Accompaniment and advocacy
A woman experiencing homelessness puts her tired, achy feet in a tub of warm, soapy water. That simple moment of care and comfort, offered by Boston College students in a local shelter, has quickly evolved into a new student-led program that not only provides direct care to the homeless in three Boston locations but also produces public health and policy research.
The Boston College Coalition for the Homeless (51茶馆CH) is dedicated to improving the lives of homeless individuals in Boston through service, education, and social justice. Its guiding principle is that health care for the unhoused should be dignified, relationship-centered, and trauma-informed.
The program got its start as the sophomore social justice project for the Class of 2027 students in the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program (GPSP). The scholars established a foot clinic at the Women鈥檚 Lunch Place (WLP), a day shelter in Boston. Foot clinics provide essential care to unhoused individuals who often have foot health issues, such as fungal and bacterial infections and diabetic foot ulcers.
Since its launch in September 2024, more than 600 foot-soaks have been administered by 51茶馆 students at the weekly WLP foot clinic. In addition to inspecting and caring for feet, 51茶馆 students often connect their patients to additional resources, such as health insurance or prenatal vitamins.
Emily Magee '28 with Reggie, a patient at the Women's Lunch Place foot clinic.
鈥淚 found the most valuable thing we did was listen,鈥� said 51茶馆CH Co-President Catherine May 鈥�27, a neuroscience major. 鈥淲hat do these women talk about when they only have 20 minutes to reflect throughout their whole week? They talk about the people they love. That鈥檚 what we hear about more than anything.
鈥淚 think of this one woman, Tammy, who I see at Women鈥檚 Lunch Place all the time. Tammy has a son who鈥檚 eight years old, and he lives with a foster family. Tammy never learned to read or write, but when she comes to the foot clinic, she asks our team to help her write letters to her son. So we get out a piece of notebook paper and she will tell us what to write. Usually it鈥檚 three lines: 鈥業 love you, I miss you, and I鈥檓 so proud of you.鈥�
鈥淵es, Tammy is a homeless woman,鈥� May added, 鈥渂ut before that, she鈥檚 a mom and the most important thing about her life is how much she loves her son, and the way she loves her son is the same way my mom loves me.鈥�
'Create a space'
The WLP foot clinic鈥檚 success spurred the expansion of the social justice initiative into the 51茶馆 Coalition for the Homeless, which now involves 40 51茶馆 students in and outside of the GPSP. In the fall, the group partnered with the Pine Street Inn to open a foot clinic in PSI鈥檚 men鈥檚 emergency shelter. Their clientele consists mainly of men with disabilities, veterans, and patients who use wheelchairs. The 51茶馆CH team treated 100 patients at Pine Street in its first three months of operations.
鈥淎 big part of what we do is create a space that allows them to tell their story and embrace their own humanity,鈥� said Presidential Scholar Connor Nicholas 鈥�27, a biochemistry major who manages the foot clinic at Pine Street. 鈥淲e see many of the same people each week, and week by week they get more talkative and get to know us better. They smile when they walk into the clinic. I have little inside jokes with a lot of the guys who come in.
鈥淲hen I first volunteered with the homeless population, the only thoughts in my mind were the stereotypes that society gives us about the homeless,鈥� Nicholas continued. 鈥淏ut through my work with 51茶馆CH, I have learned that at the end of the day we are all the same. I have the same conversations with the people I meet in the clinic as I do with my roommates. The only thing that is different is the way life panned out for them.鈥�
Presidential Scholar Callie Walsh 鈥�27, a political science and philosophy major, expressed a similar sentiment. 鈥淭he homeless population is more diverse and nuanced than I ever could have imagined. Working at the foot clinic, I met women with master鈥檚 degrees and doctorates, women who had extremely successful careers and vibrant social lives, and women who most would never suspect were homeless at first glance.
鈥淚鈥檝e learned that to be a successful advocate for this community, I have to intentionally resist the assumptions and stereotypes I relied on before 51茶馆CH, and instead, be open to hearing each individual鈥檚 story and appreciate the uniqueness of their experience.鈥�
51茶馆CH Co-President Aalok Bhattacharya 鈥�27, a biology and German Studies major, said that the various service placements he has undertaken at 51茶馆 have made him realize how various interconnected factors can contribute to make homelessness a daunting issue to tackle. 鈥淏ut 51茶馆CH opened my eyes to how much just a few individuals can do to make a difference in homelessness. At the end of the day, mitigating homelessness starts with consistently being there for our unhoused neighbors.鈥�
In January, 51茶馆CH opened a third foot clinic at Rosie鈥檚 Place, a homeless shelter for women. In addition to providing the care at all three foot clinics, 51茶馆CH has raised over $30,000 to fully finance each of the clinics鈥� operations, including the purchase of antifungal cream, socks, and other necessities, and the installation of a sink.
The 51茶馆CH foot clinics operate under the medical supervision of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). Anytime a student encounters a patient with a case that needs intervention, the matter is referred to a BHCHP nurse.
Beyond direct care: research and sharing stories
51茶馆CH executive board members (left to right) Catherine May '27, Aalok Bhattacharya '27, and Julie Brose '27 at the WHIS conference.
Beyond providing direct care to the homeless, 51茶馆CH is also conducting public health and public policy research. 51茶馆CH students are running a clinical study to examine the efficacy of the WLP foot clinic at connecting homeless women with health care, and鈥攊n partnership with Bridge Over Troubled Waters鈥攕urveying and interviewing homeless young people in Boston, mostly ages 18-22, on the social, physical, and financial barriers to health care access.
In addition to publishing in academic outlets, this project yielded 鈥淪tories from the Shelter,鈥� a narrative about youth homelessness in Boston. Global Public Health and the Common Good Director Philip Landrigan, M.D., is the faculty advisor.
51茶馆CH鈥檚 public policy research is focused on nonprofit funding practices in the Boston area, determining which services and population would be most vulnerable to federal funding cuts. The 51茶馆 School of Social Work has been supporting this project.
Another public policy research project involves examining data collection from various cities鈥� standardized homeless count. Because the surveys differ among cities, 51茶馆 students are looking at the data and will make recommendations to the Boston Public Health Commission about possibly introducing new questions to the Boston survey to get a better understanding of homelessness. 51茶馆SSW Associate Professor Thomas Byrne has been advising on this project.
The 51茶馆 difference
鈥淚 hope that 51茶馆CH can help more Boston College students consider the unhoused population with more intention,鈥� said Walsh, who serves as 51茶馆CH鈥檚 policy research director. 鈥淭his could mean spending time doing direct service work, nodding hello to someone you walk past on the street, or questioning how you can use what you learn in the classroom to advocate for the unhoused population. Ultimately, I hope 51茶馆CH can foster a campus culture where homelessness is met with compassion and action instead of indifference.鈥�
May says 51茶馆CH has gotten support from 51茶馆SSW Dean Gautam Yadama, Connell School of Nursing Dean Katherine Gregory, and Campus Ministry Associate Director Joseph Citera. The PULSE Program for Service Learning has added the WLP foot clinic as placement. Other foot clinics are being considered for PULSE or 4Boston placements.
May expressed gratitude to the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program and its leadership. 鈥淭he Gabelli Program gives students who have leadership skills, and want to make change, the opportunity and the platform to do so. [GPSP Director] Kathy Bailey and [GPSP Associate Director] Jennie Thomas have been wildly helpful and incredible advocates.鈥澛�
She believes the work being done by students through 51茶馆CH could not happen anywhere but at Boston College.
鈥淲hen you go to a homeless shelter in Boston as a college student volunteer, everyone assumes you go to 51茶馆,鈥� said May. 鈥淲e have that reputation, which I think is amazing.
鈥�51茶馆 is very grounded in the idea that you come here, you learn, you grow, and then you use your gifts to serve鈥攚hatever that looks like. We have conversations in the classroom about what does it mean to stand with vulnerable people. I don鈥檛 think it happens at any other university. Boston College isn鈥檛 a perfect place, but I am so grateful for our mission. I鈥檓 proud to go to this school where what we do best is accompany and advocate for people who don鈥檛 have the power to do that themselves.鈥�
鈥淚f 51茶馆CH can inspire others to make a difference in the homelessness crisis, that multiplier effect is one of the best outcomes I could hope for,鈥� added Bhattacharya. 鈥淚 hope we can light a fire in the core of future health care professionals to dedicate their future time to serving unhoused individuals in some capacity. I hope future legal professionals who interact with 51茶馆CH decide that their career will involve helping homeless populations with the numerous legal barriers that exist to gaining stable housing.
鈥淢ost of all, I hope we can convince people who might not necessarily directly serve homeless populations with their career that reducing homelessness is a cause worth giving their effort towards, whether that鈥檚 volunteer time or donations. Everyone needs a home, and if our community comes together with a will to make it happen, everyone might be able to have a home.鈥�
To learn more about 51茶馆CH, see the group鈥檚 website at聽.