Over 14,000 people are estimated to be homeless in Cape Town, and half of those are considered to be chronically homeless, meaning they’ve been homeless for more than one year and have a serious mental health condition or substance addiction.
For two decades, Streetscapes has taken a holistic approach to helping South Africans get off the streets by providing housing and psychosocial services, like counseling and support groups, and working through the group’s small social enterprises, including its Urban Farms Program. Mercerians support the organization’s initiatives by providing recommendations and guidance on how to make their operations more effective, efficient and sustainable so this important work can continue.
Mercer faculty and students will work alongside Streetscapes staff and clients to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the Urban Farms Program as a locally grown and organic enterprise. They will use their business knowledge to evaluate the extent to which their 2023 recommendations could be implemented, assess how much they increased Streetscapes’ revenues, and work with the organization to modify these recommendations. They will measure the viability, social impact and environmental sustainability of their initiatives.
Participants will also have educational sight-seeing opportunities, including Table Mountain, Robben Island, the Cape of Good Hope and District Six.