Oporation We Care

OWC - PRESENT YOUNG BRODIE "GOOD DIE YOUNG" (BEFORE YOU PREJUDGE THIS VIDEO WAS SHOT ON (SKID ROW)

2011-05-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

I know for some of you you might assume that this is some Hip Hop song with a young rapper talking about nothing but I posted this video to show you the reality of what's still going on and being ignored currently. It's a shame that so much crime is attacking our youth and this video paints a vivid picture not in a violent manner that promotes it but showing you the current state of Los Angeles California we ignore this everyday and turn a blind eye while these problems increase. It's time we take a stand lets unite and play our part every little bit counts.

Local churches collecting relief supplies for victims of AL tornado

2011-05-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

Local churches collecting relief supplies for victims of AL tornado: "Two churches on the Grand Strand are collecting relief supplies for tornado victims in Alabama."

Disaster Planning for Pets, Family

2011-05-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

How to prepare for earthquakes, floods, storms

Previous Next

*The earthquake in Haiti last year left many animals in need of medical care. The HSUS
*Planning ahead can ensure that you can keep the whole family together when disaster strikes. Rosemarie Gearhart/Artistic Captures

These are worrying times. Not long after we marked the anniversary of Haiti’s devastating earthquake, New Zealand was struck by its own 6.3-magnitude earthquake. Now Japan struggles to provide for the wounded and homeless—people and pets—in the wake of March 11’s tsunami, earthquake, and resulting nuclear crisis.

Here at home, the National Weather Services warns of spring floods "from the Northern Plains through the Midwest and eastward to New England."

A person who plans for disaster is going to be far more able to safeguard herself and her animal companions coupled with tornadoes and snow emergencies already plaguing those areas, it's enough to make anyone nervous for the safety of their family and pets.

"How To Weather The Storm"

The good news is that you aren’t powerless, and you aren’t alone. “A person who plans for disaster is going to be far more able to safeguard herself and her animal companions,” says Sara Varsa, The HSUS's Deputy Director for Emergency Services. “Don’t let the recent tragedies paralyze you—be motivated by them to create a comprehensive plan for taking care of yourself and your pets.”

Start with the basics - There are things you can do to get ready for natural disasters with pets, horses, and farm animals in mind. If you’re a pet owner, start with the basics:

* Prepare a plan (even for everyday emergencies), including identifying a place to stay that will accept your pets
* Develop a checklist for all your pets’ supplies and medical information
* Identify a friend, neighbor, or family member who can take care of your pet if you are away

You CAN take your pets

The federal government now officially supports including pets in disaster plans. In 2000 The HSUS and FEMA signed an historic partnership agreement to encourage and assist people who want to safeguard their pets in a natural disaster. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate puts it plainly: “Animals are important members of millions of families across this country—and as such they should also be included in our family emergency plans.” With this video, FEMA designated May 8, 2010, National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day.

Since FEMA came on board, it’s become easier to find a shelter that will accept your pets. But don’t assume any shelter you go to will allow you to keep your dog or cat with you, cautions Varsa. “Before disaster hits, reach out to local officials—work with them to confirm that you will be allowed to evacuate with your pets and that cohabitated shelters [ones that take people and their pets] will be available in your area.”

MAKE YOUR PLAN NOW!

The HSUS has not only been at the forefront of working with government agencies to make sure that animals aren’t left to fend for themselves, but “we’ve also developed a highly trained team that can be deployed to offer animal rescue and sheltering services in the wake of disasters,” says Varsa. “While our rescue team stands at the ready to offer disaster-response aid, I advise everyone to be proactive and make their own preparedness plans. That’s the best way to look after the animals in your care. It will help you sleep easier—and be able to offer help to those who are less fortunate than you are."

Disaster Relief For Alabama Tornado Victims

2011-05-09T17:36:00.001-07:00

"Click To Enlarge"
Our friends at The A.skate Foundation and Faith Skate Supply are looking to help their community in Alabama that has been hit by the devastating tornadoes recently and they need any help they can get. Read the flyer to find out what you can do. Thanks for your support.

Juno Award Winning Artists Kardinal Offishall, Glenn Lewis, Slakahthe Beatchild, Ivana Santilli and more unite to raise money for African Youth

2011-05-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Canadian Ape Alliance and Nova Music Group present Congo Classrooms for a Brighter Future – A Concert to Raise Funds for School Construction in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Juno Award Winning Artists including Kardinal Offishall, Glenn Lewis, Slakah the Beatchild, Ivana Santilli and more unite for concert to raise money for African school

Toronto, ON – On Thursday May 19, 2011, Canadian Ape Alliance and Nova Music Group present Congo Classrooms for a Brighter Future, a concert to raise much-needed funds for further construction of the Kahuzi-Biega Environmental School in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This amazing event will feature performances and special guest appearances by some of Canada’s most talented artists and celebrities including Glenn Lewis, Justin Nozuka, Kardinal Offishall, Ivana Santilli, Slakah the Beatchild, Ayah, Art of Fresh, Saidah Baba Talibah, Melanie Durrant, Wade O. Brown and more!

As a result of the 6-year civil war, over 5.2 million children in the DR Congo receive no education. The Canadian Ape Alliance recognized a need and began laying the groundwork for the Kahuzi-Biega Environmental School in 2003. In Phase I, funded by the Youssef-Warren Foundation, three classrooms were built and opened in 2007 for kindergarten and early childhood education. Now, in order to allow these children to proceed to primary school, it is imperative that Phase II be launched.

“The Kahuzi-Biega Environmental School differs from other African schools because of the years of unrest in the region, but in spite of these difficult conditions the school has successfully been kept running. The people of this region face many other challenges as well including environmental degradation due to illegal mining and logging, roaming armed militias, burning of the forest for charcoal, and the challenge of basic subsistence. It is therefore vital to the long-term survival of the people of the region that the school not only be kept open but expand to help keep up with the needs of the community”, said Dr. Kerry Bowman, president and founder of the Canadian Ape Alliance.

“Its incredible to be able to come together with this group of talented artists who can share their God given gifts while helping to give the gift of education to children; something we here in Canada don't have to worry about for our own children and can easily take for granted”, said Grammy Nominated and Juno Award winning R&B singer Glenn Lewis about his participation in the fundraiser.

Proceeds from Congo Classrooms for a Brighter Future will go directly to the Phase II construction of the Kahuzi-Biega Environmental School.

Video with more detailed information about the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and the Environmental School - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3WZYXTsmLU

What: Congo Classrooms for a Brighter Future – A Fundraiser for School Construction in the DR Congo featuring performances by Glenn Lewis, Kardinal Offishall, Slakah the Beatchild, Art of Fresh, Melanie Durrant, Ayah, Saidah Baba Talibah, Ivana Santilli, Justin Nozuka, Wade O Brown and more

Where: Revival Bar, 783 College Street, Toronto, ON
When: Thursday May 19, 2011; Doors 8pm, Showtime 9pm

Advance tickets can be purchased for $20 at http://bit.ly/CongoClassrooms

To make a donation or for more information visit the Canadian Ape Alliance website www.great-apes.com. Tax receipts are available for donations of $30 or more (not including ticket purchase).

Twitter – http://twitter.com/CongoClassrooms
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121955051213875

STORM VICTIMS CAN RECEIVE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

2011-05-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

http://www2.alabamas13.com/news/2011/apr/29/storm-victim-can-apply-unemployment-benefits-ar-1780495/

Nationwide Insurance Providing Humanitarian Relief To Alabama Tornado Victims

2011-05-03T12:37:00.000-07:00

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. is distributing humanitarian aid items to the victims of recent tornados at locations in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Huntsville and Cullman, Alabama. The temporary aid stations are located at the offices of four Nationwide agents near some of the worst devastation. Locations include:

* Tuscaloosa: Office of Nationwide Agent, Roger Downs - 40815th St., Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
* Cullman: Office of Nationwide Agent, Martha Burchell - 200 2nd Av SE, Cullman, AL 35055-3514
* Huntsville: Office of Nationwide Agent, Scott Howell - 700 Airport Rd, Huntsville, AL 35802-4360
* Birmingham: Nationwide is seeking to set up temporary aid locations in Birmingham. These locations are not finalized and may change each day.

Nationwide representatives are distributing water and other emergency supplies including diapers, snacks and first aid items to families without power, displaced from their homes or otherwise affected by the storms. The aid stations are open to anyone in need. The company will distribute aid at these locations over the next several days, or as long as there is significant community need.

Nationwide’s claim representatives and agents are assisting customers throughout the state. Procedures are in place providing quick response to customers needs. Nationwide policyholders with storm damage should call the Nationwide claims hotline at 1-800-421-3535 or contact their local agent.

NBC 10 ANNOUNCES TELETHON THIS WEDNESDAY TO HELP ALABAMA DISASTER VICTOMS

2011-05-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Media General, Inc., owners of NBC 10, announced that WVTM-TV in Birmingham, Ala. is organizing 24-hour telethon for the relief of tornado victims.

The telethon starts at 5 a.m. on Wednesday and continues until 3 a.m. Thursday.

During the telethon, the United Way of Central Alabama will staff an auditorium full of volunteers to answer calls from those people who wish to make a donation. Donations can also be made online and through mobile phones.

NBC 10, alongside Media General's other television stations, is helping to support the relief efforts including streaming a live shot of the United Way Donation Center on its website with details on how to donate.

NBC 10 will simulcast the prime time special on RTV, NBC 10's digital tier channel 10.2. from 9-10 p.m. on Wednesday. During this special, viewers will be updated on the situation in many Alabama communities, donations will be highlighted and various donation methods will be provided.

How to donate:

Phone: Call 1-855-205-HELP or 1-855-205-4357. (Note: The phone line will only be active during the telethon from 5 a.m. Wednesday to 3 a.m. Thursday.)

Online: If you'd like to donate online, visit http://www.uwca.org.

Mobile: To donate $10 via mobile phone, text the word 'TORNADO' to 50555.

Mail: If you'd like to make a donation through mail, you can send a donation to: United Way Tornado Disaster Fund, PO Box320189, Birmingham, Ala. 35232.

All donations will be handled and distributed by the UWCA Tornado Relief Fund. Donations will go toward the immediate needs of those most affected and to the long-term recovery and rebuilding effort. Callers may designate donations go to the United Way in any state affected by the deadly tornados.

"The devastation across the state and region in our local communities is horrific and the needs are so great for so many. NBC 10 and our entire Media General family has joined in the tornado relief efforts and we hope many other media entities can join in the promotion of the telethon and various methods to donate," said Gene Kirkconnell, general manager of WVTM.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TODAY

2011-05-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

"Oporation We Care"

People we are in need of your assistance when this development happen in Alabama within 24/hours I was at my local grocery story and dollar store and went to work buying up too $185.00 worth of groceries and headed to "Going Postal" to see my people to ensure my part in aiding and not just asking but making my contribution to show people we are not just asking for you help but doing the same thing we request.

It's bad over there in Alabama people lost lives, homes, landmarks but worst of all so many memories was lost. Its far worse than they proclaim or show on TV and shame on them but shame on some of us going on with our lives and ignoring this tragedy. As I watched the video below submitted by a friend of mines in Alabama I went to tears just imagining what my people was going threw up there and how critical things have gotten over crowded hospitals, the babies, alders, the disabled people, injured veterans and sick people who couldn't get their medicine. Just think the economy was already bad so what about the hard working poor people who was struggling in the past just getting by who didn't have insurance who are now homeless because of this and we are turning a def ear! (Shame on US!!!
)

It is not how much you give or what you donate that's important! All that is important is that you do ....Please join us! Help us help these people who are in dire need of our assistance. How can you do so? You can either donate via paypal coolvxpoz@gmail.com or you can forward water and non-perishables or clothing. (What ever you send is a blessing!) Even if you can only afford one dollar because ......that's one dollar more than zero!

Make your payment today or send YOUR contributions to:

Oporation We Care
Attention: Ms Genelle Hughes
MJS Quickstop
708 Poplar Avenue
Hunsville Alabama 35816

For more info or to get involved email us: owccares@gmail.com

Thank you kindly in advance for your contributions you will help many we will also be videotaping what we do so that you see we are NOT just talking about what we do YOU SEE where contributions are going!

"Cool V" - OWC Director

HOT 103.5 HUNTSVILLE HOTTEST

2011-05-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

We would like to thank Huntsville Hottest Hits "HOT 103.5 FM" for reaching out to us for a Free Ice & Water drive yesterday. Thanks to the station manager "Karen Porter" and it's DJ's "DJ Toney Tone", DJ CZA & DJ Fresh as well as "Oporation We Care's" Alabama director "Ms Genell Hughes" also shouts to Tamala Walker and Nickey Douglas a OWC Volunteer. The team hit the pavement and worked very hard supplying the urban community with Ice & Water which has been a major shortage due to lack of electricity.

For new developments and updates check out http://www.hot1035fm.com/ or call (256) 479-8469

Or for more news and updates stay posted!

103.1 FM WEUP FOOD GIVEAWAY YESTERDAY

2011-05-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

We would like to thank to 103.1 Alabama's Hip Hop & R&B number 1# radio station WEUP for their Food & Water Give-a-way yesterday that feed people yesterday. It was a great event and feed many but Alabama is still in need of your assistance for more information stay tuned to 103.FM if you reside in Alabama for those nationwide that want to stay informed log on to http://www.103weup.com/ or follow them on twitter twitter.com/morningshowz103 for more ground breaking developments.

RW Record Pool Announces Food & Clothes Drive

2011-05-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

I would like to extend our condolences to Brandon Fisher a.k.a DJ Doughboy member of the RW Record Pool (Ron White Industry Vet Record Pool) Alabama's biggest record pool for the loss of his grandmother. This disaster has not only hit his family hard but left a lot of people homeless and in need. We ask that you keep his family in prayers also for your assistance with any donation you can give nothing is too big or too small! If your would like to send his family and others assistance please send donations to:

The RW Record Pool
Attention: Ron White
799 Baltimore Hill Road
Huntsville, AL 35810

Or for more information just call: (205) 350-3680

Thank You

"Cool V"
Marketing Manager
RW Record Pool

Tornado Effects - Charlie Sheen Visits Tuscaloosa, AL

2011-05-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

According to the latest reports, the death toll from the tornadoes is now at 345. This before-and-after aerial shot of Tuscaloosa shows the extensive damage.

Charlie Sheen lands in Tuscaloosa; meets with Mayor Walt Maddox [AL.com]
Charlie Sheen tours tornado damage in Alabama [Forbes]

Alabama Needs Your Help!!!

2011-05-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

AT RISK YOUTH - OPORATION WE CARE'S ANSWERS THE QUESTION WHAT DO WE DO NOW?

2009-11-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

As you can see from the video posted above we are definitely living in very turbulent times. There have been many solutions people have tried to use to combat these problems the one listed below most have embraced but what are the results and If so then why are the kids rebelling more than ever?

At Risk Teen Boot Camps

If you have been searching for help for an at-risk and defiant youth, you have come to the right place. We specialize in military-style boot camps for kids who are acting out and performing poorly in school. A Teen Boot Camp is similar to life in the military. The youth are up early - usually around 5 or 6 a.m. – and they have chores, inspections, march in formation, calisthenics, kitchen duties, laundry detail, etc. It is no fun, but quite effective at turning around a rebellious child. The camps are ongoing, so a youth can begin any time. Academics are with drill instructors in the classroom and minimum grades are mandatory. We work with youth as young as 10 years of age and can take a child until 6 months of his or her 18th birthday. If your child is in need of therapy of intense counseling, this is not the program for you. If you child needs structure and discipline, this is the place for them.

What is an at risk youth program?

In today's society there is plenty of talk about teen boot camps and structured programs for defiant teens. As you have probably realized, many sites on the Internet propose that they have military-structured programs when, in actuality, they don't. Several of the schools that advertise military-type schools offer nothing more than boarding schools or specialty programs. The difference between a true at-risk teen boot camp and a boarding school is the way the program is run. A true at-risk teen military-type training camp will include uniforms, marching in formation, "yes, sir", "no, sir" tactics, early engagement in calisthenics, and a day filled with a very structured schedule. The at-risk teen military school will also be an in-your-face-style program with drill sergeants, bunk beds, barracks, etc.

Do all schools advertising really have boot camps?

Various programs advertise that they have at-risk teen boot camps, when in reality what they have is a boarding school. The programs do this because they are trying to fill a niche. An adult growing up during the 1960s and 1970s may remember their out-of-control peers being sent to military-type schools. This option was quite popular during that era. Today, sending your teen to a military-type school is different than the 1960s or 1970s, because they must be willing to attend. “Boot camps for teens” is a popular search term because of what the military and boot camps have done for many adults. There are many stories about boys who have joined the military and been forced to grow up while in that environment. This life-changing experience has literally taken many boys and turned them into men. If the military today was anything like the military of the 1960s and 1970s, this might be a good alternative. Although, as we discuss on our “what works, what doesn't” page, we explain how this option is inappropriate for defiant, out-of-control, or at-risk teens.

DOES THIS WORK FOR EVERYONE?

After care full research and monitoring we have realized that "EVERYTHING ISN'T FOR EVERYONE IN THIS CASE" We noticed that you can't fight a fire with a fire and we would rather teach them to "LOVE THEMSELVES 1ST" because as we all know that it's never a good thing to go against anyone who is on the defensive offensively. What we need is more programs that focus on "LOVE", SUPPORT & RESPECT that is what "OPORATION WE CARE" is focusing on. So if you want realistic results we must provide realistic solutions to these problems and Love 1st then some nurturing then education.

We hope we can count on your help to help us to achieve these endeavors.

ALICIA KEYS - CHANGING LIVES IN AFRICA

2009-11-28T17:17:00.000-08:00

**note: you must register (it’s free). When downloaded from SpiralFrog,the video will play on multiple formats, including PCs and Macs.

SpiralFrog the free and legal, ad-supported web-based music service, announced that it was selected by the non-profit, Keep a Child Alive, to be the exclusive download partner for “Alicia in Africa: Journey to the Motherland,” today. The documentary highlights, Miss. Keys month-long trip to Africa to visit communities affected by HIV and AIDS.

The first preview of the film aired live on American Idol’s Idol Gives Back.

“Everyone who visits Africa is changed by the experience, but not everyone can afford to go to Africa, come with me on my journey and learn as I learn. Let’s start a virus to stop a virus- send the film to everyone you know. Let’s change this nightmare into our generation’s greatest success story.

Spreading the message is so important to Alicia that she is making the documentary available for FREE online. She is also bringing the experience to her concert goers. She’ll be screening the Alicia in Africa trailer before each concert on her As I Am tour, that kicked off April 19 in Virginia. Alicia will also announce the “Text Alive” initiative, which allows anyone to make an immediate $5 donation to KCA simply by text messaging “Alive” to 90999

By attempting to reach the broadest audience as possible , hopefully resulting in donations and a greater understanding of the situation in Africa.

NATIONAL AIDS DAY DEC 1ST

2009-11-28T17:14:00.000-08:00

DECEMBER 1

About the Day
The Facts
Resources
Take Action
About the Day

World AIDS Day is observed every year on December 1st. The World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988. World AIDS Day provides governments, national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations, and individuals with an opportunity to raise awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS epidemic.
The Facts

Over a million Americans are estimated to be living with HIV. Worldwide an estimated 33 million people are living with HIV.
Resources

* Join us in Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day 2009
* Posters and Other Resources
Download and customize these posters to promote your World AIDS Day events!
Poster show and other World AIDS Day resources from PEPFAR
* Fact sheetsDownload HIV/AIDS fact sheets, post them on bulletin boards, share with local newspapers, and distribute them at events!
* Read about the CDC’s HIV Incidence Data
* Websites
AIDS.gov: provides US Government HIV/AIDS information.
PEPFAR.gov: the official website of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
worldaidscampaign.org: brochures and information about events worldwide.
* Mobile Resources
To find an HIV Testing location near you in the United States, send a text message with your ZIP code to KNOWIT (566948) or visit www.hivtest.org.
* Events
Find local events and list your activities here.

LEARN MORE "HERE"

ELTON BROWN & OPORATION WE CARE "FEED THE NEED COVERED BY "THE DIALY PRESS"

2009-11-28T12:09:00.000-08:00

NFL's Elton Brown to host Hampton Thanksgiving feast
NFL veteran Elton Brown is giving back to the community for the second Thanksgiving season in as many years.

Brown and friends are hosting a free meal Thursday at the Y.H. Thomas Community Center, 1300 Thomas St. The festivities start at 10:30 a.m. with a DJ and raffles for prizes.

Food will be served from noon to 3 p.m. The public is invited to a meal of turkey and dressing, yams, string beans, rolls and dessert.

Other sponsors of the event include Architects of Change, Chick-fil-A, Bobby Atkinson, Yes We Can Foundation, Operation We Care and Y.H. Thomas Community Center.

Brown, who attended Hampton High School and the University of Virginia, said he just wants to help the community.

WAVY 10 COVERS - 'ELTON BROANS & OPORATION WE CARE" - "FEED THE NEED EVENT"

2009-11-28T12:06:00.000-08:00

ELTON BROWN & OPORATION WE CARE - PRESENTS "FEED THE NEED"

2009-11-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

click to see larger image

AS ONE NEWSPAPER REPORTER PUT IT, IT MAY NOT BE FASHIONABLE OR POPULAR TO TALK ABOUT THE POOR BUT THE MILLIONS OF AMERICANS STUCK AT THE BOTTOM OF SOCIETY THAT DESERVE TO BE HEARD AND DESERVE TO BE CARED FOR." THE REPORTER FUTHER STATED THAT " THE QUESTION IS NOT WHETHER ADVOCACY FOR THE POOR IS POPULAR- THE ONLY QUESTION IS, IS IT RIGHT?"

REPORTEDLY, 37 MILLION AMERICANS LIVE IN POVERTY AND WITH A BATTERED AND BLOODY ECONOMY IT IS PREDICTED THAT THE NUMBER OF THE HOMELESS AND HUNGRY WILL GET HIGHER.

WITH THAT SAID, ON NOVEMBER 26, 2009 AT 11:00AM THE MOTION COMMUNITY HOUSE & ELTON BROWN IS ORGANIZING FREE MEALS FOR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS WHO MAY BE DOWN ON THEIR LUCK OR MAY JUST WANT TO COME AND BRING THEIR FAMILIES TO SHARE IN THE SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP, NEIGHBORLY LOVE AND THANKSGIVING.

WITH THE SUPPORT OF MANY GOOD HEARTED AND SPIRITED CITIZENS WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SERVE OVER 500 MEALS PER THANKSGIVING FOR THE LAST 19 YEARS. THIS YEAR THE DEMAND MAY BE HIGHER, THEREFORE WE ARE CALLING ON YOU ONCE AGAIN; COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS, BUSINESSES, CHURCHES AND RESIDENTS TO COME FORTH WITH TRUE WORSHIP IN THE SPIRIT OF THE CHARITY AND LOVE.

WORSHIP SERVICE BY LIFE ALTERING MINISTERIES, PERFORMED BY FOUNDER AND SENIOR PASTOR JOHN L. SOLOMON, REVEREND ROBIN BROWN, MOTHER OF ELTON BROWN, OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE HAS CONSENTED TO SERVING AS THE MISTRESS OF CEREMONY.

IF YOU CARE TO SHARE IN THE SPONSORING OF THIS EVENT, PLEASE MAKE ALL CHECKS PAYABLE TO ROBIN BROWN- MILLER INC, SO THAT YOU MAY PROPERLY RECEIVE YOUR TAX EXEMPT CREDIT IF YOU CHOOSE TO TRAVEL THAT ROUTE. OR CONTACT SALIMOT AKANDE AT 980-216-0331 OR SALWELLCONNECTED@LIVE.COM ALSO CONTACT OPORATION WE CARE AT (206)350-4780 OR EMAIL US AT oporationwecare@gmail.com

This event is co-signed by ya boy "Cool V" and the good people of "Oporation We Care"
Because We Care............ Do You??????? If so then join us TODAY!
WWW.OPORATIONWECARE.NING.COM
WWW.OPORATIONWECARE.BLOGSPOT.COM
WWW.OPORATIONWECARE.COM (COMING SOON)
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/OPERATIONWECARE
WWW.TWITTER.COM/OPORATIONWECARE
EMAIL US AT OPORATIONWECARE.COM OR JUST CALL US AT 206-350-4780

FLORIDA HOMELESS ATTACKS CONTINUE TO RISE

2009-10-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

Violence Against the Homeless - Florida
Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 16:36 | Categories: Homelessness and Housing | Tags: Crimes against the homeless, Florida

Homeless: Orlando could be the most violent metro area in Florida, survey finds, By Willoughby Mariano, August 20, 2009, Orlando Sentinel: “The nation’s third “meanest” city for the homeless may also be the state’s most violent toward them, say survey results being released today. Forty-six percent of homeless people questioned in Orlando and Orange County in an ongoing local survey said they were physically attacked in the past four years by someone they thought was not homeless - well above Florida’s average of 27 percent, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. The same organization last month ranked Orlando as the third “meanest” city in the country, behind Los Angeles and St. Petersburg. A coalition report released earlier this month said that in 2008, Florida led the nation in violence against the homeless for the fourth year in a row…”
Report: Attacks on the Homeless
Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 16:17 | Categories: Homelessness and Housing, Law and Corrections | Tags: Crimes against the homeless, Hate crime legislation, States

* Attacks on homeless bring push on hate crime laws, By Eric Lichtblau, August 7, 2009, New York Times: “With economic troubles pushing more people onto the streets in the last few years, law enforcement officials and researchers are seeing a surge in unprovoked attacks against the homeless, and a number of states are considering legislation to treat such assaults as hate crimes. This October, Maryland will become the first state to expand its hate-crime law to add stiffer penalties for attacks on the homeless. At least five other states are pondering similar steps, the District of Columbia approved such a measure this week, and a like bill was introduced last week in Congress…”
* Florida led the nation last year in violence against the homeless, By Scott Wyman, August 8, 2009, South Florida Sun Sentinel: “Last September, a homeless woman in Pompano Beach was raped and nearly strangled. Earlier in the year, two homeless men in West Palm Beach were shot and killed and a Fort Lauderdale man was accused of harassing the homeless with a chainsaw. Florida led the nation for the fourth consecutive year in violence against the homeless in a report released Saturday by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The group documented 30 attacks last year in 10 communities across the state, including three deaths…”

Hate Crime Legislation and the Homeless - Florida
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 13:20 | Categories: Homelessness and Housing, Law and Corrections, Politics | Tags: Crime, Crimes against the homeless, Florida

Advocates push to add attacks on homeless to Florida hate crimes law, By Anthony Man, July 7, 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Horrified by video of teens who went on a rampage beating homeless men in downtown Fort Lauderdale, a state legislator was propelled to push for including attacks on the homeless to the state’s hate crimes law. It is now state law — in Maryland — because state Sen. Alex Mooney, R-Md., saw what he termed “gruesome” video of the Fort Lauderdale incident. His state is the first to include homeless people as a protected group under its hate crimes statute…”

YOUNG BLACK GIRL ATTACKED AT SHOOL

2009-10-07T15:34:00.001-07:00

12 YEAR OLD PREGNANT AND SISTER MISSING (WOW)

2009-10-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

MOTHER RAN OVER HER DAUGHTER OVER A MAN *THIS IS WHY WE NEED PROGRAMS FOR OUR YOUNG WOMEN)

2009-10-07T15:28:00.001-07:00

9 YEAR OLD TEEN ATTACKS TEACHER BECAUSE SHE'S WHITE?

2009-10-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

Where is this child's parents? Whats going on that would provoke this child to act in such a hateful manner we must ask ourselves why is these crimes continuing?

WHEN YOU GIVE A SECOND CHANCE IT CHANGES THE FUTURE OF OUR YOUTH

2009-10-07T15:19:00.001-07:00

MOTHER ENCOURAGING HER TEEN TO FIGHT (IGNORANCE HAS NO COLOR!)

2009-10-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

CNN INTERVIEWS HIP HOP ICON NAS SPEAKS ABOUT DERRION ALBERTS DEATH

2009-10-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Another Ruthless Act - 2 Teens Beat & Rob 14 Year Old Girl & Her 11yr Old Brother In Chicago!

2009-10-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

"When Will This Stop!"

THE SAD STORY OF DERRION ALBERT'S DEATH

2009-10-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

The Agape Community Center in Roseland has long been a sanctuary, a refuge for students who want to finish their homework, take Bible study courses or simply escape the chaotic streets in their Far South Side community.

But this place of refuge became the scene of a deadly melee Thursday when dozens of teenage boys converged in a vacant lot next to the community center, beating one another with fists, feet and 2-by-4s.

When it was all over, 16-year-old Derrion Albert lay on the gravel, his body dented and damaged from the pummeling. A youth worker at the center dragged Derrion's slight frame into the center, but it was too late. He died a short time later.

Witnesses and police said Friday that the Fenger High School junior was not a target but simply passed by the community center and was swept into the violent altercation. Walking from school, he fell victim to the violence plaguing some of Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods.

The honor roll student known for his love of computers became the third Chicago teenager killed this month. At least seven more have been shot.

Police and witnesses say the melee was a culmination of a simmering rivalry between two groups of Fenger students, one that lived near the school and the other from the Altgeld Gardens housing development. Neighbors said the feud has been building since August, spilling across Roseland streets and, some say, into Fenger.

Shots were fired in front of Fenger earlier Thursday. No one was injured. Police said the two incidents don't appear to be related, but they were still looking for suspects in Derrion's slaying.

"This gang violence is escalating beyond control," said T'Awannda Piper, the youth worker who pulled Derrion into the building. "He was caught in it. The kids directly involved walked away healthy, and this kid didn't walk away at all."

The Fenger school principal declined to comment.

As friends propped teddy bears at the site of the beating -- creating the sort of street-side memorial that has become commonplace on the city's West and South Sides -- Derrion's family began planning a funeral for a young man who had dreams of going to college.

Derrion was small, only 5-foot-7. He was a "ladies' man" and a homebody, family members said.

Derrion's grandfather Joseph Walker sat in his living room, tearfully recounting his grandson's life. Displayed on the table in front of him was the honor roll report card and certificate for outstanding attendance.

"Derrion put his key in that door every day at 3:15," said Walker, who was taking care of the teenager. "He would get something to eat and get on the computer, where he would stay most of the night."

Walker said his grandson asked if he could hang out with some friends Thursday after school. Walker said OK, but insisted Derrion be back by 7 p.m.

He never made it. Witnesses said Derrion was near the community center, 342 W. 111th St., when a group of teenagers walking east met up with a group coming from the west. The fight began, they said, with about 10 teenagers. By the time it was finished, witnesses and police said, more than 50 youths were involved.

Milton Massie, executive director of Agape, said video from a surveillance camera atop the community center shows Derrion being struck in the back of the head and moving away from the crowd.

He fell to the gravel, next door to Agape, a Greek word for love.

Derrion's community of Roseland has been one of the city's most treacherous areas since the late 1980s, when the economic decline of the area led to urban decay and gang violence. In the mid-1990s, it gained notoriety as the stamping ground of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, the 11-year old who was executed by fellow gang members.

These days, too many of the community's youngsters end up in the police blotter or obituaries.

Diane Latiker has become so incensed by the violence in her community, and what she views as the city's seeming "indifference" to it, that she turned her Roseland home into an after-school community center for teenagers.

On Friday afternoon, dozens of area teens gathered there to cry about the death of a schoolmate and voice concerns that they might be next.

But after an hour, they went about their business of planning a Thanksgiving dinner for hungry families in the Roseland area.

"First they cry," she said. "But then they shake their heads and continue with their day, because it's become so commonplace to them. It's like, 'Oh well, another bump on the road.' They go on because it's the only way they can deal with it."

Now, Latiker wonders how she can possibly make room for Derrion's headstone. Latiker created a memorial two years ago to honor the young people killed in Chicago. Each time a child is shot, stabbed or beaten to death, she adds a stone to the memorial wall.

"We have 163 stones right now, but we are 20, now 21, behind," she said. "I thought, well, I hoped, I dreamed that there'd be more space on the wall than kids being killed."

Tribune reporters Annie Sweeney, Carlos Sadovi, Liam Ford and William Lee contributed to this report. kmack@tribune.com

A mother's pain
(Tribune photo by E. Jason Wambsgans / September 28, 2009)
Tamaray Shannon is the mother of Silvonius Shannon, one of three teenagers who have been charged with beating to death 16-year-old Derrion Albert, an "innocent bystander" who walked into the middle of a street fight between two groups of feuding teens last Thursday.

JOIN THE FULLER CENTER IN THIER QWEST TO BUILD COMMUNITIES

2009-09-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

"Oporation We Care" would like to thank "The Fuller Center" in Texas for all their support and contributions to helping build a better tomorrow. In today you have so many people who talk about a better tomorrow but these people are actually making it happen. After a conversation with "Teressa Raiford" CEO of Teressa Raiford I was informed about this wonderful organization who definitely gets things done. In this day and age it is time for action not just talk and this organization walks the walk.

Homelessness is at a all time high and it's time we get more proactive instead of complaining and giving excuses or playing the blame game. After a call with this remarkable woman I was so inspired that I immediately went to work. Expect great things from these organizations.

The Fuller Center for Housing is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide. By forming partnerships with local organizations, The Fuller Center provides the structure, guidance and support that communities need to build and repair homes for the impoverished among them. Read the Fuller Center’s Mission Statement and Foundational Principles.

The Fuller Center was started in spring of 2005 by Millard Fuller and his wife Linda, who co-founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976. Fuller set out to expand his missionary vision by returning to his roots at Koinonia Farm, a cooperative community dedicated to peace and service in rural southwest Georgia. A new mission statement was issued at Koinonia – also the birthplace of Habitat – dedicating The Fuller Center as a Christ-centered, faith-driven organization witnessing the love of God by providing opportunities for families to have a simple, decent place to live.

The demand for safe, affordable housing is enormous. The United Nations estimates that over one billion people around the world live in substandard housing. In the United States alone, almost two million people live with a hole in their roof, 3.7 million live with broken windows and 2.5 million live in a house where the foundation is crumbling beneath them. Just over one million people live without complete plumbing facilities. (Source: American Housing Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, 2005)

Many of these people are too elderly or too poor to help themselves through traditional means, but we believe this does not make them any less deserving of our help. The Fuller Center seeks to improve their standards of living by helping those people help themselves. A Fuller Center home is not a hand out, but a hand up. By working alongside volunteers and repaying construction costs on terms they can handle, homeowners are able to regain a sense of basic human dignity.

Please join us in our quest to improve the health and futures of the world’s people by providing them with simple, decent places to live. Please see our FAQ page for more information, and our Get Involved page for resources on how you can make a difference. Please also visit our detailed program pages in the Where We Work section to find a Fuller Center in your are.

W.Va. homeless ranks rise, study reports

2009-01-14T12:25:00.000-08:00

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The number of homeless people increased in West Virginia between January 2005 and January 2007 more quickly than almost anywhere in the nation, according to a study released Monday by a Washington, D.C.-based group.

Homelessness in the Mountain State rose by 58 percent, according to the new report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Only Kentucky had a higher rate, with a 63 percent increase.

The state had 2,409 homeless people in January 2007, according to the report. West Virginia was one of 18 states where the number of homeless increased.

Kanawha, Putnam, Boone and Clay counties had 325 homeless people in January 2007, a 19 percent decline over the previous two years.

Charleston Mayor Danny Jones has made attractive and affordable housing a priority of his administration, said mayoral assistant Rod Blackstone.

In 2005, Jones reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to redevelop Spring Hill.

"The Spring Hill Apartments, now Vista View, was headed for foreclosure," Deputy Mayor Rod Blackstone said on Monday. "We prevented what would have been a housing crisis if Spring Hill had been foreclosed and people sent out to the streets.

"We made it much more attractive and increased the number of people who live up there," he said. "And we have provided about 100 other new units in places like the Patrick Street townhouses, Orchard Manor and Washington Manor."

But 331 homeless people in the Huntington area, including Cabell and Wayne counties, represent a 6 percent increase over those two years, according to the study. And 118 homeless people in the Wheeling-Weirton area represented a 19 percent increase.

Corey Ingram, a development assistant with the Cabell-Huntington Coalition for the Homeless, said conditions have been improving and the number of homeless in the area has dropped to 280.

"Chronically homeless people are 15 percent of the homeless population," Ingram said. "But they consume the most resources in emergency room visits, jail costs, detoxification centers. That costs taxpayers a lot of money.

Larkin Street Launches "Mind the Gap," a Conference on Youth Homelessness

2009-01-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

Conference Highlights Effective Public and Private Sector Strategies for Meeting the Needs of Transition Age Homeless Youth

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jan 13, 2009 -- Larkin Street Youth Services, San Francisco's leading provider of housing and support services for homeless and at-risk youth, will host leaders from more than 150 local, state and national youth service community agencies at its first Conference on Youth Homelessness held in San Francisco. The theme this year is "Mind the Gap: Effective Strategies for Meeting the Needs of Transition Age Youth." "Mind the Gap" will be held at the Palace Hotel at 2 Market Street on Thursday, January 15th.

"Mind the Gap," Larkin Street's first Conference on Youth Homelessness, brings together policy makers, youth service advocates, private and public sector service providers and agencies to share knowledge, new approaches, tools and best practices for better meeting the growing gap between demand for services among transition age (16 to 24) homeless and at-risk youth as well as the diminishing safety net of resources serving this vulnerable population.

"The timing of our first conference on youth homelessness couldn't be better, as all of the organization faces growing demand for our services while now contending with seriously constrained resources," noted Sherilyn Adams, executive director of Larkin Street Youth Services. "By bringing strong, seasoned youth services leaders together, we can better help each other network, develop joint solutions and share best practices across the entire youth services community."

An introductory plenary session, "Who Are Homeless Youth and What Are Their Needs?" will set the stage for the day by providing a comprehensive overview of the issues and needs of homeless youth. Panelists from national, state, and local organizations will provide their perspectives on homeless youth subpopulations, service needs, and strategies to address these needs. The opening session will be moderated by Adams and includes: LaKesha Pope from the National Alliance to End Homelessness in Washington, D.C.; Heather Dearing from the California Coalition for Youth in Sacramento, Calif.; and Rachel Antrobus from the Transition Age Youth Initiative, San Francisco.

Additional workshops at the one-day conference will address specific advocacy, policy and planning, along with resource issues associated with transition age youth program development, implementation and support including: Creating a Wider Net: Building an Advocacy Strategy for Homeless Youth; Meeting the Needs of Marginalized Populations: Queer Youth; More Than Just A Roof: Effective Housing Models for Homeless Youth; and many more.

Two additional workshops will feature a panel of transition age youth who have been involved as clients in youth service programs. These young people will share their unique perspectives on the issues they and their peers face as homeless and at-risk youth.

For additional information about the "Mind the Gap" conference, please visit www.larkinstreetyouth.org or contact Kathie Lowry, chief development officer at Larkin Street Youth Services at (415) 673.0911 ext. 301.

About Larkin Street Youth Services

Founded in 1984, Larkin Street Youth Services is a globally recognized nonprofit leader providing innovative and effective housing, medical, social and educational services for at-risk homeless and runaway youth ages 12-24 across 25 programs and 13 sites in San Francisco. Seventy-four percent of youth who participate in the full continuum of services at Larkin Street exit street life. For more information, please visit www.larkinstreetyouth.org.
Contact:

Media Contact:
Nicole Garroutte
ngarroutte@larkinstreetyouth.org
(415) 673.0911 ext. 305

Riverside County Looking for 'Hidden Homeless'

2009-01-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

Riverside County is gearing up for a new homeless count.

Homelessness threatens nearly 20,000 people in the county but, with foreclosures at an all-time high, the county expects much higher numbers.

This year, the county is also focusing on the "hidden homeless" or people who are on the brink of homelessness and living temporarily with friends or relatives.

County officials are urging these people to get in touch with them so they can be refered to agencies for assisitance. Plus, the county needs to know where to allocate its resources.

The identities of people will remain confidential.

People who meet the criteria of a hidden homeless resident are urged to call the Department of Public Social Services office in Riverside at (951) 358-5637. They can call any time up to January 28.

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty

2008-12-25T17:03:00.000-08:00

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) is a 501(c)3 organization based in Washington, D.C. and founded in 1989 as the legal arm of the national movement to end and prevent homelessness. Through policy advocacy, public education, and impact litigation, NLCHP works for systemic reform that addresses the root causes of homelessness and seeks to meet both the immediate and long-term needs of homeless and poor people. Through training and support, NLCHP also enhances the capacity of local and national groups to become more effective voices for the needs and rights of homeless people.

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
1411 K Street
Washington, DC 20005
202-638-2535
Maria Foscarinis
mfoscarinis@nlchp.org
http://www.nlchp.org

Tampa Bay's fastest-growing homeless is parents and children

2008-12-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

Area shelter directors, homeless advocates, government officials and child welfare agencies say the rising unemployment rate, the sluggish housing market and the spiraling economy have forced an unprecedented number of families out of their homes.

And these officials aren't sure what to do about it. Limited social service funding, a dearth of affordable housing and a homeless assistance system designed for single men — the largest homeless demographic — make catering to families difficult.

"It has emerged as the next crisis in terms of housing," Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch said.

Numbers are hard to come by, but the overwhelming anecdotal evidence has pushed advocates for the homeless into action.

Pinellas County's Homeless Leadership Network will meet Friday to discuss how to address the uptick in homeless families. Business leaders are trying to organize an "adopt a family" program, and a handful of shelters that catered solely to single men and women for decades are adding bunk beds to accommodate children.

For the first time, several families were admitted this year to Refuge Ministries, a St. Petersburg homeless center for recovering addicts, after director Bruce Wright learned they had been couch surfing with friends.

"It's really hard," he said. "We see these people hurting who aren't getting the help because there just aren't resources available."

Others have had to turn people away.

"We have seen a huge increase, and a lot of it is due to the economic conditions," said Jan Falcione, community resource manager for Mary & Martha House in Ruskin, which accepts only homeless or abused women and children.

To ensure that the women feel safe, men, including fathers, are not allowed. "We don't have the proper facilities for that," Falcione said.

Reports of children without enough to eat or a place to sleep have flooded child welfare hotlines, said April Putzulu, a director for Eckerd Community Alternatives, the nonprofit that oversees foster care in Pasco and Pinellas counties. The agency plans to meet with local law enforcement officials this week to discuss the crisis.

Families need to be told where and how to get help so that they can stay together, Putzulu said.

"We want to prevent families from entering the dependency system or prevent removal of children from their families when it is not a safety issue," she said. "In these tough times what we really want to do is support our families and ultimately the best thing is for the child to stay with the family."

Putzulu said local social service officials also are considering applying for federal housing vouchers for needy families.

At Tampa's Metropolitan Ministries, there are 28 families waiting for beds. That is on top of the 40 families the shelter is already housing.

"We are seeing more working-class families," said spokeswoman Ana Mendez. "Mom got laid off. Dad got laid off. They need some extra help."

At Touched by an Angel Ministries in St. Petersburg, founders Jeffrey and Vonda Polhill are cramming up to five beds in each of their 21 apartments to house as many people as possible. Single men and women are grouped together to make room for more families.

"They come here with absolutely nothing," Jeffrey Polhill said.

Homelessness has been a growing problem in the Tampa Bay area, and the economy hasn't helped. Last year's homeless surveys found 5,195 homeless people in Pinellas and 9,532 in Hillsborough. Officials expect higher numbers during the next count in January.

For the Hites, homelessness hit suddenly.

Mary Hite, 28, was pregnant with daughter Chelsea and working as a customer service manager at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pinellas Park.

Maurice Hite, 42, was the household's primary breadwinner. He worked as an installer and welder for a building company but was laid off in early 2008 when there wasn't enough work to go around. He lost his job about the same time his daughter was born in February.

The family was evicted from its $1,200-a-month rental home a few weeks later.

The Hites soon found Touched by an Angel Ministries. They thought the help would allow them to recover quickly.

Then the couple's car broke down in June. Mary Hite quit her job because she didn't have a ride. Maurice Hite was able to find work, but only part time. Usually a star pupil, Ethan began to act up at school.

"It felt like a tornado," Maurice Hite said of the past nine months. "Everything just keeps piling up."

Source

Utah Students Displaced with our amid enonomic and family turbulence

2008-12-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

Catching a good night's sleep in the Midvale Community Center, which serves as the overflow shelter for Salt Lake City's Road Home, isn't easy.

People get up in the night to use the bathroom. Infants cry. People talk, argue, or even fight. But if getting a little shut-eye is hard, so is studying for a test, or finishing your math homework.

"I sit on my bed and just focus on it. I don't think about anything else that's going on around me," said Annette Palma, a 12-year-old fifth-grader at Midvale Middle School.

After job prospects in Portland, Ore., disappeared, Palma's parents headed to Texas with her four siblings when the family car broke down in Salt Lake City. Living in a homeless shelter is no excuse to skip
school, however. With the help of Connie Crosby, liaison for homeless students in the Jordan School District, Annette's mother Margarita wasted no time in getting her school-age children enrolled.

The transition has been hard. No more so than for Margarita's 11-year-old son Randy, who's fended off bullies at Midvale Elementary School.

"When I show teachers my children's transcripts they're amazed how well they've done," Palma said. "It's hard to seem them struggle. Of course I don't want to see them get hurt or laughed at."

Neither does Crosby, who checks the Midvale overflow shelter at 7 a.m. every weekday during late fall and winter months to see how many new children have arrived so she can enroll them, hopefully in the last school they attended. "We've definitely had an increase in students at the shelter," Crosby said.

While numbers for the 2008-09 school year won't be in until next year, social service liaisons at many Utah public school districts say they have already noticed an increase in the number of displaced students over the same time last year. The federal McKinney-Vento Act requires states to ensure that students are enrolled and can earn academic credit during times of displacement. So the liaisons do all they can to help students who find themselves uprooted, or in living situations beyond their control.

The greatest number find themselves "doubled up" with relatives outside their primary family. The second largest group of displaced students, such as the Palma children, are housed in shelters. Still others live in a parent's car parked in the school parking lot, or suddenly find themselves in the care of a grandparent or non-relative guardian after a parent has succumbed to drugs or mental illness.

Local charities do their part, donating clothes and some school supplies, but local school district liaisons do the heavy lifting. Students and families must be counseled, and transcripts and immunization records must move to the student's new school if it becomes impractical for them to attend their old school, a preferred option under the McKinney-Vento Act.

During the 2007-08 school year, Granite School District counseled 899 displaced students. This October alone the district has identified 768 displaced students, with the remainder of the school year to go. "We're at a very high number for the beginning of the year," Jacobson said.

With 1,235 displaced students counseled or served last school year, the Salt Lake City School District reports identifying more than 800 displaced students so far this school year.

The workload can become overwhelming. "Today I'll take two kids to get eyeglasses, help one teenager get food stamps, and make sure a bunch of kids get clothes," said Mike Harmon, counselor and education liaison for the Salt Lake City School District. "That's all before lunch, hopefully, if all goes well."

Harmon recalls helping a teenager reduced to living in a shed because it was the only place she could keep her German Shepherd, the only family she had left. Jacobson once got a report of a student living under the bleachers of a high school football field. As vulnerable as they are, Jacobson is often amazed at students' resilience.

"One 10-year-old girl was able to give us the clothing sizes for all her siblings," Jacobson said. "Sometimes you're dumbfounded that they know things they shouldn't need to know."

Harmon, who has 10 years of counseling experience for his district, and three additional years of counseling displaced students, said he sees an increasing number of students working in order to maintain their family's housing situation. Causes of displacement are not as important as helping those displaced, but Harmon hears the details of some cases. More students have been displaced due to doubling rents, he said. And he knows that some families have gone through a foreclosure, even if they choose not to fill out a McKinney-Vento form for aid. While the law requires that displaced students receive a measure of help once identified, applying for that help is strictly voluntary.

"We know there are some folks who've been foreclosed on who choose not to fill out the form," Harmon said.

Crosy said the Palma children are unusual for having switched schools only once. "There's children here already this year that have been in five different schools," she said.

Annette said she has no time for anyone who might look down on her or her family for using a temporary shelter. "It doesn't really matter what they think," she said. "I love my homework. It gives me something to do."

Source

Homeless Students in Fairfax Co., VA, Schools are Up 25%

2008-12-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

The number of homeless students in Fairfax County Public Schools is up 25 percent from last year, primarily due to home foreclosures.

Kathi Sheffel has been the homeless liasion for FCPS for the last eight years.

Under a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, school districts are required to have a homeless liasion to help "highly-mobile" students maintain their educational requirements with as little disruption as possible.

Sheffel receives an annual federal grant of $97,000 to help supply her office with a full-time social worker, a part-time administrative assistant, and 21 part-time tutors for homeless students.

"We try to eliminate any barriers to their enrollment and education by providing support in lots of different ways," Sheffel says. "We want to make sure these kids don't get lost during their homelessness."

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, the creation of the liaision position was influenced by statistics showing that over one million children nationwide were likely to experience homelessness in a given year.

Title X, Part C of the No Child Left Behind Act defines a homeless student as living in an emergency or transitional shelter; a motel;, hotel; or campground; in a car; a park; public place; bus or train station; abandoned building or doubled up with relatives or friends due to a lack of a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.

According to Sheffel, there are nearly 1200 students in Fairfax County schools this year that meet that definition. That is an almost 25 percent increase from last year, when the number was only 900.

Asked why the numbers have increased so dramatically, she gives a one word answer: "foreclosures."

"I have been here for eight years and the numbers have increased every year, but this is not usual to have this many in such a short period," she said.

Sheffel receives calls stemming from foreclosures on a daily basis and her phone is ringing off the hook.

"I get calls from schools everyday saying that a student's family is being evicted later in the week," she says. "Many come from families being evicted because their landlords are being foreclosed upon."

Many of these families wind up taking temporary residence in one of the county's four local family shelters. But according to Belinda Buescher of the Department of Family Services, nearly 100 families are currently on a waiting list because the shelters are currently full.

"The stress on a child in a homeless situation is phenomenal," said Sheffel. "The stress of not knowing where they are going to be staying, whether or not they will be able to remain together, if their parents will be OK and if they can stay in their school, can really take their toll. We try our best to minimize that stress."

Source

Groups Call on President-Elect to Prioritize Ending Homelessness

2008-12-25T16:35:00.000-08:00

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and over a dozen other national homelessness advocacy groups called upon President-Elect Barack Obama to take steps immediately upon becoming President to address the urgent crisis of homelessness in the United States.

The incoming Administration has previously expressed a commitment to addressing homelessness. President-Elect Obama was a sponsor of the Homes for Heroes Act, which would provide housing assistance for homeless very low-income veterans, and Vice President-Elect Biden was a leader in the Senate working to prevent domestic violence survivors from becoming homeless through the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

NLCHP and their partner advocate groups are now urging the Presidential Transition Team to commit to ending homelessness by accepting six key recommendations, beginning by demonstrating its commitment in the first year by completing a federal plan to end homelessness and holding a White House Conference to begin implementing the plan.

Other recommended policy priorities include increasing access to affordable housing; ensuring adequate incomes; expanding access to health services; ensuring access to education for homeless children and youth; and protecting homeless people from discrimination.

"Homelessness in America is a growing crisis," said Maria Foscarinis, NLCHP Executive Director. "Increasing foreclosures and growing unemployment are threatening more and more Americans with homelessness, and shelters, soup kitchens and food pantries across the country are reporting surges in demands for help. It's critical that the new Administration act quickly and boldly to stem the crisis," she added.

For more information about the recommendations, contact Foscarinis at mfoscarinis@nlchp.org, or NLCHP Policy Director Laurel Weir at lweir@nlchp.org. A full copy of the letter to the Presidential Transition Team is available at http://www.nlchp.org/content/pubs/Letter_to_Obama.pdf.

Endorsing organizations are America's Road Home, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Give Us Your Poor, National AIDS Housing Council, National Alliance to End Homelessness, National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, National Coalition for the Homeless, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, National Housing Law Project, National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Network to End Domestic Violence, National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness.

For More Information

Homeless Addicts: America's Untouchables

2008-12-25T16:32:00.000-08:00

The smoky interior of the Roxy, with its smells of clove cigarettes, coffee, and greasy diner food, is an oasis. Those old familiar pulp fiction posters on the wall and the same Skinny Puppy songs playing on the jukebox. Small groups cluster at tables and in the booths. Gothic kids and punk rockers drinking the all-night coffee and chain smoking. Flamboyant gay guys sitting at the bar talking loud and looking around to see if anyone is paying attention. No one is.

I spot an associate sitting by himself at one of the small two-person tables and make my way over. His name is Joe but he goes by Ashes, and Ashes looks loaded. He barely looks up when I sit down and from the length of the ash on his smoke I can tell he was on the nod. His hooded eyes finally look up and find mine as the waiter takes my order for coffee and toast. He tucks a long strand of greasy hair behind his ear and through missing teeth tells me I look like hell. Coming from him this is truly something.

Ashes has been on the streets a long time. He was already “old” when I first hit the dope road all those years ago. Beneath his long and tattered leather jacket and his Sisters Of Mercy T-shirt his thin frame shows the wear of the longtime dope fiend. His arms are covered in homemade tattoos and scars from past abscesses. He is somewhere in his late 30s but looks a decade older. Anybody with eyes would make him for an addict. He’s about as trustworthy as a rented snake, and he is the closest thing I have to a friend at this moment.

My first question is, of course, is he holding and second, can I get him to kick down a little something. Even a rinse would set me straight and buy me some time to make a plan. No junky wants to give up any dope ever, but I have some leverage as he has no hustle and he knows I will make some money today. He supports his habit by spare changing in the transit mall. Not a sure thing, even on a good day. A real loser’s gambit. Real bottom of the food chain shit. So I get him to agree to get me well as long as I take him along on whatever scheme I cook up for the day.

In order for me to get the fix, we first have to go back to the squat he shares with some other scumbags under the Jackson Street overpass. We leave at once. Fuck the coffee and toast. It’s only a few blocks away and as we make our way to the spot, morning people are beginning their day. Office workers are emerging with their overpriced Starbucks beverages and service workers are on their way to their shitty jobs serving shitty food to shitty people.

The pedestrians avoid eye contact and keep moving. They’re not scared, just seen it all too many times. Anybody that lives or works downtown is so used to this that it’s like rain to them. Something unpleasant but inevitable, just part of the city. When we finally reach the overpass and duck down through the hole in the freeway fence the smell of shit is a shock. The whole side of the embankment is dotted with small white flags of used toilet paper marking each pile of human excrement. There are no public bathrooms open at night in this area of Portland so people do what they have to do whereever they can. No matter how many squats I’ve been in, the smell of piss and shit always takes my breath away for a moment. This is the bottom. Truly, it would be hard to fall any lower than this. Maybe dying of AIDS in a welfare hospital would be worse. Maybe.

The squats that line the freeway overpasses are like catch basins for the refuse of the city. The mentally ill, sexual deviants, illegal immigrants, wanted fugitives, hardcore drunks, prostitutes, crusty train-hopping kids, tweakers, junkies, the unlucky, and the unloved. We all have called these places home. For a night, for a week, even years for some. It’s easy to fly below the radar here. No rent, no responsibility, and nothing to worry about besides where the cops are and where your next fix or your next bottle is coming from.

My next fix is coming from Ashes and he is unrolling his works from a piece of leather he had up his sleeve. “There’s not much here to go around” he says, but he is willing to share a little, after he gets his, of course. I watch trembling in anticipation while he prepares his shot and as he draws up the black water from the spoon my stomach does flip flops like maybe I’m gonna puke or shit my pants. But I don’t.

Ashes has no veins so he just shoves the point in his shoulder and slowly pushes down the plunger with a slight grimace of pain. “I left a good rinse for you” he says, gesturing towards his spoon. Upon examination there is a light brown residue on the spoon and in the tiny piece of cotton stuck to the bottom.

I look around at the spectral figures in the darkened squat. Most still in their bedrolls and sleeping bags. It’s hard to spot a familiar face so I just ask out loud if anybody has a clean point. Nearby, what I had mistaken for a pile of trash and old rags stirs and by some miracle this small girl who I hadn’t even noticed says she might. She begins to dig in her pack and pulls out the familiar brown paper bag of the Outside In needle exchange. She tosses the bag to me and tells me to keep it; she says she is trying to kick.

I don’t want to think about what I might have done if there wasn’t a clean point available. Sharing needles under a bridge is not anything I want to experience. I’ve been lucky and I know it. I want to hug this tiny female savior but we don’t know each other. I wish I had a million dollars to give her. She may have just saved my life and I tell her so as my way of thanking her. She merely shrugs and rolls back over so she doesn’t have to watch us shoot dope in front of her.

I have to be careful. I’ve only been out of jail a few hours. I don’t even have laces in my boots yet and am still carrying the clear plastic property bag with all my shit in it. Many junkies have gotten out of jail only to OD with their first shot. They dumbly do the amount they were used to doing before being locked up. Not realizing that the time inside has lowered their tolerance. From what Ashes has left me I definitely don’t have to worry about an OD so I prepare the meager fix and do my thing.

It hits me first in the muscles of my jaw and with a slight burn up my arm. No euphoria, no rush, just a slight sensation of relief. It wasn’t much but it will have to do. I know I will have to make some money soon and my first thought is Home Depot. It’s a bus ride but pretty much a sure thing. They give you up to $100 cash back on returned merchandise. You don’t even need to have a receipt.

The hustle works like this. A guy goes in and shoplifts $99 worth of whatever. This guy is known as a booster. Another guy waits outside. The booster takes the stuff out of the store and hands it over to the guy who waited out side. This guy is called a returner. The returner then goes inside the store and returns the merchandise for cash. This is known as “the boost and return” Another variation on this is to hang around outside the store picking up receipts or getting receipts out of the trash. Then you go into the store and steal the exact item on the receipt and return it for the cash.

The only thing required to do returns is a valid ID Once you have done three returns your ID is burnt and store cuts you off. So boosters are always looking for new returners with clean ID who don’t look like disreputable dope fiends. Right now I need someone with a clean ID to take the bus to with me to the Beaverton and put some work in.

Ashes is not an option. He doesn’t even have ID and any loss prevention guy would make him instantly. I tell him to help me find someone to do returns and I will kick down some cash on top of the shitty little shot I already owe him. The small girl in the corner who gave me the rigs has overheard all this and it is too much for her. She stands right up and says “fuck kicking! I want in.” I feel kind of bad for dragging her into my madness but she says she has clean ID and in the light is actually pretty cute in a beat kind of way.

She stands probably 5-feet tall and is no more than 100 pounds. She has black dreads pulled back into a ponytail, large expressive eyes, pale skin, and very red lips. She says her name is Zoey but she goes by Squeak. Appropriate. She is wearing black Carhart bibs and a Venom shirt but says she has just the outfit for our expedition. After digging in her impossibly large pack she finally finds what she is after and with a giggle she gets back under her blankets. Some rustling around and a small amount of cussing later she emerges virtually unrecognizable. Some worn Gap khakis, a striped Columbia sportswear sweater, and her dreads pulled back in a bright knit stocking hat have transformed her into someone the Home Depot clerk probably won’t look twice at. Her new look has Ashes and me laughing, and that gets her a little pissed off, but after a minute she starts laughing too. With that laugh and seeing her smile for the first time I realize she is more than kinda cute. She is a very pretty girl. Petite and delicate features highlight the playful light that shines from her eyes, and if I’m not mistaken, that light is being directed at me.

Tye Doudy is 33 years old and lives in Portland. His stories are all true and told in the hopes that others may learn from his mistakes. This is the first in a series of articles about his life. He can be reached at wurmstar@gmail.com. This article appeared in the July 25, edition of Street Roots.

How Kaiser Permanente Has Helped Improve Homeless Health Care in Southern California

2008-12-25T16:30:00.000-08:00

Kaiser Permanente helps improve health care for homeless people through partnerships with community clinics and social service providers; funding programs to address the health concerns of the homeless; and participating with homeless service providers to develop a stronger, coordinated system of care. Over the past two years, Kaiser Permanente has invested $2.5 million to help strengthen the homeless health care system in Los Angeles County.

KP's physicians and other staff volunteer with community clinics to provide thousands of hours of health treatment, education, and resources to people who are uninsured and homeless. As an example, in 2006, Kaiser Permanente radiologists provided interpretative services free of charge for more than 2,000 radiological examinations for homeless patients on Skid Row. This project coordinated diagnostic radiology services with three clinics in Skid Row: JWCH Institute, Los Angeles Mission Community Clinic, and UCLA Nursing Clinic at Union Rescue Mission.

Kaiser Permanente's homeless care efforts in Southern California focus on:

* Care coordination and case management work that link homeless patients with existing services such as alcohol/drug treatment, recuperative care, primary care, mental health, and housing
* Developing recuperative care bed access for those persons who do not require continued hospital care, but still need medical oversight
* Teaching hospital social workers and discharge planners how to assist homeless patients to access available community support services fol- lowing their discharge from a hospital. Examples of these services include post-hospital health care, housing resources, and other community resource support.
* Investments in agencies and other homeless providers to expand access to medical, dental, mental health, and addiction services.

Kaiser Permanente provided more than $800 million in community benefit in the United States in 2006. Part of that considerable effort is focused on supporting social service agencies that care for the homeless. In 2006, Kaiser Permanente provided more than $302 million in community benefit in Southern California alone. Key components of Kaiser Permanente's $2.5 million investment to strengthen the homeless health care system in Southern California in the past two years include:

Demand is up at homeless shelters

2008-12-25T16:27:00.000-08:00

Tis not the season of overflowing homeless shelters, but the economic cold weather is creating winter-level demand on area emergency-housing agencies.

Requests for temporary lodgings have been at Christmas-rush peaks the past two months, with providers maintaining at least weekly contact with counterparts statewide looking for overflow space.

The Road Home, the state's largest shelter, deals with the wintertime peaks by opening annexes that close in early spring as demand drops and temperatures rise.

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As things go at the The Road Home, so goes the activity at other shelters. The state's busiest emergency/transitional housing service has space for 31 families but is providing room for five to 15 extra families per night by setting up cots in the foyer and office areas. About 60 families requesting services have been placed on a waiting list.

Many factors are leading to an increased demand for emergency services, said Matt Minkevitch, Road Home executive director.

"Evictions due to a job loss, medical bills that can't be paid due to loss of medical benefits, we've been seeing a lot of that figuring in," he said, noting that a faltering economy translates quickly into a need for emergency help for those near the bottom of the economic ladder.

Unofficial shelters such as temporary rooms offered by family members have been able to assimilate an unknown percentage of those who are technically homeless, and shelters statewide have been managing to find room at the inn, Minkevitch and other shelter managers said.

"We will always make room for those whose situation has become desperate," he said. Sleeping in your car is a desperate situation, he said, and he emphasized that people who are homeless or believe they're about to be shouldn't hesitate to call the shelter.

"They shouldn't feel like they're all alone," Minkevitch said. "A lot of people find themselves in tough situations for any number of reasons. Whys don't matter. We're here to help, and so that's what we do."

However varied the circumstances dictating the increase in demand, handling it is made more difficult by who is looking for shelter -- more families. Requests from single males have followed seasonal patterns, but requests from families and single women with children are reportedly up by at least one-third, according to area shelters.

Providers in Davis and Weber counties said finding additional space for emergency shelters running at capacity occurs regularly in winter months but is rare in warmer months when getting through a few nights by camping in trailers, along rivers or staying on the street isn't complicated by snow or freezing temperatures.

An operator of a battered women's shelter in northern Utah -- who said she didn't want to be named due to recent stalking incidents involving some of the tenants there -- said motels have become annexes to many of the smaller shelters.

"That's not the ideal situation for a battered woman trying to protect herself and her children," she said. "But even that space that we try to keep available has been full this summer," which has forced the shelter at times to ask a caller to rank the likelihood and level of danger if admission is put off a few days.

"That's not a good position for an emergency help center to be in, and it's a question we just hate having to ask," she said.

Emergency needs are also being met by various volunteer and faith- based programs that have stepped up services for families in transition. Along with individual assistance programs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at least a half-dozen other faiths have stepped up to help families who have fallen on hard times. In Salt Lake City, an estimated 20 congregations are offering Family Promise space to families, converting Sunday school space into temporary homes for families who have lost theirs or are in between jobs.

Like the state agencies and nonprofit community service groups keeping tabs on the situation, Family Promise says families make up at least half and possibly as much as two-thirds of the state's homeless population. There is no way to accurately determine how many families are trying to deal with the problem on their own.

Steve Graham, Family Promise president, told the Deseret News in April that predictions show the face of homelessness is changing because "after they've tried as hard as they can to not depend on anyone else, they turn to outside help."

There is the promise of more space being available in the fall as the first of several remodeled buildings is set to come on line to provide permanent housing for Utah's indigent and low-income residents.

The 200-unit Palmer Court, scheduled to open this fall, is being regarded as a centerpiece of the state's effort to end chronic homelessness by 2014.

The bump in the number of families in need driven by foreclosures or workplace cutbacks isn't deemed chronic under the strict definition of homelessness (a year or longer), said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Homeless Vets Find Jobs In Veterans Cemeteries

2008-12-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

By Vic Lee

Navy veteran David Miller, 46, watched as the remains of fellow Navy veteran Irvin Thompson were laid to rest in the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon back in November. Thompson died 67 years ago at Pearl Harbor, but his remains were not identified until two months ago.

Miller carved the inscription on Thompson's headstone, and it was an honor to do so, he said.

"I feel that who else to do the headstone of a veteran than another veteran," Miller said.
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Miller works for the Veterans Employment Agency where he has at least two things in common with the other employees; he is a veteran and homeless.

The agency is the brainchild of Irvin Goodwin; he runs a homeless veterans emergency housing facility in Menlo Park. Miller and the other employees live there while they get their life back together again.

Goodwin started the employment agency to provide jobs for his homeless residents.

"Because of their homelessness and a large gap in their work history, the employer feels like 'I don't want to take a chance with this guy,'" Goodwin said.

Goodwin came up with the idea of putting vets to work, inscribing headstones for national cemeteries. So far, they have contracts in Florida, Michigan and the cemetery in Dixon.

The orders come in from the national cemetery office in Quantico, Virginia.

Penny Rowlan served in the navy; she has been treated for post traumatic stress disorder and drug addiction and has been homeless for 13 years. She takes the orders, formats the inscription and cuts the stencil.

Rowlan feels a certain intimacy with each order.

"You would think after doing so many that maybe not, but each one I really take some time to think about it," Rowlan said.

The stencil is then sent to Penny Bethel who also assists in their preperation. Bethel was a medic in Vietnam; she has been homeless for a year after being laid off from work. She too takes each inscription personally.

Navy veteran Anthony Thomas came to the facility after losing his job and his home. He is in rehab for a drinking problem.

Both Thomas and Bethel pick out the letters with great care.

"It becomes a personal contact because this is someone you didn't know in life that you may meet them later on," Thomas said.

The stencil is sent to the cemetery in Dixon where the letters will be inscribed on a headstone.

That is Miller's job.

Miller was paroled seven months ago after serving 23 years in prison. This is his first job since getting out.

"Its emotional; you look at the name, some of them come in with a lot of inscription on them, some of them just come in with a date," Millier said.

The homeless veterans are not only learning a trade; the job gives them something more.

"You know, self respect, self esteem; all the things I had prior which I totally lost in my addiction and stuff," Rowlan said.

The veterans are proud of what they are doing. They are also grateful to their fallen comrades who in death have come to their aid. Inscribing headstones has given the veterans a second chance in life.

"Someday someone will do mine and say thank you to me like I do these people every day," Behtel said.
(Copyright ©2008 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Illegal To Be Homeless Since 2004

2008-12-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

As the country fails to provide money for housing, and as essential funds are cut from social services, the amount of money spent to jail people for "quality of life" crimes increases.

The legal challenges resulting from criminalizing homelessness have proven costly for both homeless people and for those who prosecute them. Judgments against offending jurisdictions are not sufficient payment for the loss of freedom, jobs while incarcerated, shelter spaces and for the difficulty in finding employment once you have a "record."

Although anti-homeless ordinances violate HUD’s Consolidated Plan and should jeopardize any offending jurisdiction’s access to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME), and McKinney/Vento federal funds, few charges are brought against those cities because non-profit organizations risk their own funding if they complain. Moreover, local ordinances that discriminate against and criminalize the lives of homeless people often violate local, state, and federal constitutions, thus exposing city governments and police departments to civil liability. Ordinances that criminalize homeless people simply perpetuate the problems of homelessness.

It is more expensive to detain a person in jail than to house and offer services. According to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty 2003 report, Punishing Poverty: The Criminalization of Homelessness, Litigation, and Recommendations for Solutions, the cost of providing jail, excluding the cost of the police resources used in the arrest, exceeds $40 per day. Some sources say the daily cost is as much as $140. In comparison, the average cost of providing counseling, housing, food, and transportation for one day is approximately $30.

In most cities there is a desperate lack of emergency and permanent housing and support. Funds that might be used to fund programs addressing the needs of homeless people are diverted to the criminal justice system.

(B) Social Consequences

Criminalization masks the social exclusion of homeless people under the guise of public safety concerns. When cities warn tourists and residents not to give money to panhandlers, they create the fear of homeless individuals that leads to further discrimination. This criminalization then helps to legitimize that fear.

Persons arrested or incarcerated for "quality of life" offenses may lose access to employment, families and friends. This loss also impacts employers who lose faith in hiring homeless people because "they don’t show up," or because they have "records."

Once incarcerated, these homeless individuals face overcrowding, violence, abuse, or disease. The conditions in turn contribute to additional social costs when the person is released and interacts again with society.

Cities might be more successful developing programs intended to reduce homelessness if the level of animosity among police, service providers, and homeless persons was reduced. With a focus on training, police might deal more effectively and efficiently with conflicts that arise, without violating the civil rights of homeless people.

(C) Political Consequences

Laws criminalizing the circumstances of poverty, as well as sanctioned or unsanctioned actions committed by law enforcement officials, may violate both state constitutions and the U.S. Constitution. For example, laws prohibiting or limiting panhandling and begging may violate the First Amendment. The seizure or destruction of homeless peoples’ property may violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure. Laws prohibiting sleep and other necessary activities in public spaces may violate the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. In addition, discriminatory enforcement of such laws may constitute a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, which assures equal protection under the law.

(D) Individual Consequences

The criminalization of homelessness makes the struggle to survive on the streets even more difficult, depressing, demoralizing, and frightening, especially as the criminal justice system can itself act as a major barrier to individual efforts to escape homelessness. Regardless of the number of ordinances passed, homeless people still must eat, sleep, and survive in public because often no alternative is available to them.

Once homeless people have been arrested for "quality of life" violations, their criminal records grow, and as a result they may be excluded from jobs and housing. Anyone incarcerated at least 30 days loses Social Security benefits during incarceration. Also, if an individual receiving benefits is found to have an outstanding warrant, she or he can be denied benefits. The Social Security Administration has gone so far as to grant agencies an "incentive" of $400 per person found to be in violation. In addition, when homeless persons do not follow through with the process of criminal justice, such as failing to pay traffic tickets or not appearing in court, warrants are issued for their arrest and they may be subjected to further charges and/or jail time. Money used to pay fines might otherwise be used for housing or other needs. Finally, it may be difficult for homeless people to maintain the mandated relationship with parole officers or with community service organizations.

Many homeless people lose all their possessions, even difficult-to-obtain IDs, when they are arrested. In addition, police harassment causes homeless people to miss appointments and/or interviews, reinforcing their status as second-class citizens. Homeless persons who are employed at the time of arrest and who are held in jail may lose their current jobs. Even when people are only given citations and are not arrested, the police may use the threat of arrest to intimidate individuals without housing. Thus, there are many hidden effects of these policies.

Policies of criminalization defeat their own goals of removing homeless people from public visibility because they simply create further barriers for survival and undermine individual efforts to escape homelessness. Such policies keep more people on the streets and increase problems related to homelessness. When individuals are released from jail, they are still homeless, and they have even more barriers and obstacles to overcome than before.

(E) Security Guards and the Homeless Community

A few cities in the United States have reached legal agreements with their municipalities to put an end to police harassment of homeless people. A growing problem in the United States is the rise in private security forces that wear uniforms and mistreat homeless people. In a few cities, including Cleveland, Ohio, these security guards are often off-duty Cleveland Police officers. These privately-paid security officers are allowed to wear the uniform of the municipal police force, and have close contact with the police. They have the ability to detain homeless people and, subsequently, have them arrested. When they are off-duty, these officers do not always abide by consent decrees, legal settlements, or even the law with regard to panhandlers or the rights of homeless people. People who spend a large number of hours of the day on the streets report frequent and systematic abuse by private security guards in the downtowns of our urban environments.

There are a growing number of reports of increased tensions between homeless people and security guards from around the United States, ranging from Business Improvement District security in Atlanta, Georgia and Columbus, Ohio with their "Downtown Ambassadors." These guards patrol the streets and intervene when they see infractions of ﾒquality of lifeﾓ laws. In Reno, Nevada, conflicts arise between the downtown casinos and homeless people. Fort Worth, Texas, has made a significant effort to curtail panhandling, and has drafted neighborhood associations into the fight.

In many communities, security guards are indistinguishable from municipal police officers. Often, they wear the same or similar uniforms, carry guns, and threaten arrest. It may be impossible for homeless people to distinguish between an on-duty municipal police officer and an off-duty security guard, and to negotiate the legal landscape enforced by these guards.

For example, in Cleveland, despite an agreement with the Police Department since 1999 not to "arrest, or threaten to arrest or detain, any individuals, including homeless individuals for performing innocent, harmless, inoffensive acts such as sleeping, eating, lying, or sitting in or on public property," homeless people are still being harassed by security guards, who are, typically, off-duty police. These individuals are known to keep their CPD uniforms on, while working as security guards for private businesses. This is especially a problem in the urban core where finding access to transportation, food, and a place where one can rest without being harassed becomes a difficult task.

These security guards, who patrol private buildings in their uniforms, have been engaged in harassment against homeless individuals that they encounter on public sidewalks and around the private businesses they are to guard. Phoenix, Arizona, has combined police and security outreach into one unit.

The security guards, especially since the events of 2001, play a greater role in both numbers and visibility in most American cities. Despite efforts to focus funding and attention on those who live on the streets, the number of homeless people has increased in most American cities. The security guards are employed to secure buildings and businesses, but they often become much more. Security guards provide the illusion of security to a fearful population. They are used to assure cash registers do not stop ringing because of a perceived unsafe environment. Security guards are highly visible, and many buildings pay a premium for the guards to look like law enforcement officers. Unfortunately, they have a much different mandate that is essentially a profit motive, with little responsibility to serve the public good, as well as less accountability than on-duty officers.

Although security guards may be highly trained and respectful law enforcement officers during the day, they are paid to keep a certain appearance within a building. Homeless people are viewed as a threat to public safety. Media distortions, fear of the unknown, and misguided information often turn homeless people into the scapegoats for problems downtown. People who choose not to access the shelters, when shelters exist, are blamed for high crime rates, the flight of wealthy pedestrians and residents from the city, and the closing of businesses. Security guards are often told in no uncertain terms to move homeless people out of sight at all costs. They ignore the freedom to ask for money or the freedom to be left alone.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/crimreport2004/problem.html

Homeless Head to Court over Right to Sleep Outside

2008-12-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

While most would agree the freedom of sleep is a basic human right, for the homeless in many Canadian cities, that right is elusive. A Victoria man is determined to change that by challenging bylaws that ban sleeping in public places.

Thirty-four-year-old David Arthur Johnston, a "right-to-sleep" activist who himself sleeps outside, was prepared to starve himself to death in jail to protest Victoria's "anti-sleeping bylaw." He was released on bail on August 9. He was serving a nine-month sentence for failing to honour an agreement with the Crown to leave the province.

Johnston, who lost more that 30 pounds during his 36-day hunger strike, has been in and out of jail over the past two years in his fight for the right of homeless people to sleep outside. His repeated arrests were mainly a result of his attempts to sleep on the grounds of St. Ann's Academy, a former convent now owned by the provincial government. Johnston maintained a fast each time he was imprisoned.

Victoria has a street camping bylaw that prohibits sleeping in public places, which the police enforce by constantly moving people along. The bylaw has a provision that goods can be confiscated if left out overnight.

Johnston, who has been living outside since 2000, says people are finally coming to understand something that's been "subtly hidden," that there is no such thing as public property.

"The city and the police's mentalities have it so they believe it acceptable to violate fundamental rights on city or provincially 'owned' property," says Johnston.

Irene Faulkner and Cathy Boies-Parker, Victoria barristers who are challenging the bylaw as unconstitutional, say it's a catch-22 because it's illegal to sleep outside, yet there aren't enough shelter beds for the approximately 700 homeless people in the city.

"There are somewhere in the vicinity of 100 to 175 shelter beds, depending on the time of year," says Faulkner. "In summer, many beds are actually shut down because there's nice weather and people can sleep outside. But they can't, because it's illegal to sleep outside."

The two lawyers are challenging the bylaw on behalf of a group of homeless people who lived in a tent city at Cridge Park, which was dismantled in October 2005 shortly after it was set up. They say that living in close quarters helps shield the homeless from much of the violence they encounter when alone on the streets, and that it helps prevent their possessions from being stolen and provides them with a sense of belonging. A number of tent cities were erected in Victoria in 2005, only to be quickly dismantled by the police.

David Arthur Johnston at St. Anne's Academy, where he has been arrested for sleeping. (Courtesy of Jane Bandcroft)

Boies-Parker says the police don't usually charge people under the bylaw, but instead "use the existence of the bylaw as a threat" to move people along.

"It's enforced more often by sort of intimidation," she says. "They use it as authority to make people not be able to be at peace on the streets."

Vancouver lawyer David Eby says all Canadian cities have similar bylaws preventing the homeless from sleeping outside, including Vancouver, which has an additional bylaw prohibiting entry into parks outside of daytime hours. He says a lack of public washrooms in Vancouver makes matters worse for those with no home, leaving them no choice but to use back alleys as toilets.

"It's all part of criminalizing the homeless," says Eby, who works at Pivot Legal Society, a non-profit legal advocacy organization located in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

In the approach to Johnston's bail hearing, a number of his supporters held an overnight prayer vigil under the cross at St. Ann's Academy. Four were arrested for falling asleep during the vigil, only to be released the next morning without being charged.

Janine Bandcroft, founder and editor of the Victoria street newspaper, the Street Newz, says that while some homeless people are purely victims of circumstance, others make a conscious choice to live outdoors. Johnston, who fits the latter category, refuses to use money or own property. Bandcroft believes people shouldn't be punished or criminalized for wanting to "live outside of the mainstream if they're not harming anybody."

"Our public spaces are becoming acceptable only for those who the police and the city deem appropriate," says Bandcroft. "If you or I fall asleep in the park on a blanket at a picnic it's okay, but if a street person falls asleep in a park he's going to be woken up and asked to move along, and to me that's just discrimination."

Boies-Parker says that in some U.S. cities, such bylaws have been struck down as unconstitutional. Both barristers see this as an important case and one that has never been undertaken in Canada, primarily because the homeless — those who would benefit the most from having the bylaw struck down — lack the resources need to launch a lawsuit.

"What the city is doing here is they're trying to put their social problem off to the side by making it illegal to be homeless, basically, but not providing any alternative to that," says Boies-Parker. "What we can't do is punish these people for the status of being homeless."

Johnston, meanwhile, has promised not to return to the grounds of St. Ann's Academy. He is to appear in court again in October for a bail hearing. He says he won't "overtly challenge the anti-sleeping policy" until the Supreme Court hears the case against the city.

"The charter challenge will be successful, because to have it otherwise would be saying that every Canadian must pay to sleep," says Johnston. "The Supreme Court will be telling the City of Victoria that it is unlawful to arrest people for sleeping in public access spaces."

Halle Berry Was Also Homeless

2008-12-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

Halle Berry lived in a homeless shelter when she first left home.The Oscar-winning actress has revealed her mother refused to support her when she ran out of money aged 21 - leaving her homeless. Halle, 40, told Reader's Digest magazine: "But a girl had to do what a girl had to do. You can do that when you're 21 and ambitious and your eyes are this big and you don't want to go home. I became a person who knows that I will always make my own way."When I moved to Chicago, she drove me there, but I don't think she ever thought it would pan out. After a month or two, I ran out of money and called her."I said, 'Mom, I hate to ask you this, but could you send me some money? I just have rent money, I can't eat this week.'"And she said no. She said, 'I'm not going to start this calling home asking mom for money. No, figure it out or come home.' I was so mad. I didn't speak to her for a year-and-a-half."The 'Perfect Stranger' star has forgiven her mother and believes the experience made her stronger. She said: "I'm actually grateful she did that, because it taught me how to take care of myself and that I could live through any situation, even if it meant going to a shelter for a small stint, or living within my means, which were meager."Meanwhile, friends of Halle claim her boyfriend, model Gabriel Aubry, is about to propose. A source told the New York Post newspaper: "They've moved in together in Los Angeles, and although they have separate residences in New York, they always stay in the same place and are together constantly."I wouldn't be shocked if Aubry proposed soon."

http://www.timessquaregossip.com/2007/03/superstar-halle-berry-was-homeless.html

One Seattle chaplain's story of homelessness

2008-12-13T10:59:00.000-08:00

A chaplain whose pioneering work to end homelessness is recognized worldwide shares the story of encountering the limits of the city's mental health system.

Pilgrim Church in Seattle has a chapel with a small courtyard opening through an archway onto a side street, and one morning as I was passing by on my way into the building, I noticed four bags of garbage, one at each corner of the courtyard. At the doorway to the chapel itself, protected from the rain, a man was sleeping. He awoke and raised his head as I approached. I said my name was Craig and that I was the pastor. He told me he was a baker and that he spent the nights baking bread for the whole city. He shot constant glances over my shoulder, his eyes scanning the courtyard. He said there was a great evil in the world; he had put the bags of garbage out to protect himself and the church. I moved closer and crouched down to listen more carefully.

"The evil goes to what it knows," he said.

I asked his name.

"Sterling Hayden," he said, "the actor." He was referring to the movie star whose career had peaked in the 1950s, some twenty years earlier.

It was November, a season of ever-colder weather, but Sterling continued to sleep in the chapel courtyard, exposed to the night air. Each morning for a week I found him there, bags of garbage carefully set out around him to ward off the evil. Each morning we talked a little. Each morning the custodian carefully removed the garbage to the Dumpster. Each evening Sterling rebuilt his surround of safety. One morning as we sat side by side on the steps leading from the street to the courtyard, a steady downpour began. I invited him inside. We climbed the stairs of the parish house to my study, a room with an old rolltop desk and a simple sitting area with comfortable chairs. Sterling confided to me how worried he was. Unnameable threats hovered about him. He lapsed into silence, an inner world of terror showing through frightened eyes.

What I first saw in Sterling was his "illness self": the homeless man, his strange sense of identity, his terrible fright, his unusual attempts to create safety. As we sat together over the course of that week, there were also brief and fleeting moments of ordinary conversation and health. He asked for a drink of water. He gently touched a small green plant growing on the windowsill.

On his last night with us, Sterling placed large amounts of toxics around the courtyard. The next morning, in one corner we found a box of used motor-oil cans and dirty rags scavenged from a gas station. In another corner was a five-gallon bucket of old cooking grease hauled from the alley behind a nearby restaurant. In a third corner was a bag of half-filled bottles and spray cans of cleansers. In the fourth corner sat a carton of empty containers that once held paint thinner, shellac, and wood stain. These materials were the only protection Sterling could devise.

When I saw Sterling's volatile collection in the courtyard, I talked with him about going to the hospital. I said he might find safety and care there. The hospital, I told him, protected people from disease and infection. They had good security and staff on duty day and night, help that we didn't have at the church. I told him there was a team that could come and help him. To my relief, he was willing.

I called King County Mental Health Crisis and Commitment Services, and was told that county-designated mental health professionals (MHPs) would be dispatched promptly. Sterling and I waited in my office, and after about thirty minutes two men arrived. They listened to Sterling's frightened and confused story. The MHPs agreed that he needed help and should be in the hospital.

Sterling relaxed a little. "Can we go now?" he asked. "Will you take me?"

The MHPs looked at each other, then at me, and then at Sterling. "Sterling," one of them said, "we can't do that. We can only take people to the hospital if they don't want to go."

Sterling looked crushed, and I was incredulous.

"He wants to go," I said. "Why can't you take him?"

"Sterling is a voluntary patient," one of the MHPs replied. "We can only arrange transportation for involuntary patients, people we're committing to the hospital against their will."

I shook my head. This was absurd.

Before I could put together a question about what we could do, Sterling shouted at me, "You said these people would help!" and dashed out of the room.

"Sterling, wait!" I called. I wanted to ask the MHPs if I could take him, and to which hospital, and whom we should talk to. I hadn't a clue how to get someone into a psychiatric unit in Seattle.

http://crosscut.com/2008/06/10/social-services/14831/

How Someone Bipolar Can Go From Being Wealthy To Homeless

2008-12-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

When I was at Yale University, I took a lot of classes in sociology. In these classes, we covered homelessness. At the time, I never thought about my mom being homeless, but I can see now how it happens.

Based on all my research and personal interviews with people who help homeless people and those who are homeless, I know how it can happen to people who are bipolar or simply hit a run of bad luck.

A person runs out of money; he/she gets fired, is laid off, etc. If the person can't find another job he/she eventually starts to run out of money. A person stops taking medicine, and eventually he/she gets into a bipolar episode and can't get out of it.

Unfortunately, suffering from bipolar disorder predisposes a person to suffering the other consequences. That is, a person who has bipolar disorder is more likely to be fired from a job, get divorced or suffer other set-backs that can cause financial hardships.

They are also more likely to run out of money during an episode because they are being outrageous risk takers and spending their money with no thoughts about tomorrow. People who are bipolar may spend thousands of dollars in days and not think about it until much later.

Eventually he/she can't afford things like insurance, car payments, and/or a telephone. The last hold out is the mortgage on a house or the rent for an apartment. Eventually the person is homeless. With this in mind, I believe it's super important to protect one's wealth when you are dealing with bipolar and also make sure you take your medicine to prevent this downward spiral to homelessness.

The most dangerous part of this pattern of homelessness for someone suffering from bipolar disorder is that, when they become homeless because they have lost everything, they stop getting treatment. Why? Because they no longer have money for doctors or medication and they no longer have a regular routine or home. Without that stability, they can't get a job and get back to a safe, stable environment where they can get well again. They become trapped in their illness and in their environment. It is a vicious cycle that can be very difficult to overcome.

Also, not only could a person become homeless but he/she could go into a depressive episode without medical treatment or any supervision and commit suicide-up to 15% of people who have serious mood disorders attempt suicide. The rate is higher if the person with a mood disorder is homeless and not getting proper treatment.

About The Author

David Oliver is the founder of FreeBipolarSupport.com a one stop source of information on how to cope and deal with bipolar disorder. Sign up for one of his FREE Mini Courses on Bipolar by visiting FreeBipolarCourse.com.

http://www.bipolarcentral.com/articles/HowSomeoneBipolarCan.asp

Mental health of homeless children and their families

2008-12-11T08:22:00.000-08:00

Panos Vostanis
Panos Vostanis is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Leicester (Greenwood Institute of Child Health, Westcotes House, Westcotes Drive, Leicester LE3 0QU, UK. Tel: 0116 225 2880; fax: 0116 225 2881; e-mail: pv11@le.ac.uk). In his National Health Service (NHS) capacity, he provides a mental health service for children looked after by local authorities, youth offenders and homeless families. The research projects on homeless children have been supported by the Nuffield Foundation (1996–1998), West Midlands NHS Executive Research and Development (1998–2000) and, currently, the PPP Healthcare Medical Trust.

Homeless families are defined as all adults with dependent children who are statutorily accepted by local authorities (housing departments) in the UK, and are usually accommodated for a brief period in voluntary agency, local authority or housing association hostels. This period varies from a few days to several months, although the target for rehousing is usually around 4 to 6 weeks. Some housing departments, particularly in London, also use bed and breakfast accommodation.

This definition is obviously fairly broad and does not include those children and their carers who have lost their homes and live with friends or relatives, on the streets, in squats or as travellers. For this reason, official statistics are not often accurate, although it is estimated that about 140 000 families in the UK fulfil these criteria each year (Vostanis & Cumella, 1999). Many of these families become homeless again within 1 year of rehousing. The average family comprises a single mother and at least two children (usually under 11 years), although there are a number of adolescents and fathers living in homeless centres.

On the whole, reasons for family homelessness are different from those for single homeless adults. The majority of families become homeless because of domestic violence and, to a lesser extent, harassment from neighbours. In our epidemiological studies (Vostanis et al, 1997), the corresponding figures were 50% and 25%. These very much depend on the type of accommodation, as most local authorities or voluntary organisations (for example, Women’s Aid or Crisis Response) have hostels exclusively or predominantly for victims of domestic violence. The proportion of families who are refugees has fluctuated since the late 1990s. Initially, they were confined to the London area, but in the past few years their numbers have been rising in most parts of the UK. There is, however, an increasing tendency for refugees not to go through the above homelessness route. Similar trends in homelessness have been evident in other Western societies, mainly in North America (Weinreb & Rossi, 1995; Bassuk et al, 1996; Better Homes Fund, 1999).

Characteristics and needs

Homeless children and families are a heterogeneous population, with multiple and interrelated needs. This is a crucial observation for the development of services. The episode of homelessness is rarely a one-off event. Most families have histories of previous chronic adversities that constitute risk factors for both children and parents (Bassuk et al, 1997). Such events include family conflict, violence and breakdown; limited or absent networks for family and social support; recurring moves; poverty; and unemployment. Mothers are more likely to have suffered abuse in their own childhood and adult life and children have increased rates of placement on the at-risk child protection register, because of neglect, physical and/or sexual abuse.

Studies have looked at a range of health needs among homeless children and their parents. Not surprisingly, a number of problems appear to cluster in this population. In particular, the children are more likely to have a history of low birthweight, anaemia, dental decay and delayed immunisations, to be of lower stature and have a greater degree of nutritional stress. They are also more likely to suffer accidents, injuries and burns. Some studies have found that child health problems increase with the duration of homelessness, although this finding is not consistent. A substantial proportion of homeless children have delayed development compared with the general population of children of a similar chronological age. This includes both specific developmental delays, such as in receptive and expressive language and visual, motor and reading skills, as well as general skills and educational status (Page et al, 1993; Webb et al, 2001).

Mental health problems and disorders

The social profile of homeless children includes many well-established risk factors for the development and maintenance of psychopathology. These are not specific to child or adult psychiatric disorders, as research has found high prevalence rates for a number of emotional and behavioural problems and disorders (Amery et al, 1995). In children of pre-school and primary school age, behavioural problems include sleep disturbance, feeding problems, aggression and hyperactivity. These are often comorbid with emotional or developmental disorders. Anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are often precipitated by life events such as witnessing domestic violence. About one-third of children admitted to hostels in Birmingham were reported to have mental health problems which required clinical assessment and treatment (Vostanis et al, 1997). Histories of abuse and the presence of mental illness in mothers were the strongest predictors of child psychopathology. In the absence of any intervention, child mental health problems remained 1 year later (Vostanis et al, 1998). In a subsequent cohort, mental health problems among both children and their mothers were strongly associated with poor family and social support networks (Vostanis et al, 2001).

Homeless adolescents and street youth are likely to present with depression and attempted suicide, alcohol and drug misuse, and vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases, including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Two major studies of this group in London (Craig et al, 1996) and Edinburgh (Wrate & Blair, 1999) found significant histories of residential care, family breakdown, poor educational attainment and instability of accommodation. These were associated with sexual risk behaviours, substance misuse and comorbid psychiatric disorders, particularly depression. A high proportion of homeless mothers also have similar psychiatric disorders, again primarily depression and substance misuse. Prevalence rates of 45–50% have been reported (Connelly & Crown, 1994; Zima et al, 1996; Vostanis et al, 1997). These are similar to rates found among single homeless women (Adams et al, 1996).

Access to services

There are several reasons why homeless children and their families cannot access mainstream health and social care services, despite their high level of need. The main one is their mobility between different health and local authority sectors. As most families will have changed address frequently or urgently, they are less likely than the rest of the population to be registered with a general practitioner (GP) or, in the best of situations, to be registered as temporary patients with a GP covering the hostel residents. This reduces their access to primary and secondary medical care as well as to immunisations and other preventive health procedures (Brooks et al, 1998). Homeless families therefore, tend to rely on accident and emergency departments for medical treatment and to have high rates of hospital admission (Lissauer et al, 1993).

The same applies to social services (access teams, family teams and family support units) and other community agencies. Homeless children are also more likely to be out of school, to avoid being traced by a violent ex-partner or because of the distance from the hostel (particularly in large cities). Parents may wait until they know where they are to be rehoused before registering the children with a new nursery or school. Nurseries and primary schools in the proximity of hostels usually have a high pupil turnover, with resulting high costs, and there are often limited vacancies for short periods (Power et al, 1995). These problems are compounded for refugee children. The outcome is that children miss out on their only source of social stability, i.e. their peers, their routines and a sense of achievement, which are important protective factors.

Apart from the organisational problems in accessing services, considering the frequency of child protection incidents and registrations, children may also be at increased risk because of a lack of continuity and information transfer as they often move between different parts of the country and local social services departments may not be aware of their previous history or be informed of it sufficiently well in advance.

These family and service characteristics inevitably have an impact on any potential contact with mental health services. They are less obvious for adults with mental illness, who may be known to local services. However, psychiatric cover of a hostel can be a contentious issue, as residents can be classified as having no fixed abode. The local service may argue that this population substantially increases the number of referrals and therefore requires extra resources. Areas with such additional resources usually target them at the single adult homeless population, where it is more likely that there will be individuals presenting with severe mental illness. It is more difficult to provide cover for parents with depressive or anxiety disorders, self-harm and substance misuse. In our research (Cumella et al, 1998), homeless mothers had a 49% prevalence rate of psychopathology and an 11% rate of contact with mental health services in the previous year, compared with the corresponding rates for children of 30% (need) and 3% (contact with child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)).

Child and adolescent mental health services are undergoing an unprecedented change, seeking to improve their accessibility and response to the general population by distinguishing between different levels of intervention (Box 1). Adopting such a service model is even more important for homeless children who cannot at present access services structured around stability and waiting lists for assessment and treatment. Ways of addressing these problems are discussed below.

Parents’ Perspectives on Homelessness And Its Effects on The Educational Development of Their Children

2008-12-11T08:17:00.000-08:00

Rita I. Morris, RN, PhD, PHN
Rita I. Morris, RN, PhD, PHN, is professor emeritus of the School of Nursing, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

Rachael A. Butt, RN, MSN

Rachael A. Butt, RN, MSN, is a nurse consultant in special education, Hope Infant Family Support Program, San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego, CA

This qualitative study explored parents’ perceptions of how their homelessness affected the development and academic achievement of their children. Grounded theory with symbolic interactionism was the framework for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 34 homeless families in a variety of settings. Multiple factors were found, including unstable relationships, abuse and violence, abdication of parental responsibility, poor parenting models, and resilient children. The findings present a case for supportive educational services for homeless school-age children. School nurses play a dual role. They can ensure that school personnel and resource providers understand the culture of homelessness, and they can develop and implement innovative programs for parents and school personnel to help homeless children.

The Legal Rights and Educational Problems of Homeless Children and Youth

2008-12-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

Yvonne Rafferty
Pace University

This article summarizes the educational rights of homeless children and youth afforded by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. It also describes the educational problems they confront, including academic underachievement and poor school attendance. Factors that exacerbate these outcomes of homelessness are delineated: barriers to accessing schooling and appropriate services; multiple movements between schools; insensitivity of school personnel; barriers to parental involvement; and difficulties in obtaining school clothes and supplies. The extent to which existing laws adequately address identified needs, problems, and barriers is discussed. Gaps in policies and practices are identified and recommendations for social policy changes presented.

1 in 4 Homeless are Veterans

2008-12-11T08:07:00.000-08:00

by,James Joyner

A highly touted report coming out today shows that 1 in 4 homeless are veterans.

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.

The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness.

The Department of Veterans Affairs cited an even higher figure back in August, reporting that “ne-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services.”

According to the Census Bureau, “In 2000, there were 208.1 million civilians 18 years old and older. Almost 26.4 million of these people, or 12.7 percent, were veterans. Presumably, there are no homeless people currently serving in the United States military, so that’s a reasonable baseline.

A couple of things to keep in mind, though. First, our veteran population is overwhelmingly male: Only 6 percent are women, although the percentages increase for younger veterans. The same is true of the homeless population (”single men comprise 44 percent of the homeless, single women 13 percent”).

Second, despite a disproportionate share of veterans among the homeless population, the Census Bureau also reports, “Poverty rates were low among veterans for every period of service. Overall, 5.6 percent of veterans lived in poverty in 1999, compared with 10.9 percent of the U.S. adult population in general.” It is true, however, that “The youngest veterans, those who served in August 1990 or later, were among the most likely to be poor, with a poverty rate of 6.2 percent.” Then again, that’s true of the general population as well.

The DVA offers additional insights:

Atlthough many homeless veterans served in combat in Vietnam and suffer from PTSD, at this time, epidemiologic studies do not suggest that there is a causal connection between military service, service in Vietnam, or exposure to combat and homelessness among veterans. Family background, access to support from family and friends, and various personal characteristics (rather than military service) seem to be the stronger indicators of risk of homelessness.

Almost all homeless veterans are male (about three percent are women), the vast majority are single, and most come from poor, disadvantaged backgrounds. Homeless veterans tend to be older and more educated than homeless non-veterans. But similar to the general population of homeless adult males, about 45% of homeless veterans suffer from mental illness and (with considerable overlap) slightly more than 70% suffer from alcohol or other drug abuse problems. Roughly 56% are African American or Hispanic.

So we have this strange dichotomy: Veterans are less likely to be poor than their counterparts but are also somewhat more likely to be homeless. Much (all?) of this disparity goes away when controlling for demographics, since veterans are overwhelmingly male and disproportionately black or Hispanic.

And whatever disparity remains seems not to be explained by the defining characteristic of veterans, service in the military. The vast majority of veterans, homeless or otherwise, did not serve in combat. Those who did suffer the traumas of combat are apparently no more likely to be homeless than anyone else.

Surge Seen in Number of Homeless Veterans

2008-12-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 — More than 400 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have turned up homeless, and the Veterans Affairs Department and aid groups say they are bracing for a new surge in homeless veterans in the years ahead.

Experts who work with veterans say it often takes several years after leaving military service for veterans’ accumulating problems to push them into the streets. But some aid workers say the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans appear to be turning up sooner than the Vietnam veterans did.

“We’re beginning to see, across the country, the first trickle of this generation of warriors in homeless shelters,” said Phil Landis, chairman of Veterans Village of San Diego, a residence and counseling center. “But we anticipate that it’s going to be a tsunami.”

With more women serving in combat zones, the current wars are already resulting in a higher share of homeless women as well. They have an added risk factor: roughly 40 percent of the hundreds of homeless female veterans of recent wars have said they were sexually assaulted by American soldiers while in the military, officials said.

“Sexual abuse is a risk factor for homelessness,” Pete Dougherty, the V.A.’s director of homeless programs, said.

Special traits of the current wars may contribute to homelessness, including high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and traumatic brain injury, which can cause unstable behavior and substance abuse, and the long and repeated tours of duty, which can make the reintegration into families and work all the harder.

Frederick Johnson, 37, an Army reservist, slept in abandoned houses shortly after returning to Chester, Pa., from a year in Iraq, where he experienced daily mortar attacks and saw mangled bodies of soldiers and children. He started using crack cocaine and drinking, burning through $6,000 in savings.

“I cut myself off from my family and went from being a pleasant guy to wanting to rip your head off if you looked at me wrong,” Mr. Johnson said.

On the street for a year, he finally checked in at a V.A. clinic in Maryland and has struggled with PTSD, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse. The V.A. has provided temporary housing as he starts a new job.

Tracy Jones of the Compass Center, a Seattle agency that has seen a handful of new homeless each month, said she was surprised by “the quickness in which Iraqi Freedom veterans are becoming homeless” compared with the Vietnam era. The availability of meth and crack could lead addicts into rapid downhill spirals, Ms. Jones said.

Poverty and high housing costs also contribute. The National Alliance to End Homelessness in Washington will release a report on Thursday saying that among one million veterans who served after the Sept. 11 attacks, 72,000 are paying more than half their incomes for rent, leaving them highly vulnerable.

Mr. Dougherty of the V.A. said outreach officers, who visit shelters, soup kitchens and parks, had located about 1,500 returnees from Iraq or Afghanistan who seemed at high risk, though many had jobs. More than 400 have entered agency-supported residential programs around the country. No one knows how many others have not made contact with aid agencies.

More than 11 percent of the newly homeless veterans are women, Mr. Dougherty said, compared with 4 percent enrolled in such programs over all.

Veterans have long accounted for a high share of the nation’s homeless. Although they make up 11 percent of the adult population, they make up 26 percent of the homeless on any given day, the National Alliance report calculated.

According to the V.A., some 196,000 veterans of all ages were homeless on any given night in 2006. That represents a decline from about 250,000 a decade back, Mr. Dougherty said, as housing and medical programs grew and older veterans died.

The most troubling face of homelessness has been the chronic cases, those who live in the streets or shelters for more than year. Some 44,000 to 64,000 veterans fit that category, according to the National Alliance study.

On Wednesday, the Bush administration announced what it described as “remarkable progress” for the chronic homeless. Alphonso R. Jackson, the secretary of housing and urban development, said a new policy of bringing the long-term homeless directly into housing, backed by supporting services, had put more than 20,000, or about 12 percent, into permanent or transitional homes.

Veterans have been among the beneficiaries, but Mary Cunningham, director of the research institute of the National Alliance and chief author of their report, said the share of supported housing marked for veterans was low.

A collaborative program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the V.A. has developed 1,780 such units. The National Alliance said the number needed to grow by 25,000.

Mr. Dougherty described the large and growing efforts the V.A. was making to prevent homelessness including offering two years of free medical care and identifying psychological and substance abuse problems early.

One obstacle is that many veterans wait too long to seek help. “I had that pride thing going on, ‘I’m a soldier, I should be better than this,’” Mr. Johnson said.

Kent Richardson, 49, who was in the Army from 1976 to 1992 and has flashbacks from the gulf war, said, “when you get out you feel disconnected and alone.”

Mr. Richardson said it took him two years to find a job after leaving the Army. Then he became an alcoholic. He now stays at the Southeast Veteran’s Service Center in Washington, awaiting permanent subsidized housing.

Joe Williams, 53, spent 16 years in the Army and the Navy, including a deeply upsetting assignment in the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the dead from the gulf war were taken for autopsies.

For the past three years Mr. Williams has lived in a bunk bed in a Washington shelter. He was laid off, his car and house were repossessed, and his wife left him. He moved to Georgia, where he lost another job.

Broke and depressed, he walked from Georgia to a V.A. hospital in the Washington area, where schizophrenia was diagnosed. Now, after three years of medication and therapy, he feels ready to start looking for work.

“I have a mission I’ve got to accomplish,” Mr. Williams said.

Sean D. Hamill contributed reporting from Pittsburgh, Michael Parrish from Los Angeles and J. Michael Kennedy from Seattle.

War Vets Prepare, Serve Thanksgiving Dinner to D.C.'s Homeless

2008-12-11T07:53:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON - Shelters all over the region opened up their doors on Thanksgiving Day to prepare food for the homeless, but one group of volunteers in the District not only served those in need, they also served and fought for America in the armed forces as well.

Philip Yunger served in the U.S. Army and for the past 8 years, he has also served Thanksgiving dinners to the homeless at Capitol Hill United Ministry Church. He has been volunteering at several shelters for nearly three decades. As a retired vet, he says it's his duty to volunteer his time.

"This is a sit down dinner, not a chow line," said James Forward, Vietnam War Vet.

Yunger helps organize the dinner with a few of his war vet friends and help from volunteers in the community. "It's almost like a continuation of what we did in the service as we're almost like a long range patrol, scouring around looking for homeless people," said Yunger.

He says its not hard to find the homeless in the D.C. area and the number of homeless veterans motivates him to volunteer. "So you sit down and you listen to their stories and you understand not everybody's as fortunate and now, in this day and age, there's 16,000 homeless people in the Washington area, a third of which are veterans," said Yunger.

The cooking crew started at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and prepared enough food to serve 100 people. "This is the best on Capitol Hill as far as I'm concerned," said Eric Silverthorn.

"It's delicious and it's good, and I ain't had a meal like this in so long, and I love it." Arlene Mercer says she comes here every Thanksgiving and has a lot to be thankful for. "I'm just thankful to be alive and able to come down here and eat," said Mercer.

Yunger says he will continue to do this every year and offer his service to those who aren't as fortunate. "Really it just comes down to dishing out hope," said Yunger.

The church hosts the homeless for the entire day. The basement stays open all afternoon and the volunteers bring in a big television for everyone to stick around and watch football. At night, some more volunteers bring in hot dogs, chips and soda for the evening football game.

Habitat For Humanity

2008-12-11T07:27:00.000-08:00

If your family, or a family you know, is in need of decent, affordable housing, please contact the Habitat for Humanity affiliate serving your area
Habitat Affiliates

Gaithersburg, Maryland:
Montgomery Co,Maryland, HFH of
9110 Gaither Rd
Gaithersburg, MD 20877-1422

Phone: (301) 990-0014 x11
Fax: (301) 990-7536

Washington, District of Columbia:

D.C. HFH
843 Upshur St., NW
Washington, DC 20011
Phone: (202) 882-4600
Fax: (202) 882-9343

Arlington, Virginia:

Northern Virginia, HFH of
4451 1st Pl S
Arlington, VA 22204-1317
Phone: (703) 521-9890
Fax: (703) 521-9893

Baltimore, Maryland:

Chesapeake HFH
3326 Keswick Rd
Baltimore, MD 21211
Phone: (410) 366-1250
Fax: (410) 336-1310

Baltimore, Maryland:

Sandtown HFH
1300 N Fulton Ave
Baltimore, MD 21217-1528
Phone: (410) 669-3309
Fax: (410) 523-3015

Newport News, Virginia:

Peninsula HFH
PO Box 1443
Newport News, VA 23601-0443

Phone: (757) 596-5553
Fax: (757) 591-0455

Norfolk, Virginia:

South Hampton Roads, Inc.; HFH of
900 Tidewater Dr
Norfolk, VA 23504
Phone: (757) 640-0590
Fax: (757) 640-0595

Virginia Beach, VA:

South Hampton Rd HFH Gen Store
Providence and Kempsville Rd
955 Providence Sq Shopping Ctr
Virginia Beach, VA 23464Phone: (757) 474-0069
Fax: (757) 474-0086

For info: http://www.habitat.org/

SHELTER PARTNERSHIP, INC.

2008-12-08T15:36:00.000-08:00

Agency Mission Statement—Shelter Partnership, Inc. is dedicated to alleviating, preventing and ending homelessness by assisting in the development of short-term and transitional housing programs, affordable housing, and supportive services for the homeless and potentially homeless throughout Los Angeles County.

Since its founding in 1985, Shelter Partnership has been a leader in the fight against homelessness in Los Angeles County.The agency accomplishes its mission through the following activities:

* Operating the Resource Bank by soliciting large-scale donations of merchandise and ensuring that these items are delivered to the people and agencies who need them most;
* Providing technical assistance to community-based organizations and public agencies (helping agencies receive more than $725 million in federal funds);
* Conducting research and publishing analytical studies to inform public policy;
* Promoting community education.

Shelter Partnership, Inc. is a unique, 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization which develops resources and housing for the growing number of homeless families and individuals in Los Angeles County. Since 1985, Shelter Partnership has continued to provide a variety of support to hundreds of agencies, free of charge. Shelter Partnership also serves as a resource to public agencies, the business community, local and national media, and community members involved in the issues of homelessness and the creation of permanent, affordable housing.

Shelter Partnership, Inc.
523 West Sixth Street
Suite 616
Los Angeles, CA 90014
(213) 688-2188
(213) 689-3188 Fax

Human Rights Awareness Tour

2008-12-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

The Human Rights Awareness Tour is a group of traveling student organizers, non-governmental organizations, film makers, bands, photographers, journalists, artists, poets, and performers who have united in an effort to promote Human Rights and establish the notion as a nationwide concern. The Human Rights Awareness Tour will be stopping at universities across the country to organize motivational and educational events to create a positive environment for students and all others to learn about the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as current human rights violations around the globe and the organizations that are playing key roles in defending human rights.
.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an advisory declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 217 on December 10, 1948 at Palais de Chaillot in Paris. It consists of 30 articles which outline the view of the United Nations General Assembly on the rights guaranteed to all people. Eleanor Roosevelt, first chairwoman of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) that drafted the Declaration, said, "It is not a treaty... [In the future, it] may well become the international Magna Carta."

Based on student and faculty interest and venue availability, a designated week may include any or all of the following events: the Human Rights Awareness Festival with local and national bands and performances, the No Sweat Fashion Show featuring sweatshop free clothing, the Fair Trade Coffee Night with poetry readings and acoustic music, a Speaker Series, a Film Series, and a Human Rights Art Exhibit with live art.

We at the Human Rights Awareness Tour have made a committment to positive activism and believe that the best way to effectively raise awareness that will induce international improvement is through positive thinking and communication. We celebrate and support the United Nations' draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to John R. Corkery, Executive Director of the tour, "Human rights were created to be enjoyed by all of humanity. Our goal with this tour is simply to let people know in a positive way about the existence and benefits of Human Rights. We are not here to push any political agenda, religious ideology, force actions upon anyone, or tell people what to do. We want to show people that human rights are a good thing and are cause for celebration, but ultimately we want people to come to their own conclusions about the best way to support these rights."

Our ideology is perhaps best summarized by the following two quotations from Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King Jr.

"I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there." Mother Theresa

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Martin Luther King Jr.

We thank you for your interest and participation in this inspirational movement.

http://www.humanrightstour.org/

Homeless Activist Released On Bail

2008-12-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

Homeless activist released on bail
Sandra Mcculloch, Times Colonist
Urban camper and homeless activist David Johnston walked out of jail yesterday free on bail, after agreeing to obey city laws on pitching tents in public places.
Johnston had been in jail relating to charges from an Oct. 17 arrest after he refused to take down a tent in Beacon Hill Park. He was released on conditions he obey the law and follow certain conditions.

On Oct. 31, Johnston was arrested again after he refused to take down a tent that had been pitched at Centennial Square. He was charged with breaching his previous undertaking to obey the law.

Johnston was in Victoria provincial court yesterday afternoon for a bail hearing. Crown prosecutor Pinder Cheema initially opposed Johnston’s release, describing his actions as “a deliberate breach of the undertaking.”

She said there was “every likelihood he will flagrantly disregard court orders.”**

Defence lawyer Sue Wishart acknowledged that Johnston is very outspoken on the issues facing the homeless, and he’s passionate about his beliefs that the homeless have a right to sleep in public places.

He bases that belief on a B.C. Supreme Court decision released Oct. 14, that ruled that due to a shortage of shelter beds the homeless should be able to sleep in Victoria parks.

The city responded by drafting a policy that restricted the camping hours in parks to between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Johnston is keen to have the courts decide the validity of this city policy, said Wishart.

“He wants this matter set for trial,” she said.

Johnston was released on his own recognizance. He must keep the peace and not erect any temporary overhead protection in a public space except between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Any shelter erected during the night must be disassembled by 7 a.m., Judge Ernie Quantz ruled, adding Johnston cannot light any campfire or cooking fire in a public place.

Quantz read the conditions aloud in court to Johnston and asked if he agreed to obey them. Johnston agreed.

Any breach could land Johnston in jail for months, said Quantz. “With your record of breaching court orders … you well know you’ll be detained until your trial date, which may not be until the spring.”

Johnston returns to court Nov. 12.

http://bullsheet.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/homeless-activist-released-on-bail/

Bright Beginnings Child Development Center..

2008-12-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered where children living in shelters go during the day? Where do they learn? Where do they play? Where do they go to feel safe?

Bright Beginnings understands the special needs of young children and families living in homeless environments and through safe, nurturing, developmentally appropriate care, supports children to reach important childhood milestones and parents to end their homelessness.

Programs

Bright Beginnings takes a holistic approach to meeting the special needs of homeless families with young children and has developed a comprehensive program to include educational, therapeutic and family support services. Research repeatedly indicates that children living in homeless environments experience increased health problems, developmental delays, anxiety, depression, behavioral problems and lower educational achievement. Bright Beginnings understands the complex needs of our children and supports them to reach important developmental milestones. At the same time, Bright Beginnings supports parents to overcome barriers to self-sufficiency and end their homelessness.

http://www.brightbeginningsinc.org/

BRIGHT BEGINNINGS, INC.
128 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Tel: (202) 842-9090
United Way #8379/ CFC #17053

Mental health group honors reporter for homeless series

2008-12-08T14:59:00.000-08:00

December 4, 2008

Northwest Suburban National Alliance on Mental Illness/Northwest Suburban recently announced its four nominees were named winners in the NAMI Illinois awards program.

Todd Shields, a reporter for Pioneer Press, Northwest Group, received the John Rowley Excellence in Journalism Award.

The award recognized "a member of the print or electronic media who, through their efforts, has contributed to the fight against stigma or raised awareness of mental health issues."

Contributing to the award-winning series "No Place to Call Home," Shields wrote four articles detailing daily life of the homeless, including the mentally ill, on the streets of Arlington Heights and in the shelters of McHenry and Lake counties.

"Fighting stigma head-on," the nomination states, "he actually lived life as a homeless person, for a period of time, in order to gain insight to the struggles of the homeless community.

"He became personally connected with several of these persons and gave them support as they lived through their desperate daily ordeals. ... Through his journalism, Mr. Shields brought awareness to our communities, not only of the trials of homeless mentally ill persons, but also of the courage which many possess."

A team of Pioneer Press reporters wrote articles on help centers, food pantries, counseling and crisis intervention centers, as well as the NAMI affiliates in the north and northwest Chicago suburban area.

Other winners included:

* Doctor Maxim Chasanov was named Psychiatrist of the Year. The award recognizes "a physician who either through direct care to consumers or their involvement with, and support of, a NAMI Illinois affiliate, has contributed to the lives of NAMI Illinois members."

* Star Roberts was named Outstanding Family Support Group Facilitator service and to the NAMI Family Support Group program.

Roberts is the long-standing facilitator for NAMI Northwest Suburban's Family Support Group which meets monthly at the Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health, Hoffman Estates. After her young-adult son committed suicide, Roberts began her mission to tell his story, connect with others through her personal experiences, and encourage them to never give up hope for their own loved ones.

"Not only does Roberts facilitate the family support group, but she also answers NAMI Northwest Suburban's telephone HelpLine - ensuring that all who reach out for help receive a caring reply. ... She took her grief and turned it into a positive energy to help others," stated the nomination.

* Donna Watt was named Outstanding Consumer Support Group Facilitator for her exemplary service and dedication to the NAMI Connections Recovery Support Group program.

Watt is the founding facilitator for NAMI Northwest Suburban's Connections Recovery Support Group, which has been meeting weekly at the Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health.

Free NAMI Connections Recovery Support Group meetings are available in Arlington Heights, in Elk Grove Village, Evanston, Hoffman Estates and Park Ridge.
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Cancer Patients End Up Homeless

2008-12-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

difficulty making ends meet and most often end up selling their homes according to a survey conducted in Ireland. The study included 1,751 people.//

People diagnosed with cancer experience loss of income, as they are unable to report to work regularly and at the same time face a number of extra costs, as a result end up selling their homes.

The Macmillan cancer Support research indicated that almost 20% had difficulties in keeping up with their mortgage or rental payments. About 6 % lost their homes. Even11% of those who were self-employed, said they had lost their home.

Extra costs include medical and prescription charges, hospital charges, extra expense on special diets, according to the survey.

Peter Cardy, the charity's chief executive said,"Having cancer should not cost you your home. These figures show that, through cancer, as many as 45,000 people each year are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and 15,000 have lost their homes.”

"Too many people are facing overwhelming financial pressures at a time when they are fighting cancer - borrowing money, moving in with family, selling up or moving to help make ends meet. Some even face repossession.”

"Macmillan is raising awareness of this desperate financial situation to help prevent more cancer patients from reaching crisis point."

The charity has decided to help all cancer patients by giving them access to advice on specialist benefits and financial help.

It has also launched a new "Hitting Home" campaign that help patients to check their insurance policies, and get advice on claiming benefits.

It is reported that 39,000 people are living with cancer in Northern Ireland.
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Date:12/13/2006

Hate Crimes & Violence Against Homeless People Increasing

2008-12-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

Washington D.C. - For the past six years (1999-2004), the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has tracked and reported on a disturbing increase in crimes targeting homeless people. These violent attacks on homeless people, one of our most vulnerable populations, result in injury and in many cases death.

The well-documented affordable housing crisis is not the only crisis to affect the millions of people who are homeless every year. There is also an increasing pattern of civil rights abuses and violence directed at the homeless population. Homelessness is no longer simply an issue of the right to affordable housing but a matter of life and death. As the danger of living without a home increases, the lack of federal housing resources as well as the absence of the political will to end homelessness becomes increasingly more shameful.

In October of 2004, three Milwaukee teens murdered a homeless man at his forest campsite. The teens hit 49-year-old Rex Baum, with rocks, a flashlight, and a pipe, before smearing feces on his face and covering his body with leaves and plastic.
In August of 2004, Curtis Gordon Adams, 33, beat and stabbed a disabled homeless man to death and then licked the blood from his fingers on a Denver sidewalk.

More recently, on May 28th 2005, in Holly Hill, Florida, 53-year-old Michael Roberts was beaten and punched to death with sticks and logs by a group of teenagers who admitted to beating the man just for fun, to have something to do. The autopsy report indicates that Roberts died of blunt-force trauma to the head and body, his ribs were broken, his skull was fractured, and his legs were badly injured. Defensive wounds were found on his hands. The boys returned several times to make sure the job was done.

Homelessness is an issue that affects every community in America. Homeless people lack the protection of a locked door available to homeowners, leaving them in an unprotected position where they are subjected to hate crimes and violence. Sadly, the prevalence of hate crimes and violence against homeless people has risen, as well as negative stereotypes reinforced by the media and intolerant people.

Through this report, NCH hopes to educate lawmakers, advocates, and the public about the problem of hate crimes and violence against homeless people, as well as call for a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study addressing this issue.

This year's report, Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness in 2004, includes data from news reports, advocates, victims' accounts, and homeless shelters on the number of homeless victimizations that have occurred in the past six years (for the full 2004 report and previous reports, please visit http://nationalhomeless.org/civilrights/hatecrimes.html).

Facts and Trends:

* The number of homeless deaths has risen by 67% since 2002.
* The number of non-lethal attacks against homeless people has risen by 281% since 2002.
* These crimes occurred in 140 cities in the past six years.
* These crimes occurred in 39 states, plus Puerto Rico.
* The age range of the accused/convicted ranged from 11 to 65 years of age.
* The age range of the victims ranged from 4 Months old to 74 Years of age.
* Gender of victims: 296 Male and 44 Female.

Swat Team conducts food raid in rural Ohio

2008-12-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

On Monday, December 1, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on parents, children, infants and toddlers, from approximately 11 AM to 8 PM. The team was aggressive and belligerent. The children were quite traumatized. At some point, the “bad cop” SWAT team was relieved by another team, a “good cop” team that tried to befriend the family. The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse on the western side of the greater Cleveland area for many years.

There were agents from the Department of Agriculture present, one of them identified as Bill Lesho. The search warrant is reportedly suspicious-looking. Agents began rifling through all of the family’s possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in the home. Many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant. The family was not permitted a phone call, and they were not told what crime they were being charged with. They were not read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family’s personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers, and all of their cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.

Presumably Manna Storehouse might eventually be charged with running a retail establishment without a license. Why then the Gestapo-type interrogation for a 3rd degree misdemeanor charge? This incident has raised the ominous specter of a restrictive new era in State regulation and enforcement over the nation’s private food supply.

This same type of abusive search and seizure was reported by those innocents who fell victim to oppressive federal drug laws passed in the 1990s. The present circumstance raises the obvious question: is there some rabid new interpretation of an existing drug law that considers food a controlled substance worthy of a nasty SWAT operation? Or worse, is there a previously unrecognized provision(s) pertaining to food in the Homeland Security measures? Some have suggested that it was merely an out-of-control, hot-to-trot ODA agent, and, if so, this would be a best-case scenario. Anything else might spell the beginning of the end for the freedom to eat unregulated and unmonitored food.

One blogger familiar with the Ohio situation has reported that:

“Interestingly, I believe they [Manna Storehouse] said a month or so ago, an undercover ODA official came to their little store and claimed to have a sick father wanting to join the co-op. Both the owner and her daughter-in-law had a horrible feeling about the man, and decided not to allow him into the co-op and notified him by certified mail. He came back to the co-op demanding to be part of it. They refused and gave him names of other businesses and health food stores closer to his home. Not coincidentally, this man was there yesterday as part of the raid.”

The same blog also noted that the Ohio Department of Agriculture has been chastised by the courts in several previous instances for its aggression, including trying to entrap an Amish man in a raw milk “sale,” which backfired when it became known that the Amish believe in a literal interpretation of “give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Matthew 5:42)

The issue appears to be the discovery of a bit of non-institutional beef in an Oberlin College food service freezer a year ago that was tracked down by a county sanitation official to Manna Storehouse. Oberlin College’s student food coop is widely known for its strident ideological stance about eating organic foods. It seems that the Oberlin student food cooperative had joined the Manna Storehouse food cooperative in order to buy organic foods in bulk from the national organic food distributor United, which services buying clubs across the nation. The sanitation official, James Boddy, evidently contacted the Ohio Department of Agriculture. After the first contact by state ODA officials, Manna Storehouse reportedly wrote them a letter requesting assistance and guidelines for complying with the law. This letter was never answered. Rather, the ODA agent tried several times to infiltrate the coop, as described above. When his attempts failed, the SWAT team showed up!

Food cooperatives and buying clubs have been an active part of the American landscape for over a generation. In the 1970s, with the rise of the organic food industry (a direct outgrowth of the hippie back-to-nature movement) food coops started up all over the country. These were groups of people who freely associated for the purpose of combining their buying power so that they could order organic food items in bulk and case lots. Anyone who was part of these coops in the early era will remember the messy breakdown of 35 pounds of peanut butter and 5 gallon drums of honey!

These buying clubs have persisted and flourished over the years due to their ability to purchase high quality organic foods at reduced prices in bulk quantities. Most cooperatives have participated greatly in the local agrarian economies, supporting neighborhood organic farmers with purchases of produce, eggs, chickens, etc. The groups also purchase food from a number of different local, regional and national distributors, many of them family-based businesses who truck the food themselves. Some of these food cooperatives have become large enough to set up mini-storefront operations where members can drop in and purchase items leftover from case lot sales. Manna Storehouse had established itself in such a manner, using a small enclosed breezeway attached to their home. It was a folksy place with old wooden floors where coop members stopped by to chat and snack on bags of organic corn chips.

The state of Ohio boasts the second largest Amish population in the country. Many of the Amish live on acreages where they raise their own food, not unlike Manna Storehouse, and sell off the extras to neighbors and church members. There is a sense of foreboding that this state crackdown on a longstanding, reputable food cooperative operation could adversely impact the peaceful agrarian way of life not only for the Amish, but homeschoolers and those families living off the land on rural acreages. It raises the disturbing possibility that it could become a crime to raise your own food, buy eggs from the farmer down the road, or butcher your own chickens for family and friends – bustling activities that routinely take place in backwater America.

The freedom to purchase food directly form the source is increasingly under attack. For those who have food allergies and chemical intolerances, or who are on special medical diets, this is becoming a serious health issue. Will Americans retain the right to purchase food that is uncontaminated by pesticides, herbicides, allergens, additives, dyes, preservatives, MSG, GMOs, radiation, etc.? The melamine scare from China underscores the increasingly inferior and suspect quality of modern processed institutional foods. One blog, commenting on the bizarre and troubling Manna Storehouse situation, observed that:

“No one is saying exactly why. At the same time the FDA says it is safe to eat the 40% of tainted beef found in Costco's and Sam's all over the nation. These farm raids are very common now. Every farmer needs to fully equipped [sic] for the possibility of it happening to them. The Farmer To Consumer Legal Defense Fund was created just for this purpose. The USDA just released their plans to put a law into action that will put all small farmers out of business. Animals for the sale of meat or milk will only be allowed in commercial farms, even the organic ones.” December 3, 2008 7:09 PM

Homeless' hospital stays tied to mental illness

2008-12-04T06:09:00.000-08:00

Updated Thu. Aug. 30 2007 11:12 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Mental disorders account for more than half of the hospital stays among the homeless in Canada, says a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

And some emergency room doctors say they lack the resources to properly handle such cases.

"Most of the patients need interventions with social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists," Dr. Ricardo Lobato de Faria, of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, told CTV News.

"We really don't that in our ER system at the moment."

In 2005-2006, the study found that mental health disorders accounted for 52 per cent of acute care hospitalizations in Canada (outside Quebec).

Additionally, 35 per cent of homeless people who visited selected emergency departments (EDs), mostly in Ontario, were treated for mental and behavioural related disorders.

That figure is much higher than the 3 per cent of the general population who were treated for similar disorders during the same time period.

The most common problem that EDs dealt with when treating homeless people was substance abuse, accounting for 54 per cent of visits.

Pat Norman said he was driven to the streets of Winnipeg by depression, after the rape of his daughter tore his family apart. And now he tries to treat his sadness with alcohol and cheap drugs.

"It was the pain of what I walked in on. It's a constant flash," he said.

Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, accounted for 20 per cent of visits.

The most common reason for ED visits for the general public is to be treated for injury and poisonings (25 per cent).

Among the general population, the most common reason for hospitalization is for pregnancy and childbirth (13 per cent).

Dr. Jennifer Zelmer, vice president of Research and Analysis at CIHI, said the findings show that the situation with homeless patients is much different than among other Canadians.

"Not everyone with a mental illness is homeless, but it is much more common for people who are homeless," said she said.

The report also notes many factors -- such as housing, income and the ability to cope -- that have been shown to contribute to the onset or duration of homelessness.

"People with severe mental illness may experience limited housing, employment and income options," Dr. Elizabeth Votta, an author of the report, says in the findings.

"On the other hand, people who are homeless tend to report higher stress, lower self-worth, less social support and different coping strategies, factors that are associated with depressive symptoms, substance abuse, suicidal behaviours and poor self-rated health."

With a report by CTV's Jill Macyshon in Winnipeg

St. Mary's Creates a Family for Homeless Seniors - Life Stories of Homeless Seniors

2008-12-04T06:05:00.000-08:00

Oral History and Story by Trena Cleland

In the spring of 2004, the staff of St. Mary's Center in Oakland asked me to collect oral histories of several of their clients, formerly homeless men and women aged 55 and over. These elders of different races and backgrounds have survived in an often-hostile world with creativity and ingenuity, like modern-day pioneers.

But by the time they reached St. Mary's Center, age and life's vicissitudes had taken their toll. They needed help.

Each person has found new energy and renewed hope through their connection with the St. Mary's Center "family" and its spirit of high regard for all. How have these seniors changed as a result of addressing their circumstances from a holistic perspective - emotional, physical, sociological and spiritual - and finding fellowship with others? What could they teach the rest of us? I started the tape rolling, and they began to talk.

First, a look at the proud history of St. Mary's Center. This beloved nonprofit social service agency is housed in humble but functional quarters near 22nd and San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. Its staff and volunteers have served homeless and extremely low-income seniors in downtown and West Oakland since 1973.

They offer a holistic program that includes daily meals, help with housing, money management, recovery programs, mental health services, a link to healthcare, and support groups that incorporate music, art, and meditation. They also provide a preschool for homeless and low-income children.

Unlike more bureaucratic agencies, St. Mary's offers its services with personal attention, care, and compassion for each individual. Staff and community members also train clients in social justice advocacy and nonviolence.

I found the individual clients fascinating. Their reminiscences, like their lives, were rich and diverse. One elder had been in and out of prison for 28 years, often for bank robbery. His worldview has been utterly transformed by the attention of the caseworkers at St. Mary's. He now quotes Gandhi and is enrolled at Merritt College.

Another is a former biker, meth addict, and hell-raiser-with-a-heart-of-gold who has been nursed back to health by the staff. Another is a petite, articulate middle-class woman whose husband's extended illness and eventual death drove her into poverty and homelessness and who is now an outspoken advocate on mental health issues.

These culturally and racially diverse elders were born in the Depression era. Some grew up on farms in places like Greenville, Mississippi, and Natchitoches, Louisiana, and have idyllic memories of fishing and hunting; others came from small towns; a few were born and raised in the Bay Area in simpler, more peaceful times.

World War II and the Korean War - and later, Vietnam - took many of the men overseas, from which they returned to more chaotic, uncertain lives. Some married and raised families on a shoestring budget; others stayed single and spent their lives moving from city to city and job to job. Discrimination, economic hardship, and poor health dogged all of them.

Almost every client I met suffered from a mental illness or an addiction or both - a dual diagnosis disorder. Some have struggled their whole lives with these debilitating illnesses and ended up in the criminal justice system, rather than receiving appropriate mental health or substance abuse treatment. Others have lived functional but hardscrabble existences, making ends meet with menial jobs before their lives were ravaged by depression, illness, and homelessness.

When they arrived at St. Mary's Center, the people I interviewed were either sleeping on the street or were close to it. Most first entered the St. Mary's community through its winter homeless shelter, literally a life-saver for them.

The cold reality is that the population of homeless seniors is going up and up. Sky-high rents in the Bay Area make even the most Spartan lodgings prohibitively expensive. In Oakland, 17 percent of the people who are homeless each night are senior citizens - the highest percentage of seniors in poverty of any urban area in California.

Nonprofit housing developers are no longer able to afford building housing for people on SSI, income now referred to as "homeless income." Continual dismantling of the HUD program is a plan to make people homeless.

The profiles of seniors (on pages 6, 7 and 10 of this issue) illustrate the spirit of care and compassion for which St. Mary's Center has become renowned. My thanks go to the courageous elders who offered their personal testimonies, and to the inspiring staff and volunteers of St. Mary's Center. They all have my deep respect for the noble paths they are on.

For more information about St. Mary's Center or to volunteer, call (510) 893-4723 or visit www.stmaryscenter.org. For more information about personal/family oral histories and memoirs, contact Trena Cleland at (510) 524-7224, trenamarie@igc.org.

Higher Rates Of Mental Illness Among The Homeless In Western Countries

2008-12-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2008) — Homeless people in Western countries have substantially higher rates of mental health problems than the general population, according to results from a systematic review and meta-analysis published in PLoS Medicine.

Searching for studies over the past four decades containing data on the prevalence of mental disorders in homeless people, Seena Fazel and colleagues of the University of Oxford identified 29 studies involving 5,684 homeless individuals based in the US, UK, mainland Europe, and Australia. Combining the data from the surveys, the researchers found that the prevalence of serious mental disorders was raised compared with expected rates in the general population.

The most common mental disorders appeared to be alcohol and drug abuse, with pooled prevalence estimates of 37.9% (95% CI 27.8%–48.0%) and 24.4% (95% CI 13.2%–35.6%), respectively. Furthermore, the rate of alcohol abuse has increased in recent decades. The prevalence estimates for psychosis were found to be as high as those for depression which contrasts with community estimates and other "at risk" populations such as prisoners and refugees, where depression is more common.

In an accompanying Perspective, Helen Herrman of the University of Melbourne, who was uninvolved with the research, discusses the implications of the findings for policy and planning. She notes that "The rate of mental disorders among homeless people is useful information for advocacy and for monitoring policy and practice change in a community."

America’s Homeless Children

2008-12-03T12:50:00.000-08:00

More Than One Million Homeless Children

• At least 1.35 million children are homeless during a year’s time.
• One any given day 800,000 people are homeless in the United States, including 200,000 children in homeless
families.

• Families with children are among the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

• Most children living with homeless parents are very young (42% are under the age of 6 years).

• Family homelessness is increasing. Requests for emergency shelter by families have increased every
year since 1985, with an average increase of 20% in 2002.

(Burt, 2001; Burt, Aron, Douglas, et al., 1999; National Coalition for the Homeless, 2002; U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2002)

Homelessness Hurts Children

Homelessness Makes Children Sick

• Homeless children get sick twice as often as other children. They have:
- Twice as many ear infections.
- Four times as many asthma attacks.
- Five times more stomach problems.
- Six times as many speech problems.
- Twice as many hospitalizations.

• Homeless children go hungry twice as often as other children and 25% of homeless children report eating less
after becoming homeless.

(National Center on Family Homelessness, 1999; Sandel, Sharfstein, and Shaw, 1999; Institute for Children and Poverty,
1999)

Homelessness Wounds Children

• Every day, homeless children are confronted with stressful, traumatic events. Within a single year:

- 97% of homeless children move, many up to three times.
- 22% are separated from their families to be put in foster care or to live with relatives.

- 25% have witnessed acts of violence within their family.
• Homeless children have many more mental health problems than other children.
- More than 20% of homeless preschoolers have emotional problems serious enough to require
professional care.

- 47% of homeless school age children have problems such as anxiety, depression, or
withdrawal, compared to 18% of other children.
(National Center on Family Homelessness, 1999; Institute for Children and Poverty, 1999)

Homeless Children Are Not Receiving The Services They Need

• Despite their multiple and complex needs, homeless children are not receiving the services they need. For
example:
- Nearly 20% of homeless children lack a regular source of medical care and 15% rely solely on
hospital emergency rooms.
- Less than 1/3 of homeless children who need help for their emotional problems are receiving it.
- Only 50-60% of homeless families are enrolled in Medicaid, although most are eligible.
- Only 71% of homeless families receive Food Stamps or WIC, although most are eligible.
- Only 37% of homeless children receive services that help them with enrollment,
attendance, and success in school.
- Only 15% of homeless children are in preschool programs, less than half the rate
of all children nationally.

National Coalition for Homeless Veterans

2008-12-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

Suicide Hotline for Combat Veterans

Posted: 9/24/2007

Suicide is the 11th most frequent cause of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 30,000 deaths annually. It's estimated that someone dies from suicide every 16 minutes. To ensure that veterans who may be contemplating suicide, and concerned family and friends, have immediate access to a trained person who can help, the Department of Veterans (VA) has established a 24-hour national suicide prevention hotline number: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

The hotline is based at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center in upstate New York. It's staffed by mental health professionals who know how to assess and respond to crisis situations for veterans at risk of suicide, and incorporates the best practices and research findings in suicide prevention and intervention with the goal of reducing suicides among veterans nationwide.

"This is another significant step to ensure that veterans, particularly the newest generation of combat vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, receive accessible and compassionate care for their mental health concerns," Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson said recently.

VA's hotline is part of the National Suicide Prevention Initiative—a collaborative effort led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The phone number is the same as SAMHSA's National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a network of local crisis centers located in communities across the Nation that are committed to suicide prevention.

Callers to the hotline will be asked to press 1 if they are a veteran or are concerned about the well-being of a veteran, and will be immediately referred to trained staff at Canandaigua. If all counselors at the facility are busy, callers will be transferred elsewhere—so that they never receive a busy signal or are placed on hold.

Here are some warning signs that can indicate a person is contemplating suicide:
• Talking about wanting to hurt or kill himself or herself.
• Trying to get pills, guns or other items that can harm or kill someone.
• Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide.
• A general feeling of hopelessness.
• Exhibiting behaviors that indicate rage, uncontrolled anger, or a need to seek revenge on someone or something.
• Acting in a reckless or risky way.
• Feeling trapped, as if there is no way out.
• Saying or feeling there's no reason for living.

Veterans who have such feelings, or family members who have observed any or all of these behaviors, are welcomed to call 1-800-273-TALK—the only national suicide prevention and intervention telephone resource funded by the federal government. In addition to the national hotline, the Department has established a website, at http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov to provide information on suicide prevention awareness.

"While people who are thinking about suicide may think they have problems that can't be fixed, they are wrong," said Dr. Michael J. Kussman, VA's Under Secretary for Health. "We can help, and we want to help. Please don't wait—call now!"
VA provides mental health services at each of its 153 medical centers, more than 900 outpatient clinics and 207 vet centers. Among the areas the Department specializes in are addiction and substance abuse; depression; homelessness; schizophrenia; post-traumatic stress disorder; readjustment counseling, and vocational rehabilitation.

Fatal attack near camp for homeless.

2008-12-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Orlando teen admits beating homeless man
Willoughby Mariano | Sentinel Staff Writer
November 13, 2008
One of six Orlando teens charged with beating a homeless man so badly he died of his injuries pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge Wednesday.

With his stepfather, mother, sister and a teacher looking on, Brenton Mack, 16, acknowledged in Circuit Court that he took part in the attack two years ago on August Felix, 54, near a downtown homeless encampment.

Police said the teens beat Felix for fun. The transient had no money and did not threaten the youths before the attack March 26, 2006, authorities said. The attack left the man paralyzed from the waist down. He spent about a month in the hospital before dying May 1, 2006.

When no friends or relatives stepped forward to claim the body, he was given a pauper's burial.

Mack, who was 13 when the beating took place, said nothing about it during Wednesday's hearing.

The teen was originally charged with second-degree murder and could have faced life in prison if convicted. Circuit Judge Stan Strickland set Mack's sentencing for Dec. 18.

Central Florida has a reputation for being a dangerous place for the homeless. A study released in April by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty listed Florida as the leading state for attacks on the homeless.

"Bum bashing," the beating of homeless men for sport, typically by teenage boys, pushed the number of fatal attacks up 40 percent last year.

There were 29 attacks on homeless people in Florida during 2007. Six were fatal, according to the report. The study tracked reports of attacks on transients by people who are not homeless.

Felix was attacked on West America Street near Sylvia Lane, close to an encampment razed by the city in 2007.

The six teens were students at Jones High School, Boone High School and Howard Middle School at the time. None was thought to have been in a gang.

Co-defendant Deangelo D. Stephenson, 18, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case and was sentenced to three years in prison plus probation. Roshad Levon Smith, 17, pleaded no contest to the same charge and received the same sentence. Devon Stephens, 17, is expected to plead Friday.

Trial is set for Johnnie Hastings, 17, and Arsenio T. Dennison, 18, on Dec. 1.

During Wednesday's hearing, Strickland allowed Mack's stepfather to stand with him in front of the judge because the teen was frightened. The pair wore matching red golf shirts.

Mack's attorney, Marc Consalo, asked that the teen be allowed to finish the semester at Jones High before beginning his sentence. Over objections from Assistant State Attorney Frank George, Strickland granted the request.

"All things considered, we've been waiting this long," Strickland said.

Mack and his family would not comment after the hearing.

Willoughby Mariano can be reached at wmariano@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5171.

Ending Homelessness in San Francisco

2008-11-29T11:32:00.000-08:00

Author: Kevin Fagan et al
Region: California

In San Francisco, about 6,200 people are homeless on any given night, according to the most recent one-night street count, compared with more than 8,600 in a 2002 count. This three-part series showcases the highs and lows of recent initiatves to combat homelessness, and introduces a few true success stories.

The City's Cost of a Life Redeemed

After years of drug abuse and life on the street, 55-year-old Georgia Mitchell is clean of heroin, healthy, and has a safe place to live in downtown San Francisco. She is an example of how redemption can come for even the most desperate, with the help of a determined social worker given the resources to do the job.

It is expensive redemption -- Mitchell's home and medical care cost taxpayers about $21,000 a year. But her case shows how that can be far cheaper than allowing homeless people to deteriorate on the street, becoming public nuisances and financial burdens. In her last two years on the street, the public spent nearly $100,000 annually on Georgia Mitchell's emergency care and support.

Shame of the City: A Daily Walk Finds Fewer Homeless

Dick, 51, has been homeless on and off again in San Francisco since 1984 and most recently since 2003. Making his living recycling cans and bottles, he has seen a lot change in the landscape of homelessness since Mayor Gavin Newsom took office in 2004 and pushed through his signature Care Not Cash welfare reform.

"It's easier than it used to be," Dick said of his garbage picking. He stroked his bushy gray beard. "More cans. Less homeless. A lot emptier than it was, I'll tell you that."

Money Well Spent? The City Can't Tell

Since taking office in January 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom has put an end to welfare practices widely viewed as enabling chronic homelessness. He also started initiatives to reach out to and provide a way off the street for hundreds of homeless people.

But a key management tool -- a computer system that links the dozens of homeless-aid groups receiving city money so officials can see who is being served, and how efficiently and effectively -- is still years away, the Newsom administration concedes.

Feeding Effort For Homeless Grows

2008-11-29T11:31:00.000-08:00

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Salvation Army hit the streets bringing Thanksgiving dinner to hundreds of Nashville's homeless.

The meal came a day late, but the wait was worth it.

For someone who's homeless, the holidays include a wish list that's much different than most.

It's a list of necessities such as a place to sleep and something to eat.

On Friday, the Salvation Army made one of those a reality.

Surviving the streets means expecting the unexpected. But every Friday night at 6 p.m. under the Jefferson Street Bridge nearly 200 of Nashville's homeless have a routine.

"Yeah it has special meaning. I'm getting to see my fellow people," said one man.

Dani Amendola and dozens of Salvation Army volunteers started the routine.

Cooking and serving hundreds of hot plates every Friday night.

"I like doing this for fun. And love coming out and getting the opportunity to cook for the homeless," he said.

"There's more gratitude in this group under a bridge than I might see or hear about on a day-to-day basis," said Mike Servais, executive director of marketing and resource development at the Nashville Area Command of The Salvation Army.

On the day after Thanksgiving, perhaps the meal means more.

"They're my friends so tonight made my Thanksgiving," said one man.

"So many good things, but we're all just so blessed to be alive," said Ward Shroeder.

With more Middle Tennesseans losing work, losing their homes and struggling to survive veterans of this night say the line is getting longer.

"I'm going to say there's a lot of new ones. Most that's here right now I don't know," said one regular.

And they don't know who will be waiting in line next week. The constants are the truck, the volunteers and the Friday night routine.

Salvation Army officials said this year has been a difficult one for all of their programs. During the current tough financial times the demand from those in need has doubled.

The problem is donations are drying up.

Salvation Army volunteers started serving Friday night meals for the homeless three years ago.

Homeless Veterans Find Refuge

2008-11-29T11:27:00.000-08:00

By David Pittman
david.pittman@amarillo.com

On any given night, 200,000 veterans are homeless, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
Those who have worn a uniform in the armed forces account for nearly a quarter of the nation's homeless.

That problem doesn't escape Amarillo.

"The mentally challenged veterans, there really wasn't a place for them in Amarillo," said Sandy Fenberg, executive director for Another Chance House, the area's only homeless shelter solely for men.

Another Chance recently dedicated a 10-bed house for homeless veterans with mental illness. The housing program is paid for by a grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

VA psychologists are screening potential residents for housing, and a social worker will visit weekly to monitor the men.

"What they're doing now is screening," said Fenberg, who has headed Another Chance for 12 years.

Fenberg said money from the VA grant, what will be about $50,000 if Another Chance keeps its beds full, will benefit the organization's other services as a homeless shelter.

"We're broke," Fenberg said when asked of the shelter's financial health. "Last month I didn't know how we were going to make it."

The two-story house on South Van Buren Street is Another Chance's 12th - all of which are contained within two city blocks in the neighborhood.

When the veterans program begins accepting residents, Another Chance will serve 55 men.

"When I first got here, we housed 39 men," said Bobby Nixon, resident manager for Another Chance.

Nixon, who arrived in February 2007, is himself a success story.

He hopped on a Greyhound bus in Hereford with a one-way ticket to Amarillo. His wife had kicked him out of their house while he was fighting a losing battle with alcoholism. He's now been sober for 22 months.

The tough-love guidelines of Another Chance and its employment requirement, Christian love, and mandatory Alcoholics Anonymous meetings tend to push men away from substance abuse and homelessness to a fruitful life.

"We're kind of like the teeth on the back of a guy's butt getting them back on track," Nixon said.

Veterans face a higher risk of unemployment, substance abuse and other emotional and mental disorders, said John Driscoll, vice president of operation and programs for the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

Uniformed personnel separate from their families and support structures only to face years of intense training and battle that can lead to physiological damage.

"But they are usually on a different level from when they left home," Driscoll said.

For the 2 million who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 3,000 have sought homeless assistance, Driscoll said.

"It's really a very small percentage that have difficulties to the point where they go down that path," he said.

Every VA medical center now has a coordinator for homeless veteran services.

"Thirty years ago there was virtually no recognition of the needs of veterans returning from service," Driscoll said.

Medicaid Fraud Scheme Aimed at California Homeless

2008-11-29T11:21:00.000-08:00

Article from The New York Times written by Solomon Moore.

State and local officials in Los Angeles have uncovered a hospital scheme that used homeless individuals to defraud federal and state health insurance programs of millions of dollars. In order to receive Medicaid and Medi-Cal funds, at least three private for-profit hospitals in the Los Angeles area are believed to have participated in a fraud scheme wherein hospital patient recruiters would locate homeless indivdiuals in the Los Angeles area and pay them cash to come to the hospital to receive health care that would later be billed to the insurance programs. Often the homeless persons received no health care, and in some instances they receivedunneccesary health care that created health risks to the individuals. Court papers say that one individual received an treatment for a non-existent condition that caused a dangerous drop in blood pressure, and for her trouble, the individual was given money with which she purchased crack cocaine. Lawsuits filed allege that the scheme involved various hospitals and doctors who billed Medicaid and Medi-Cal for thousands of fake treatments. The scale of this fraud scheme is unusual and involved fake companies and contracts with people committing the fraud, kickbacks to doctors, and hospital coverups of the kickbacks. The nature and extent of this fraud scheme appears to far outreach the typical claims implicating smaller doctors’ offices; and, as at least three hospitals participated in this particular scheme, a question exists as to whether other hospitals or doctors in other parts of the country are involved in similar schemes to defraud state and federally funded health insurance programs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/us/10homeless.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Tougher laws considered against attacks on homeless

2008-11-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

A rise in attacks against homeless people in 2007 has more states considering harsher penalties in hate crime laws for attacking a homeless person.
Legislation is pending in Ohio and Massachusetts and Alaska. In Alaska, the bill passed the Senate and House and awaits Gov. Sarah Palin's signature.

Attacks against homeless people increased from 142 attacks in 2006 to 160 attacks in 2007, says a report released Tuesday by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.

Twenty-eight of those attacks were murders, up from 20 murders in 2006. The report was based on media reports and other data collected by advocates for the homeless, the coalition said.

"This is about punishing people who take advantage of the most vulnerable in our society," says Ohio State Rep. Mike Foley, who introduced the state's bill. "There is too much of it going on."

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Florida | United States Senate | Massachusetts | United States House of Representatives | Alaska | Sarah Palin | Fort Lauderdale | National Coalition | Violence | Poverty | Michael Stoops | Homelessness | Main Street USA | National Law Center
In 2007, Ohio had 12 attacks against the homeless, including one that resulted in a death, according to the annual study, titled, "Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA 2007."

A hate crime is usually defined in law as a crime motivated by a bias against a person's race, gender or other status. Among states considering stiffer punishment for attacks on the homeless, the homeless would be added as a protected group in hate crime laws.

Maine is the only state that has passed tougher penalties, allowing judges to consider the victim's status as a homeless person as a reason to impose longer sentences. California mandates specific training for police officers on dealing with crimes against the homeless.

A bill is pending in the U.S. House of Representatives that would require the FBI to track attacks on the homeless. The FBI currently tracks hate crimes based on a victim's race, gender, religion, disabilities and sexual orientation.

A separate bill also pending in the House would protect the homeless under federal hate crime laws.

Tuesday's report says that 86% of those who attack the homeless are young men under 25. Attacking the homeless "has become a new sport, almost a rite of passage," says Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Simone Manning-Moon, whose older brother Norris Gaynor was killed in 2006 by three men with bats in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has pushed to include attacks on the homeless in the state's hate crime laws. So far two efforts have failed.

"That tells you what legislative leadership thinks about the homeless, which is not much," she says. "It just gives license to people to continue preying on other people."

In 2007, Florida had 29 attacks on the homeless, more than any other state, with six leading to deaths. "These are real people with real families who love them no matter where they live," Manning-Moon says. "We miss my brother dearly. He didn't deserve what happened to him."

Los Angeles is violating the constitutional rights of homeless people

2008-11-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

CALIFORNIA
L.A.'s homeless law ruled unconstitutional

Appeals court says lack of shelters gives people no choice
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the city of Los Angeles is violating the constitutional rights of homeless people by arresting them for sleeping or sitting on sidewalks and streets -- a finding that advocates for the homeless say could have a significant effect in San Francisco and elsewhere.

In its 2-1 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that a Los Angeles city law prohibiting sleeping, sitting or lying on public byways constituted "cruel and unusual punishment," because the city has so few shelter beds its street people have nowhere else to stay.

The suit was filed in 2003 by six homeless people who were arrested in Los Angeles' Skid Row, a 50-block sprawl downtown where about 10,000 homeless people bed down every night with tents, cardboard shacks or blankets.

"For many in Skid Row without the resources or luck to obtain shelter, sidewalks are the only place to be," appellate Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote for the majority, which overturned a lower court's finding.

Wardlaw called the Los Angeles ordinance "one of the most restrictive municipal laws regulating public spaces in the United States." She noted that it is enforced 24 hours a day, in contrast to cities whose laws prohibit sleeping or sitting only at certain times.

Contessa Mankiewicz, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles city attorney, said her office hadn't decided whether to appeal the ruling.

Lawyers who advocate for the homeless called the ruling a significant victory that other cities would be wise to heed.

The court's decision applies only to the Los Angeles law, but homeless advocates said it could give them an important precedent to make arguments against similar restrictions elsewhere.

"It's very significant," said Elisa Della-Piana of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, a San Francisco-based organization. "I see homeless clients every week who are in a similar situation as the plaintiffs in Los Angeles -- people who are cited and criminally punished for sleeping or sitting in public, which hurts their chances of exiting homelessness."

She said San Francisco authorities hand out about 2,000 citations every year to homeless people for violating a state law prohibiting sleeping on streets or sidewalks, and another 2,000 under city park codes for sleeping under trees. Although these laws are structured differently from the Los Angeles ordinance, the court's reasoning should still apply, Della-Piana said.

Tulin Ozdeger, attorney with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in Washington, D.C., agreed -- although she pointed out that several similar lawsuits have hit federal courts, and the rulings have split about evenly for and against homeless plaintiffs.

"Hopefully, this will send a message to cities that they should engage in more productive actions than arresting people, like building more housing and doing outreach," Ozdeger said.

David Miree, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's spokesman for homeless policy, said police here give citations "only as a last resort when we address aggressive panhandling or public safety and health concerns. The court said that Los Angeles gives citations as penalties, and by no means is there a public penalty for being homeless in San Francisco."

He noted, however, that in response to concerns raised by Della-Piana's group and others over the past year, the city is reviewing its citations policy "to see how many are given out, and whether they are being effective."

The Bailout Fails !!!! Ron Paul Reports, "America is Bankrupt and Broke; we need to Audit the Federal Reserve; support the Campaign for Liberty"

2008-11-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

AMERICA IN CRISIS: LOTS OF PROBLEMS BUT SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

2008-11-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

WLWT TV - Judge Helps People Keep Their Homes

2008-11-17T07:07:00.000-08:00

BBC News Reports - Tent Cities Spring Up In LA Wow!

2008-11-17T07:03:00.000-08:00

Will Smith and Jill Scott - The Rain

2008-11-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

RAHEEM DAVAUGN - UNTIL A MUST SEE

2008-11-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

DONNEL JONES - CRY

2008-11-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

THIS VIDEO IS JUST A PICTURE VIDEO BUT LISTEN TO THE WORDS AND YOU'LL UNDERSTAND WHY I CHOSE TO POST THIS!!

CHAKA KHAN - THREW THE FIRE

2008-11-07T08:21:00.000-08:00

ICE CUBE - WHY ME (MY FAVORITE JOINT FROM HIS NEW ALBUM ) GLAD HE DID THIS ONE!!!!!

2008-11-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

FROM VA TO DC THIS SEASON IS ALL ABOUT "FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES!"

2008-11-05T17:30:00.000-08:00

AND........

"TEAMS UP TO HELP FAMILIES THIS HOLIDAY SEASON"
Check out lush radio online at www.blogtalkradio.com/lushradioonline also check out her community www.lushradiothemovement.ning.com, www.lushradio.blogspot.com Also check out "TrunkHustlers" What's your hustle? Come tell them your hustle and network with us at www.trunkhuslers.com also www.trunkhustlers.blogspot.com

Online DC Radio Host "Lush" CEO of Street Queens (The Movement) & Lush Radio Online a online networking and support community have teamed up with Trunk Hustlers to provide familes with food and clothes this holiday so if you are a family or know a family in need or maybe would like to contribute to organizations who really care about there own the contact us.

DC RESIDENTS CONTACT: THE ABOVE LISTED NUMBER or ceolushradioonline@gmail.com
VA RESIDENTS CONTACT: (757) 224-3581 or trunkhustlersinc@gmail.com

WE CARE........................... DO YOU?

Remarks of U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert on H.R. 7221, the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2008

2008-11-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

Remarks of U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL-13)
H.R. 7221, the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2008
As Prepared for Delivery
October 2, 2008

Mr. Speaker, as an original cosponsor of this bill, I rise today in support of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2008 or HEARTH Act. I also would like to thank Congressman Geoff Davis of Kentucky and, if she were with us today, I would thank the late Congresswoman Julia Carson, for introducing the original House-version of this bill, H.R. 840. In addition, I would like to thank Chairman Frank, Subcommittee Chairwoman Waters, and Ranking Members Bachus and Capito for working together with Congressman Davis and me to give homeless children a fighting chance in this country.

Mr. Speaker, for inclusion in the congressional record, I would like to submit these additional views authored by Congressman Davis, Congresswoman Capito, and me. These views were filed as part of our Committee report to accompany H.R. 840, but they apply to this bill, H.R. 7221, as well. In addition, I would like to submit a New York Times article from September 16, 2008 titled “Capitol Strives to Define ‘Homeless’.”

Before I discuss this bill, I would like to note that McKinney-Vento is not a new issue to me. Back when I served in the Illinois legislature, I worked with a wonderful colleague, Mary Lou Cowlishaw, on her bill to educate homeless children in Illinois. Then, during my first years in Congress, I introduced H.R. 623, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act of 2001, to bring some of those same reforms to the rest of the nation.

And not unlike the bill we are considering today, it included language on the definition of homeless children, which was eventually incorporated into a small education bill -- No Child Left Behind. So, as you might expect, the portions of today’s debate that carry the most interest for me relate to the housing needs of homeless children.

Mr. Speaker, homelessness among children has become more and more pervasive as we face increasing economic challenges. A study conducted by First Focus and the Brookings Institute determined that 2 million children will be unfairly affected by the foreclosure crisis. Many of these children will become homeless. But without this compromise bill, HUD’s very narrow definition of “homeless” will prevent many of these children from qualifying for housing assistance or services.

It’s hard to believe that anyone would argue the issue of “who is homeless” when it comes to homeless children, but believe it or not, that -- for the past 15 years --has been the crux of the debate on this bill. As it stands today, HUD’s definition includes those individuals on the street or in a shelter, but it excludes hundreds of thousands of children in involuntary and unstable shared living arrangements, such as those living temporarily in motels or hotels or “couch surfing” from house to house.

Mr. Speaker, there is no question these children are homeless. When you hear them describe their lives, you can’t help but understand why local homeless providers desperately want the flexibility to offer them services.

Let me read a few statements from former homeless youth who today would still be denied access to support from HUD.

The first from California – “Out of everything I’ve been through, the scariest feeling is not knowing whether or not I’m going to have a home next year, next month, tomorrow. Although I’ve never ended up on the streets, I have had to compromise my better judgment and ‘gut feeling’ to have a home for the night.”

Here’s another from Kentucky- “I have lived in many homes and shelters. Just in this past year, I have lived in twelve different homes. I have lived with classmates, teachers, friends, and strangers. Anybody who would accept me was better than the street... I have always dreamed of being free. I want the freedom to know where I am going to sleep, the freedom to know where my belongings are, and the freedom to know that I won’t be asked to leave in the morning or the end of the week.”

Mr. Speaker, its because of stories like these that, last fall, we began work with Members of the Financial Services Committee, staff, and government and non-government organizations representing various homeless constituencies to craft a new definition that includes homeless unaccompanied youth, children, and their families. These are families that are already considered homeless by all other federal programs but not recognized by HUD as homeless and, therefore, do not qualify for aid. I’m pleased to report that the legislation we are considering today contains a compromise definition that will allow many more homeless unaccompanied youth, children, and their families to access HUD services.

There are still some things to work out with this bill, which is why I support a two-year reauthorization of the program. During that time, we can work toward fixing provisions in this bill that don’t seem to line up. For example, there is a provision that explicitly excludes from HUD’s official count of the U.S. homeless population all the homeless children and their families that fall under the bill’s new definition. That doesn’t make much sense.

In addition, the bill directs HUD to issue new regulations relating to the newly defined homeless children and families. I had hoped that this provision would include a negotiated rulemaking process so that all of the stakeholders involved could reach a consensus before a new rule is proposed. However, HUD is not required to do so and could dismiss one side -- the children’s side -- during the rulemaking process. It is my hope that our Committee will continue to review this matter.

Finally, the bill sets funding restrictions on homeless children and families. It sets a ten percent cap on the funds that local homeless providers can use to serve these newly included populations. Were a local homeless provider to reach the limit, they would be forced to arbitrarily turn away homeless children and families. Clearly, this is an issue worth revisiting.

Mr. Speaker, despite these flaws, the legislation before us today will allow HUD to far more effectively complement the efforts of educators, service providers, and people like my friend and constituent, Diane Nilan of Naperville, Illinois.

Diane has worked tirelessly for 20 years to provide a “home” for homeless children and families across the country. She has seen firsthand the mental, physical, and emotional degradation that children and families experience with homelessness. In her testimony before the Financial Services Committee last October, she said: “Homeless service providers in communities of all sizes await the day that HUD provides the opportunity for people in all homeless situations to receive the assistance they need. They long to be free to focus on easing homelessness as it appears in their communities – on the street, doubled-up, or in motels -- instead of having their hands tied with arbitrary rules and restrictions. They desire federal resources to supplement local efforts to house and assist the growing number of families, teens and adults without a place to call home.”

In addition, I would like thank Carol Simler, Executive Director of DuPage PADS, and all of my constituents in Illinois who help the homeless.

Mr. Speaker, this Congress has supported increased housing availability and affordability for many low-income individuals, families facing foreclosure, and disaster victims. I ask Members to continue that trend and at least allow homeless children to qualify for safe and stable housing by voting for H.R. 7221.

The Board of Homeless and Disabled Veterans (HDV) is proud to announce that the Veteran's National Telethon will air on the Web in all major markets

2008-11-04T01:02:00.000-08:00

The Board of Homeless and Disabled Veterans (HDV) is proud to announce that the Veteran's National Telethon will air on the Web in all major markets on the evening of November 11, 2008 to raise funds for a ground-breaking job training and self-actualization program for homeless, disabled and able-bodied veterans.

(PRWEB) September 24, 2008 -- The Board of Homeless and Disabled Veterans (HDV) is proud to announce that the Veteran's National Telethon will air on the Web in all major markets on the evening of November 11, 2008 to raise funds for a ground-breaking job training and self-actualization program for homeless, disabled and able-bodied veterans.

The Homeless and Disabled was founded in Oakland, California, in 1991 by several veterans and other interested parties as a not-for-profit organization designed to fight the downward spiral faced by many local homeless and disabled veterans. In fact, it is estimated that, nationally, at least 30% of all homeless people are veterans. "At first, we focused our efforts on providing the neediest veterans with the essentials: food, shelter, and job training. Today, our thrust is to develop regional and nation-wide partnerships with industry to help create job training programs that, upon successful completion, will lead to real employment in today's growth industries," says Allen Wilson, Board chairman . and marketing Director.

At first, we focused our efforts on providing the neediest veterans with the essentials: food, shelter, and job training. Today, our thrust is to develop regional and nation-wide partnerships with industry to help create job training programs that, upon successful completion, will lead to real employment in today's growth industries
The proceeds of this telethon will be spent on support for veterans while they are undergoing this intensive skills training. Donations will also help to underwrite the costs of this training that will enable them to gain long-term employment with participating companies. Finally, donations will also help to provide other short-term services during training, such as inpatient psychiatric treatment, rehabilitation, subsidized care for the house-bound, or for underwriting trainees' living expenses. This process also ensures that their newly-gained skills will lead to meaningful, career-oriented employment.

Regional chapters will be organized to compile the first census of homeless and disabled veterans to determine their level of need. Then, programs will provide regional job development, training, and placement in partnerships with regional industry. This process will be coordinated by a select committee of veteran and civilian leaders who will evaluate each candidate and match their abilities and interests with each training program to ensure that each participant will receive the maximum benefit. And able-bodied homeless veterans will also benefit from this intensive, broad-spectrum training program which will prepare them to take their place in high-tech demand industries or even to start their own tech or consulting business.

These efforts will result in a new start for these deserving vets who unstintingly gave so much so that we could continue to live in freedom.

The Board is excited to announce an exciting line-up of well-known entertainers from classical, pop, R&B, jazz, country and western, and rock music as well as well-known comedy and sports stars who have agreed to appear before a live audience. These stars have volunteered to help raise the funds to launch this critical project to reverse the fortunes of these veterans. Major contributors will be invited to present their donations during the broadcast.

Besides being aired on Web in all major metropolitan areas, negotiations are proceeding to broadcast it on the Armed Forces Television network. The telethon is expected to last approximately 2- 4 hours and, it is estimated, will reach millions of American households.
The telethon's Executive Producer will be Mr. Wilson, a University of California at Berkeley Boalt Law School graduate, who has extensive experience as an event promoter in such California venues as the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos and the Paramount Theater in Oakland.
The national Board includes retired Marine, Wade Francoise, Esquire, (deceased), retired Army Colonel Dr. George Dumas, Col. William Wade, former Commander of Mather Air Force Base, and retired Army lieutenant and disabled Vietnam veteran, Billy Richardson, president, and Allen Wilson, Chairman.

"After all, we owe our freedom to those who have honorably and selflessly served their country, but who have now fallen on hard times. They may be your brothers or sisters, your fathers or your mothers, and who, through no fault of their own, have been unable to regain their dignity and their self-esteem by becoming, once again, worthwhile working members of society. With your help, they will have a second chance," says Wilson.

2008 American Red Cross Blanket Days for the Homeless Campaign Officially Kicks Off November 3

2008-11-04T00:40:00.000-08:00

DETROIT, MI--(Marketwire - October 30, 2008) - The American Red Cross - Southeastern Michigan Chapter will officially begin the 2008 Blanket Days for the Homeless campaign on November 3. The campaign is now in its 21st year and the Red Cross is looking to collect 7,000 blankets. This year's campaign lasts through January 30, 2009.

As in past years, Blanket Days will rely primarily on the generosity of the community. Local organizations including schools, places of worship, businesses and community groups can sign up to participate by holding internal blanket drives, acting as a local community collection centers, or by collecting trial-size items for Red Cross "comfort kits." Over 80 organizations have signed on already, with more to come.

"Blanket Days is always the time of year where we do our best to give something back to the community that has been so generous to our cause," says Glen Hendricks, director of emergency services for the Southeastern Michigan Chapter. "This is our opportunity to help those who need help the most in our area, including victims of disasters, teen runaways, domestic abuse victims and anyone residing in the local shelters we serve. We again ask for the assistance of the community during these very trying times. Make a blanket or financial contribution today and help keep someone warm this winter!"

The Red Cross has a series of events planned to increase donations. Red Cross volunteers and students from Detroit Northwestern High School will be at World Medical Relief on Rosa Parks Blvd. in Detroit from November 5-7 to distribute blankets to several local homeless shelters. These blankets were collected from the 2007 campaign and will benefit people residing in those shelters.

Also, the Southeastern Michigan Chapter will team up with Michigan First Credit Union for a kickoff blanket drive on November 10 from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. This event will be at the newest Michigan First location at 19200 Wyoming in Detroit. Red Cross staff and volunteers will be on hand to take donations of new twin-size blankets and money to benefit the campaign. FOX 2 News Meteorologist Ben Bailey will make an appearance, as will the 93.9 River Roadies and Detroit's own Bates Academy school band to perform an hours' worth of holiday selections. The public is encouraged to come and make donations to support this very worthy cause.

Support for Blanket Days is encouraged through the donations of new twin-size blankets as well as financial contributions. The 2008 Red Cross Blanket Days campaign, with sponsorship and support from organizations including Quicken Loans, WJBK-FOX 2, 93.9 The River Radio, Humana and World Medical Relief, will help to give the gift of warmth to thousands of local residents this winter. To support this year's campaign, call (313) 494-2740 or visit www.semredcross.org to sign up today.

About the American Red Cross - Southeastern Michigan Chapter

The Southeastern Michigan Chapter of the American Red Cross is the organization that turns caring into action by providing disaster relief and helping people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. We are volunteer-driven and reflect the diversity of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. As part of the international Red Cross network, we are dedicated to protecting human life and dignity worldwide. To learn more about the Red Cross and to make a financial donation, call 1-877-788-0014 or log on to www.semredcross.org

Raheem Devaughn - My People So Previlant On How Things Are "Right Now!" Thank You Jazzy Jeff For This One!

2008-11-04T00:35:00.000-08:00

Repost (FEB 2008 & Our Vets Are Still Homeless!) Bill O'Reilly's "Big Announcement" to Homeless Vets

2008-11-04T00:30:00.000-08:00

WHO ARE THE MONSTERS? THE TERRORISTS OR GOVERNMENT WHO LEAVES OUR VETRANS HOMELESS!

WE CARE...................... DO YOU?

2008-11-04T00:25:00.000-08:00

OPERATIONWE CARE..........WE CARE DO YOU?

MISSION STATEMENT:

We are an organization comprised of a few caring individuals dedicated to change. We exists to assist the less fortunate and underprivileged individuals while networking with like minded organizations dedicated to change.

OUR PURPOSE

At Operation We Care our mission is to educate to general public about the plight of the homeless and disenfranchised youth. Our program offers aid to these individuals by working with shelters and other organizations to give them a place to have a shower and hot meal, assist in connecting them with organizations that can help with resume writing and career development and business attire for interviews. Operation We Care will feature the stories of these individuals, giving them a vehicle to tell their story and hopefully create change in our communities.

Our program will document our interaction with the homeless so that our financial supporters can see how we are using the funds to aid the youth and homeless. Operation We Care recognizes that not all homeless people have made the choice to be homeless. There are many situations where people have lost theirs jobs or other experienced catastrophic events such as Katrina and as a result of that, lost everything else in their lives.

Operation We Care wants to bring light to these stories not only for the purpose of education but also to change the widespread misconceptions that surround the homeless. We only seem to hear of the drug addicts and runaways, but they too are caught in a cycle and need our help. Our program will offer a start towards rebuilding their lives and becoming valued contributors to the economy and community.

Our community programs are failing our disadvantaged youth and this has resulted in this causes them to get caught up in criminal and premature sexual activity. There are many young people that are left to fend for themselves because of parents that are on drugs. Many are dealing with lack of nutrition, basic needs and parental nurturing. We've heard of tragedies such as the 3 months old girl who died in a house fire when her parents left her alone. These stories are not isolated. They are becoming more common everyday and Operation We Care is committed to doing our part to help as many people as possible.

WE CARE.....DO YOU?

REASONS WHY WE EXIST

1) TO HELP PEOPLE WHO CAN'T HELP THEMSELVES

2) TO DO OUR PART IN RESTORING AMERICA TO A CARING NATION IT ONCE WAS

3) NATURAL DISASTERS -FIRES, HURRICANE KATRINA, ETC..

4) AID OUR SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY WHO ARE NOW HOMELESS

5.) CREATE PROGRAMS OR ASSISTS PROGRAMS THAT HELP OUR CHILDREN

6.) TO MAKE TOMORROW A BETTER!

OPERATION WE CARE
"WE CARE!....DO YOU?"

WHY WE EXIST

2008-11-04T00:15:00.000-08:00

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW THERE IS A NEW LAW IN THE US THAT MANY CITYS ARE IMPLEMENTING. DON'T FEED THE HOMELESS LAW THATS IN LA, FLORIDA, DC AND MANY OTHER CITIES. THIS IS REDICULOUS WE CAN FEED CRIMINALS BUT NOT THE HOMELESS? AND WE WONDER WHY WE HAVE SO MANY CRIMES BEING COMMITED HAVE WE LEARNED ANYTHINGTulin Ozdeger is a civil rights staff attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty

Recent attempts in Las Vegas and Orlando to restrict sharing food with poor and homeless people are only the latest examples of a nationwide trend by cities to target homeless people.

Las Vegas' new ordinance prohibits sharing food with homeless or "indigent" persons in public parks. Orlando's ordinance requires groups wishing to share free food with 25 or more people in downtown parks to purchase a permit from the city's parks department and limits the number of times a group may do so to only two times a year.

As homelessness has grown in the United States over the past two decades, so have laws that essentially criminalize those who have no home. In a misguided attempt to grapple with the phenomenon of people living on our streets, city governments have passed laws that make it illegal to sit, sleep and eat in public spaces. These laws criminally penalize our poor and homeless neighbors merely for the fact that they have no place else to go.

The 2005 Hunger and Homelessness Survey of 24 cities conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors shows that the homeless situation is getting worse. Even while requests for emergency shelter increased by 6 percent from the previous year, cities fell far short of providing adequate shelter space to meet the need. According to the survey, an average of 14 percent of overall emergency shelter requests went unmet along with 32 percent of shelter requests by homeless families. This lack of available shelter space—a situation made worse by the Gulf Coast hurricanes—leaves many homeless persons with no choice but to struggle to survive on the streets of our cities.

Laws that criminalize homelessness are not only an inhumane way to treat some of our most vulnerable neighbors, but they frequently pose constitutional problems and do nothing to address the underlying causes of homelessness. Many of these measures have been successfully challenged in court as violations of homeless persons' civil rights.

In addition, these laws that frequently apply to downtown areas have the effect of moving homeless people away from areas where services and other resources are located. When people are arrested or cited under these laws, they develop criminal records, which make it more challenging for them to find housing or employment.

Further, using the criminal justice system to deal with homelessness is an extremely inefficient use of law enforcement and other resources. In a nine-city survey of supportive housing and jail costs, jail costs were on average two to three times the cost of providing supportive housing—a solution that actually works in ending homelessness.

The latest trend of restricting groups that share food with homeless people is truly baffling. Clear gaps exist between the needs of homeless and poor people and federal, state, and local government efforts to deal with homelessness. Instead of embracing private efforts to fill those gaps, cities are now trying to punish those private actors for their good deeds. Las Vegas and Orlando are hardly alone in this trend. Dallas passed a law in 2005 that punishes groups or individuals serving food to the needy outside of designated areas of the city. Fort Myers, Florida, is presently considering a law very similar to Orlando's restriction.

While criminalizing homelessness has not proven to be a successful approach on any level, other approaches have been. For example, Philadelphia has been able to dramatically reduce the number of homeless people living on the streets in its downtown area by dedicating additional resources to affordable housing, shelter space, services, and, importantly, outreach. The Philadelphia model does not rely on arrests and citations as a means to achieve its goals. In fact, a police protocol in place in the city provides that police cannot arrest a homeless person for violating the city's sidewalk regulation if no shelter space is available.

Instead of wasting law enforcement resources on enforcing these laws, and city resources on defending them in court, cities should be looking for more constructive ways to grapple with the real challenges facing them. Removing a crucial food source for a hungry homeless person will not solve the problem. Jailing a homeless person for sleeping or resting in a public space will not make that person go away.

The fact that massive homelessness persists in the richest country in the world is shocking. An even greater scandal is that so many of our city leaders persist with criminalization measures that only make the situation worse. Cities need to stop wasting resources on misguided laws and focus on solutions that can end homelessness for all our neighbors.

..>OPERATION WE CARE
"BECAUSE WE "REALLY" CARE...DO YOU?"

OPERATION WE CARE WE ARE HERE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

2008-11-03T23:46:00.000-08:00

At Operation We Care our mission is to educate to general public about the plight of the homeless and disenfranchised youth. Our program offers aid to these individuals by working with shelters and other organizations to give them a place to have a shower and hot meal, assist in connecting them with organizations that can help with resume writing and career development and business attire for interviews. Operation We Care will feature the stories of these individuals, giving them a vehicle to tell their story and hopefully create change in our communities.

Our program will document our interaction with the homeless so that our financial supporters can see how we are using the funds to aid the youth and homeless. Operation We Care recognizes that not all homeless people have made the choice to be homeless. There are many situations where people have lost theirs jobs or other experienced catastrophic events such as Katrina and as a result of that, lost everything else in their lives.

Operation We Care wants to bring light to these stories not only for the purpose of education but also to change the widespread misconceptions that surround the homeless. We only seem to hear of the drug addicts and runaways, but they too are caught in a cycle and need our help. Our program will offer a start towards rebuilding their lives and becoming valued contributors to the economy and community.

KEITH ROBINSON/FOUNDER & PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Our community programs are failing our disadvantaged youth and this has resulted in this causes them to get caught up in criminal and premature sexual activity. There are many young people that are left to fend for themselves because of parents that are on drugs. Many are dealing with lack of nutrition, basic needs and parental nuturing. We've heard of tragedies such as the 3 months old girl who died in a house fire when her parents left her alone. These stories are not isolated. They are becoming more common everyday and Operation We Care is committed to doing our part to help as many people as possible.

WE CARE.....DO YOU?

DO YOU THINK YOU REALLY KNOW THE MEANNG OF A HOMELESS PERSON? THINK AGAIN!

Many people still think of homeless transients as alcoholics and/or mentally disabled. The truth is, the current homeless population consists of runaway adolescents, single adult males or females, battered women and over one million homeless families with children typically headed by a female parent.

HOMELESS IS:
To be homeless means that one's primary residence is a public or private shelter, emergency housing, hotel, motel, living with family or friends or any public space like parks, automobiles, aqueducts or abandoned buildings

HOMELESS DEFINITION BROKEN DOWN:
(A) means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of section 103(a)(1)); and
(B) includes—
children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;
(ii) children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C));
(iii) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
(iv) migratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses through (iii).

"LET'S MAKE A DIFFERENCE GET INVOLVED TODAY!"