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ELAINE SIMONS

risd connection: BFA in Jewelry + Metalsmithing, 1987

Although Elaine Simons came to RISD “to be a designer,” she ended up majoring in Jewelry + Metalsmithing and going on to earn a master’s degree in teaching. Since 1995 she has been working with homeless youth – people between the ages of 14 and 26 who manage to survive on the streets of Seattle. Here, the executive director and co-founder (with the teens she serves) of Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets responds to questions about how and why she chose the path she did.

Were you drawn to social activism at RISD?

I don’t really know what it was that got me excited, but when I came to RISD I was an older student (25) and I felt like being in college was the time to get involved in something larger than myself. A few of us came up with the idea of organizing special events with a social justice slant. We called the series of concerts and lectures “Awareness Day” events. When we successfully lobbied to bring Bread & Puppet Theatre to campus, their performance was about hunger, so we decided to ask students to bring donations of food, which we then gave to a local homeless shelter. We didn’t really know what we were doing, but we quickly discovered that this was a natural way to combine performance art with social justice causes.

How did you end up co-founding Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets (PSKS)?

After I got my degree in at RISD, I went to Columbia for a master’s degree in teaching. My thesis focused on putting together an art program for homeless street kids. I don’t really know why I went in that direction, except that it combined my art interests with the social activism that started at RISD. When I got a job in Seattle teaching art at a middle school, I also started volunteering at a homeless shelter. In 1995 I took a summer job at a drop-in center that worked with homeless teenagers. We organized this huge concert that summer and when it was over the kids kind of said, “Now what?” They wanted to keep doing something together, so after the summer program ended we started meeting at a park and eventually I let the kids come to my home. Within a few years the United Way stepped in with funding for a project we proposed, but they said we had to become a bona fide 501c3 and establish a space outside of my private house. So by the summer of 2000 we were on our way.

What is PSKS like now? What does the organization do?

Well, it’s really great. We’re the hub for homeless youth in Seattle and for the many kids hitchhiking up and down the West Coast corridor. We deal mostly with teenagers who are gutter punks, not glam punks. A lot of them are still all strung out, living the life, but we run a drug-free center and most of our participants respect that. Our two major themes are education and advocacy, and unlike other centers, ours is self-governed – meaning the kids who come here regularly begin to take on leadership roles; they decide on what programs and services we’re going to offer, what grants we should go for; and they begin to represent us in the community, and even do speaking engagements.

Really? How do you get through to teens struggling to survive on the street?

If you treat people with dignity, they’re going to respond. Our main goal isn’t to get them off the street (though when that happens it’s awesome); it’s to give them a sense of self-esteem, validation – what any human being wants. We’re a resource center, so we have a certified teacher who helps kids to get their GEDs, we have an employment counselor, we have a case worker and we have Jacquie, one of our success stories, who now runs the Step Beyond program to help youth who have achieved some sort of stability in their lives from becoming homeless again. And we have four teenage interns who do outreach; they actually roam the streets downtown and on Capital Hill and Broadway, handing out flyers and encouraging homeless kids to stop by.

How is your approach different?

Other centers, especially in cities where there’s a lot of gang violence, have real boundaries between the staff and the clients. They do wand checks for weapons and hire staff to sort of babysit and control the kids. But our center is self-governed and it’s kind of seamless. When you come in you can’t tell who’s staff and who isn’t. It’s very warm and welcoming, we have computers on and snacks out, and nothing is locked up, except for certain files and the Xbox and Wii. For the kids who come here, this is their life, their family. We teach them how to take responsibility for themselves and how to give back, so that they can walk out the door without feeling like they owe us anything. We create lifelong friendships and community, because when they get off the street it’s not like they’re going back to Mom and Dad.

Where do you get the funding for PSKS?

We get some funding from the Seattle Public School System, from the city and from the United Way. But we’re very dependent on foundation and private support, and in this economy, it’s really tough. Grants are getting harder to come by and it’s a constant struggle just to get the basic funding we need.

A couple of years ago, PSKS attracted international attention through the Endurance project. What was that and what was its ultimate value?

We got an ArtsUp Grant from the city and then NEA funding to work with professional artists Bradley McCallum and his wife Jacqueline Tarry to document a 25-hour performance piece involving 26 homeless teenagers. Brad and Jacquie made a film, did interviews with and shot portraits of each of the participants. They produced amazing material that is really very powerful and is still available online through the PSKS homepage. For me, it brought full-circle the idea of using art as a medium for social change.

Speaking of art, has your RISD education helped in any way with this line of work?

Well, if I had it to do over again I probably would have studied filmmaking instead of metal work because it would have been a natural fit for channeling my creativity and giving me the human connection I need. Mike Fink [professor of English] was incredibly supportive of my efforts when I was at RISD, and overall my experience there was phenomenal. RISD is definitely part of who I am. Even though I now spend my time writing grants and planning programs and talking to kids every day, I use the skills I learned from studying art and teaching a lot. Every step of the way there has always been something that ties me back in to my arts background.

Did you also reconnect with RISD recently through an intern?

Yes. Amanda Chang ’11 PH came out to Seattle over Wintersession to volunteer at PSKS. When she first showed up, I thought ‘Oh my god, she’s so sweet and young.’ I was a little worried about her safety, but she did fine. She worked with the kids on a photography project using disposable cameras.

Safety does seem to be an ongoing concern for kids living on the streets. How does that affect you?

Well, we’ve had 23 deaths in the 14 years I’ve been running PSKS. We have an annual memorial service for them on April 1. We have our travelers, kids who are always moving on, but when you find out that someone is dead it’s really, really hard. You get so close to these people…

Then there’s the flip side; you get to see all cycles of life. It’s just that in the homeless community they have a high mortality rate.

Isn’t this kind of work incredibly draining? What gives you hope?

I can’t see myself doing anything else right now. It keeps me young. I like the fact that it’s fluid, that every day is different and that it’s very, very human. And seeing the success stories – the kids who turn themselves around – is just incredible. Our mission is based on the belief that everyone has potential and that there really is a solution to every problem. So that’s what gives me hope.