In an urban area like the U-District, homelessness is something many people see, but often have a hard time relating to.

That’s why last night, a class called Homelessness 101, sponsored by the Seattle/King County Coalition for the Homeless (SKCCH), offered an introduction to causes, perceptions and issues of youth and young-adult homelessness.

The class was held at the University Congregational United Church of Christ, located on the 1500 block of Northeast 45th Street, and is typically held two times a month on Wednesday and Saturday nights.

“Homelessness 101 is a very introductory class,” said class coordinator Laura Pritchard. “People will learn the nuts and bolts while working with their different programs.”

SKCCH has been around for about 30 years and is one of the oldest coalitions of its type in the United States. In addition to Homelessness 101, SKCCH is responsible for the “One Night Count” of people sleeping on the streets in the King County area. In King County, according to the “One Night Count” program, there are nearly 3,000 people sleeping on the streets. This doesn’t include people who are without homes and sleeping in shelters.

“There is always tons and tons of stuff I don’t know about the homeless people and the community,” said UW sophomore Dylan Peterson, who is also a member of WashPIRG. “I am hoping this class will teach me how to be better involved.”

The four-hour program is geared toward educating people through the eyes of young community members who have experiences living on the streets and is broken up into different subcategories involving the issues of homelessness.

The first part of the class focuses on issues surrounding youth and young-adult homelessness, and the second teaches participants how to interact and be involved with homeless youth.

The training is an important class for people who are volunteering and working with the homeless or want to be educated members of the community.

“It’s one of my very favorite things to do,” Pritchard said. “I really enjoy getting to know the new staff and volunteers of different programs and providing a resource to the community.”

Many people believe that homelessness is something that is the fault of the person on the street, when in reality, low wages, an inability to work and other outside factors make it hard for some people to maintain a residence. The goal of the training is to break these stereotypes about the homeless.

“As students, I feel like we’re not really in contact with a lot of these groups,” Peterson said. “This can help us relate to and understand different organizations and people.”

Reach reporter Celia Hunko at news@dailyuw.com.