⁠Full Episode Transcript: https://americancultures.berkeley.edu/podcast/ep-5-seeing-people

Colette “Coco” Auerswald is a Professor of Community Health Sciences at UC Berkeley and Director of the UC Berkeley–UCSF Joint Medical Program. Her research is dedicated to exploring the social determinants of health of our society’s most disadvantaged youth and creating structural interventions to improve their health by employing community collaborative and youth-engaged approaches. She is also the Co-founder and Co-Director of Innovations for Youth (i4Y) and spearheads the Ending Youth Homelessness Catalyst Group as the faculty lead.

In this episode, we discuss a key aspect of Professor Auerswald’s work - her role as an educator. At UC Berkeley, she offers a course entitled “Seeing People: Understanding Homelessness’ Roots, Stigmas & Solutions - A Berkeley Changemaker Course.” This course aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of homelessness, its origins, the systems and services set up to address it, and the potential strategies for effecting change. Professor Auerswald uses a variety of theoretical frameworks, such as the Social Determinants of Health, Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, the Ecological Model, and theories of stigma, to inform students’ perspectives and approaches to addressing homelessness and ‘housism’ in surrounding local communities.