to get a job as either an intern or a paid
employee.Students will follow up with employers. They will complete their design project and
then create a YouTube video, a PowerPoint presentation, a Google site or Prezi presentation for
the Dec.17, 2021 display date.They will display their project design with other students on the
Dec. 17, 2021 presentation date.

Format Requirements:
Students will first submit a short paper to talk about their research and ideas for the design. The
second paper will be more specific about their design project. Lastly, students will create a
YouTube video, a PowerPoint presentation, a Google site or Prezi design to display their project.
Support Our Community: A Project-based Assignment to help improve the lives of the
homeless is licensed by Courtney Webb, MA MA, Pima Community College (Arizona); and Jeanie
Moon, Montgomery College (Maryland) under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC-SA)