PHOTOVOICE OXNARD

Homeless Person Walking Across Oxnard College

1. What are we looking at? 

In this picture we are seeing a transient man walking through Oxnard College during the peak of the Maria fire of November 2019, passing by students who are part of my high school dance team. Meanwhile, there is a female student studying for possibly midterms or exams. We don’t know where this person is going, and the individuals around him seem not to notice him.

2. What’s really going on here? 

I took this picture because even during times of crisis, things are still normalized. The contrast is that even during the time of crisis, it is still normal to see the homeless man and students on campus. Since we are in a lower class community, seeing a homeless man on our college campus is not concerning. For us it is normalized but for others in other areas it may not be that way. Because we are exposed to homelessness, poverty, and possibly substance abuse, it makes us feel empathetic and motivated. There are many homeless people in parking lots, schools, public areas in Oxnard looking for food and shelter. Looking at a homeless person has become so common for some, but for others it creates feelings of rejection, avoidance, anxiety and even mental distress. Some homeless people may be using drugs and it makes people fear their unusual behavior.

3. How does it affect us? 

Seeing this picture makes me feel unsafe because of the homeless man that is present, although I don't feel completely unsafe because there are more students in the frame. Sometimes I have to walk home from school by myself and when homeless people walk by me, I always tense up but I don’t know why. I call my mom and tell her about my day because I feel like when I’m on the phone, they won’t bother me.

4.What can we do about it? 

As a city and community, we need to take these constant fires and crises more seriously and prepare better. During the Maria 2019 fires, no resources were offered to our community even though we were considered a hotspot. Students and school administrators need to play a bigger role in preparing for crises so that they are not constantly put in a position to choose between their health and their education. Our petition is to create more programs dedicated to homeless individuals and help them start from zero until they can live on their own, pay rent, and afford their basic needs. We also need to aid their psychological health and find out how they became homeless as it could be individuals who suffer from mental illness, have become bankrupt, or have drug addictions. We need to create more incentives for social services to support homeless individuals so that we don’t have to experience those feelings of anxiety and stress by walking next to them and feeling unsafe. We also need to create awareness for people to be less selfish and not to ignore the people around them.

Javert’s picture of a man in a chair, possibly homeless, and he has a camp set up with couches and furniture at the park.

1. What are we looking at? 

This photo is from a student’s walk home from Channel Islands High School in South Oxnard. This location is right across the street from the school, 10 feet away from the fire department. This is a walking path that Channel Islands students have to take to get home. We took the picture to demonstrate that homelessness is a real problem surrounding CIHS.

 2. What is really going on here?

The homeless man is living near a heavily used path by students, and looks like he’s been living there for a while. We as students and citizens have grown accustomed to seeing these transient people so close to buildings that stand to help the community. Many students don’t really process the problem in front of them because they’ve grown used to it.

 3. How does it affect us?

This affects us in many ways but mainly by conditioning us to think it’s normal to see these homeless people everywhere. Even though we have seen this picture numerous times and it was taken almost a year ago, it still raises the same emotions of confusion, compassion, and sympathy for individuals who lack basic living essentials. 

4. What can we do about it?

We must engage, inform, and empower the community to petition policy makers of this county, and frame this issue not as a problem of tomorrow, but a fundamental moral and social welfare issue that needs to be fixed today. Oxnard spent nearly $3.3 million addressing homelessness in the past two years, but  none of it went toward ending homelessness. Most of it went toward police or code enforcement, responding to the impacts of the homeless population. Less than $1 million went toward services like operating the homeless shelter. We need to enact a housing-first model that gets homeless people into a home without preconditions.

We would like to assist in the execution of the HUD plan by focusing on one of the six goals that have been clearly outlined in order to decrease Oxnard’s homeless count. We would like to work with the Oxnard City Council on goal number five which states, “Enhance access to quality, resilient, and livable neighborhoods by improving publicly owned facilities and infrastructure such as parks, streets, sidewalks, and community buildings, including improving accessibility to meet Americans with Disabilities Act.” We would like to contribute by using Oxnard College’s Upward Bound program and Channel Islands High School as resources to support individuals that are in need of housing by providing mental health services, prevention/addiction counseling or classes made available at Oxnard College, and at the very least, basic healthcare needs including hygiene and food.

1. What are we looking at? 

The first two photos show a family’s medicine cabinet that is kept in their kitchen. The prescription drugs are right next to the cups - anyone can access them. What if I’m a child? The pills might look like candy. Kids want to put anything in their mouths and open things. The third photo shows boxes of opioid resources at Ventura County Behavioral Health’s Oxnard office. All of the boxes are in English except for two.

2. What’s really going on here? 

These photos show the culture around prescription drugs. Access to prescription drugs is easy to this generation because prevention resources are not provided in their languages and do not address them. This population is so underserved, and they are not getting the help they need. Why does VCBH have resources mostly in English if the population is mostly Hispanic? Do they think this is a white problem?

3. How does it affect us? 

I feel like if parents and families knew all of this information about prescription drugs, they wouldn’t leave their medications out in the kitchen cabinet. Our families need to be educated. My mom got prescribed medications because she was sick and she left them on the table. She said, “If you feel bad, you can take it.” I said, “No, Mom, that’s prescribed for you.” We need proper education for things like this so people understand the risks of leaving their medications out and taking other people’s prescriptions

4. What can we do about it? 

We need to inform the public about the dangers of access to prescription drugs, taking the wrong drugs, etc. We can change the access to prescription drug information and dissemination. Ventura County Behavioral Health, Ventura County Public Health, and drug stores could give out bags when they give out prescription medications to keep them away from kids. We could have trainings to show people how to take care of their medications and how to prevent access to teens. There would need to be interpreters in Spanish and Mixteco, and childcare so people can attend the trainings. We could use food donations to the community for the trainings, and they could be on Sundays because people are usually free. There could be arts and crafts and childcare for children. Topics could include marijuana, opioids, vaping, alcohol, etc.

Theme:  Working class immigrants take extraordinary risks to earn a living (i.e. selling goods outdoors during an active fire).

1. What are we looking at?

This is a family selling food and beverages in the Channel Islands High School parking lot after school at around 5pm. They were there for several hours, and they also went to other locations. The weather was not the best for them to be outside selling their snacks. When this picture was taken, the fires were happening and the air quality was bad.

2. What’s really going on here? 

The family includes two kids that are inside the car, as well as the mom and dad outside the car. A blanket is draped over the window for the kids. The parents are trying to make a living. They are selling water, chips, snacks, Smart n Final food, and fresas con cremas, making money for themselves and their kids. They had been there since 3pm. The kids look like they are maybe 7 years old, elementary school age. Why aren’t they in school? As families like this take extraordinary risks selling outdoors, they expose themselves to getting into trouble with the law, which could lead to distress, and other mental health issues.

3. How does it affect us? 

This affects us emotionally since we get to see how people are just trying to make a living to survive in one of the most powerful countries in the world. They have to make sacrifices, and their children do as well. Instead of getting help from their parents to do their homework or playing with them after school, they have to accompany their parents since they might not be able to afford a babysitter. This picture shows us the financial struggle immigrant families face to survive. This family is showing one side of the issue, however; there are many families that don’t know how to make a living. Sometimes these families fall into depression, or they abuse drugs in order to cope with their situation. I see this and I feel the struggle to get by financially, including doing what needs to be done in order to survive.

4. What can we do about it? 

We can help people like them to invest in their small business and create more child care programs. We can also try to find a way to allow them to sell at public schools or if not at schools, then other public places. We could have events at schools for vendors where they get to sell their food. They could rotate schools so it’s more than one day of work. We could include the community, and invite street vendors to come on site instead of businesses that the school usually hires like Jamba Juice, Kona Ice, etc. – businesses that already have lots of funding. The people making these decisions probably don’t see street vendors in their closed, gated communities. It’s not a daily reality for them like it is for us.

1. What are we looking at? 

The pictures show the smoke and pollution as seen from Oxnard College during the Maria fire in 2019.

2. What’s really going on here? 

Channel Islands High School (CIHS) students walked to Oxnard College through this pollution, including smoke from the fire, pesticides, and marijuana smells from the fields. CIHS closed early because of the Santa Ana winds which made students leave the school but we didn’t want to (or couldn’t) go home, so we ended up hanging out in the park (still being exposed to the winds and smoke). 

3. How does it affect us? 

We felt anxious, scared, and overwhelmed to evacuate from the 2018 Thomas Fire, so the return of the winds brought these feelings back again. People don’t want to waste money on air conditioning so they open their windows, which lets in the winds, smoke, pollution, pesticides, etc. My nose started bleeding because of the strong smells. I smelled it sitting in my first period. It got so bad during the fire that students couldn’t concentrate but they wouldn’t cancel school. One student protested this and brought news reporters to the school to challenge this. We think, “Oh another fire, it’s normal.” It becomes normalized. In a small apartment, where’s the room for emergency supplies?

4. What can we do about it? 

The community needs better access to information. One student received an email from the county in English, and had to translate it for her mom. What about families who don’t have email accounts, internet access, or someone to translate for them? How is information being distributed? In English and Spanish? We need updates on air conditions, the location of fires, etc. Schools send out information via email or text but not all parents have access to this technology - there is a huge gap in access to information. Schools can implement fire resources now that fires are normal.

Mr. Garcia’s Class

1. What are we looking at? 

These photos are of my teacher, Mr. Garcia, and his classroom.

2. What’s really going on here?

My freshman year, up until a little bit of last year (my junior year), in all of my classes, I don’t ever recall having a teacher that counseled the class, who would take time out of the class to talk to students and have a conversation about our future, or just thoughts, anything just to get people thinking. All I can remember is just doing subjects in class. This year there is a teacher named Mr. Garcia who is different. In the morning he asks us what drives us, what drives us to keep going. He always asks something and the class starts talking and we just have a big discussion.

3. How does it affect us? 

It does take time out of the class but it makes the students want to keep coming to the class. It makes them like it, it makes them want to do their work. I don’t hear anybody complaining in that class. Ms. Garcia, his wife, later in the day told us about a kid she was talking to who said he didn’t want to go to school anymore, that he didn’t see a reason. He’d be showing up to class late and she would take like 20 minutes out of the period to just talk to the class and tell us to believe in ourselves. And that is the first time I remember teachers really taking time out of their day to talk to the class and really support us.

4. What can we do about it? 

We need teachers and counselors who are trained to show that they care about their students and encourage them to go to college and follow their dreams.

(From a college student): I’m going back to when I was in high school, too, and what motivated me to go to college, and actually it's having teachers believing in you. Having someone who’s telling you, “You know what, you can do this.” Because usually you see college or higher education as a big thing. You think, “It's going to be hard, I’m going to need money.” Talking to teenagers or other people around you that are like, “You can do this, and there are some resources here for you.” They ask what do you want to do, what motivates you, what inspires you and it makes you think you know what, actually, this is what inspires me, this is what motivates me and it kind of breaks it down to the point that you can see the future. 

For me, it was a counselor in high school that actually helped me. She said, “I see potential in you, you can do this, you can do that,” and I couldn’t see it in myself. I was like, “No I don’t, I can't.” I was like, “I don’t have money, my parents don’t have no money for me to go to college. I don’t think I’m going to be able to work and go to school at the same time.” I didn’t have a car so I was already getting anxiety about what was going to happen before even getting into it. It wasn’t high school all over again and it seemed like it didn’t feel like it was a huge step. Actually there were so many resources - there were programs, there were so many things that actually helped me. But you learn slowly, navigating the system and it helped having someone to guide me. 

Having teachers like that, someone that actually takes time to talk to the students really makes a difference. Instead of talking to each other about how they're not going to be able to do it, they should talk about how they can do it. My older brother became a truck driver after he graduated from high school, and he didn’t go to college so I had no one to ask, like, “How do you apply for FAFSA?” It was tough because I had to go through it myself. Now I can share it with others. I actually help other people and friends that were like sophomores or juniors when I was in high school. They ask me, “How do you apply? What are the deadlines?” and stuff like that. Just kind of helping each other out with little questions or what are some scholarships that you can apply to, and I would always tell them, “You should apply to this one.” It’s small little things to help each other, just sharing your knowledge and motivating people. You do need to study but it’s nothing impossible. Sometimes they make it seem like it’s impossible.