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PORTLAND, Maine

UNE School of Social Work project explores why people ‘fly signs’ in medians

UNE

Â鶹ֱ²¥ School of Social Work student Katy Finch and Professor Thomas McLaughlin, M.S.W., Ph.D., are working on a project that delves into the reasons people stand on medians or along the street holding signs and asking for money.

Finch and McLaughlin spent three days in January 2017 interviewing people engaging in this practice, known as “flying a sign.” Finch wrote about the process in a “Maine Voices” piece in the Portland Press Herald titled, “For those standing on the median, ‘flying a sign’ is an exercise in humility.”

Those interviewed shared what they used the money for, how it felt to fly a sign and what circumstances led them to do it. “The experience of standing on the median or sidewalk with a cardboard sign and asking for money is a degrading one,” Finch wrote. “When we asked them ‘Have you ever had to ask for money?’ most of the people on the street said they had, and that it was hard. During the interviews, we heard passers-by yelling ‘Get a job!’ which only adds to the humiliation.”

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The Â鶹ֱ²¥ is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.