The Development, Design And Implementation of An Experimental Course: “Housing And Feeding The Homeless”

Homelessness has become a social issue of vital national concern, with some estimates of the numbers of homeless individuals being as high as one percent of the total United States population. Concurrent with this national crisis are several thousand students developing an expertise in the housing and food service industries. Consequently, the faculty within the School of Hotel Administration and the Department of Human Service Studies at Cornell University designed and implemented a course to match the acquired skills and education of students to meet the needs of homeless individuals and families. This paper discusses the course development and structure and the instructors' suggestions for implementing a similar course in other schools and universities.