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.
Streetscapes takes 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 an urban farm, contract cleaning of public toilets in Cape Town’s central business district, and an eco-laundromat. It is also incubating initiatives in composting and value-added food products.
Mercer On Mission teams have been assessing Streetscape’s existing social enterprises before creating and testing recommendations to share with the organization’s managers and supervisors. These recommendations have resulted in measurable improvements in Streetscapes’ operations and revenue.
This Mercer On Mission project will involve working with Streetscapes to strengthen its existing social enterprises and take its new ventures of composting and value-added farm produce to the next level. Students will learn and work alongside Streetscapes, conducting hands-on research and analysis to improve its operations, building relationships with local businesses and customers, creating practical business plans and training materials, and improving on earlier recommendations made to increase Streetscapes’s revenues. All actions will be evaluated by how well they meet financial viability, social impact and environmental sustainability metrics.
Students participating in this program can expect:
It was an honor to be even a small part of Streetscapes’ mission and to see the difference they are making in the lives of the people in Cape Town. Through conversations with the clients, I learned their stories of strength and perseverance in the face of tremendous trials. It was so meaningful to be able to support and walk alongside them, ultimately getting to watch them grow by making their own decisions to strengthen the organization.
Students are required to sign up for six hours of credit. The registrar will enroll you in courses for your program, including one class from each of the program's faculty.
