The following email was sent to Spring Valley’s Student Organizational Team on November 7, 2024 at 6:10 PM by Principal Tara Powell:

“I am reaching out regarding an urgent issue that has intensified around our school and nearby area: the substantial rise in homeless encampments within the park.

This situation presents a complex set of concerns, including safety risks, public health challenges, and broader social issues. Unfortunately, individuals from these encampments have been entering the SVHS campus in search of shelter, resulting in regular property damage. More concerning is the presence of hazardous items left behind, such as human waste, drugs, alcohol, drug paraphernalia, and even weapons.

Our students and staff have been directly affected. Students have been followed and taunted by individuals from the homeless encampments, and on multiple occasions this year alone, we have found people on campus who are not part of our school community. These incidents create an unsafe and disruptive environment that impedes our mission to provide a secure and focused learning atmosphere.” 

But what has been done? Evident in the issue’s continued prevalence, nothing monumental. The new question, however, has become: what can be done?

According to Janene French, Spring Valley’s Safe School Professional, it starts with a culture change. “They’re not all bad people,” she sighs while flipping through her records on student homelessness at Spring Valley. 

“I have 100 [kids] on my list that are considered homeless. [But] that’s only what we’ve identified, right?”

Our conversation was briefly interrupted as her radio crackled; a student had been left without a way home, a situation she explains happens all too often. In a minute, she’d arranged him a method of transportation for the next 30 days. 

“I can’t help it…I’ll help anybody… I want to try and find a solution.”

“We’re all in situations; no matter who we are, there’s always something going on…And you have that stigma…people think ‘Oh, they’re dirty, trashy, lazy, whatever…[but] we all want to have a home, right?”

According to her, the issue is much greater than the Spring Valley Community Park. 

“It is not just our park. [They’re at] Desert Breeze or Sunset Park or any parks in North Las Vegas.” The problem’s relevance to Spring Valley High School, she clarifies, begins with the park’s proximity to campus. 

“The [Spring Valley Community] Park is connected with the school. They were actually doing stuff on our property…If they hadn’t crossed that boundary, they would have been left there.”

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The issue that’s caught the attention of Spring Valley  administration can’t simply be solved through relocation. 

“You can run them out, but you know what, they’re going to go right back.”

This issue is one tackled daily by Rob Banghart, outreach director for Las Vegas’ Shine a Light foundation. Since 2018, the organization has sought Las Vegas’ infamous ‘homeless tunnels’ and notable parks with the goal of rehabilitating those misfortuned by homelessness—usually as a consequence of addiction. 

“The last day I was homeless, I was attacked and nearly killed…I had a lot to heal from. I knew if I went back out there, I was gonna die.” he recalls when reflecting on his personal connection to the ongoing issue.

Since his growth from impoverished to director of outreach, he tells me the solution “is always the same: connection.” 

Prior to our discussion, I was given a tour of the Shine A Light building. Filled with community bulletins, a discussion room lined with chairs, and a lounge complete with games for children, its layout works to combat the second and third layers of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Safety Needs and Love and Belonging.

Courtesy of SimplyPsycology.org

According to the Hierarchy, an individual must cross each layer before considering higher layers that encourage long-term motivation and stability. For example, Love and Belonging must be achieved through consistent conversation and group events before moving on to Self-Esteem. 

The next issue is that of travel. As Banghart explains, “We do the picking up.” A large component of their outreach efforts involves the distribution of bracelets with the organization’s phone number. In a line of work where half of one’s offers are rejected by people who haven’t realized they need help, Banhart explains this tactic is especially useful for those who begin reconsidering.

Perhaps the most considerable solution proposed by Banhart is the concept of a Clark County Safety Net. More specifically, a ring of well-funded resource centers with rehabilitative specialties ranging from rehabilitating addiction and trauma-induced mental health struggles to aiding in familial financial insecurity and escape from abuse, all of which are leading causes of homelessness. 

The Safety Net, however, cannot be accomplished without continued legislative support, which has merely challenged Banghart’s efforts. For instance, Clark County voted 6-1 to jail and fine homeless individuals up to $1,000 for encampments just last November.

Abigail Negate, a Spring Valley senior in the Global Politics course, agrees.

 “The U.S. has not been handling homelessness properly…They’ve more or less criminalized the status of being homeless. So it’s made it a lot harder for homeless people to…get help.”

“Right now there is an air of NIMBYism*…As soon as homeless people start moving in, [society] turns their noses, and I think that’s something that we have to change as a society.”

Global Politics senior Lawrence Lieu echoes these ideals. In writing his Political Engagement Activity on homelessness, he explained to me how, “When [he] was younger, [his] mother gave money to a homeless man… I asked ‘Why would you do that mom…aren’t we already suffering enough?’…She always told me ‘it’s always better to show kindness to anyone you can.’” 

If you’re interested in exploring these solutions outside of school, visit the Shine A Light website for more information on how you can make an impact. 

*NIMBYism, or the Not-In-My-Backyard attitude, is a protest against developments in one’s area of residence or work.