The University Daily Kansan notes that students from the University of Kansas recently utilized the Lawrence Public Library as a survey site for local homeless people.
The survey, conducted under the social welfare class Advanced Communication and Advocacy Practice, focused on the options that Lawrence provides for the homeless …
Part of the reason why the survey was conducted was because [of] a report that named Lawrence the second “meanest city” to the homeless in the United States. The title was given in an annual survey, which was released in January 2006, conducted by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty …
The class … brings with them various items to give the homeless after they fill out the survey. Items include socks, batteries, radios, bus passes and water bottles.
At first the incentives were a concern because they wanted to give participants something they would use. “We wanted to give them choices and provide things that maybe the shelter doesn’t have for them,” [said] Krista Lee, [a] Topeka graduate student.