Panel On Homelessness In Ashland Consensus?
Vegan1forPeace, 23.02.2008 09:09
The League of Women Voters of Ashland's panel discussion on "Homeless in Ashland" seemed to reach a consensus that the current paradigm of how services are provided doesn't have a solution. The leading promises are programs that give the homeless power and responsibility in providing services.
The League of Women Voters of Ashland hosted a panel discussion on "Homeless in Ashland" yesterday, Thursday, February 21st. Panelists were Arnie Green, former Executive Director of Community Works; Terry Holderness, Ashland's Police Chief; Graham Lewis, member of the Ashland Housing Commission and former President of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce; Daniel Hoeff, Homeless Activist ; and Sharon Shreiber, Executive Director, Interfaith Care Community (ICC). The discussion was moderated by Barbara Jarvis.
After introductions, panelists were asked three prepared questions, then Ms. Jarvis asked questions from the audience that were written on cards.
It was recognized that the "homeless" are not a homogeneous group. Youth, from the ages of 11 to 21, had different patterns and needs than single adults, and those two groups had patterns and needs different than families. Further, a distinction was described between people who were homeless by circumstances and those who live out by choice.
A consensus seemed to be shared amongst the panelists, that the common paradigm fails at reaching a solution for all these different groups. Green said a shelter for youth would cost at minimum $650,000 a year to operate, with a male and a female staff person available around the clock - an amount that Ashland itself is unlikely to fund, so he said it's more feasible to focus on the county level, with federal and state funds, assuming funding at those levels was even available.
Holderness said the police could only be the oil to ease frictions between parts of the community. Lewis said there was a need to have one person or entity coordinating the different services available in the community, including separate services from several of the religious organizations.
Shreiber said the current income for operating the ICCA wasn't keeping up with the expenses. The ICC's main focus has become families. The housing program that received Community Development grant money through the City of Ashland isn't in demand at the level that was expected. And, in response to my question about the Sisters of the Road Cafe and Dignity Village in Portland, she described the failed attempt to establish a program similar to the Sisters of the Road Cafe in Medford.
Hoeff summarized the failures of the community of Ashland in empathy terms. He had people try to imagine what it would be like to try to sleep, fearful of a police flashlight, restless night after restless night - what a toll that would have on any person's psychological wellbeing, and why alcohol might be used to help a person sleep. He made a connection between Ashland's 1995 "No Camping" ordinance and the increase in problems with homelessness in Ashland since then. He demanded that the homeless be allowed a safe and legal place to exercise their basic right to sleep.
The apparent consensus that the current paradigm of providing services fails at providing a solution - at best only partial solutions which are underfunded - leaves open the possibility that another model might be considered if laid out in a more detailed plan than simply saying, give the homeless that old quarry site for a legal campground. Dignity Village offers a model to be considered, but other legal campgrounds for homeless people have been huge failures. A plan must look at what makes Dignity Village work so well, but other legal campgrounds such huge failures.
The difference is the groundwork done within the Sisters of the Road Cafe, founded in 1979. Unlike the community meals now in Ashland, Sisters of the Road Cafe is NOT free, but requires something in exchange for a great meal. Within that atmosphere, a core group of homeless activists formed, and the Dignity Village actions of December 2000 are an organic offshoot.
Contrast Sister of the Road and Dignity Village with the current paradigm operating in Ashland. The homeless are not part of maintaining the services, except in token ways. Services, like the ICCA, are inhibited from charging a small amount for showers, letting homeless people staff the desk, etc., for fear of such things as they would lose their funding or their liability would go up. Sister of the Road had to consciously decide to not accept FEMA money - imagine how hard it would be for Peace House to turn down FEMA money and redesign their community meals program.
A rough sketch for changing the paradigm would start with the question of how to nurture the development of a core group within the responsible part of the homeless community. A social-engineering forum and filter would be needed to allow a core group of responsible homeless people to form. The community of Ashland could use such a group for consulting and being an intermediary between the city and the homeless. It's possible to identify about 5 people, who are homeless or have experience with being homeless, who could start this process out. Such a council of homeless people would have to evolve some kind of democratic process which would allow all homeless people wishing to participate a voice, yet not get so bogged down in process that nothing could get done. Once this body has a governing structure, it can put forward a more detailed "village" plan to the larger Ashland community. At this point, a village would have a much higher chance of succeeding, promising benefits to the larger community making the investment worth the risk.
The Sisters of the Road Cafe offers a model for creating a social-engineering forum and filter. At least two approached might be considered to mimic that model: The Tuesday meal sponsored by Peace House can be converted into a Sisters-type meal, or a Sisters-type meal can be established on a day of the week when no other community meal exists. But is there a resolve in the community of Ashland to make this investment?
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The 11th Annual Homeless Radio Marathon 23.02.2008 - 10:06 From the Bostom IMC.........  http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/203649/index.php
The 11th Annual Homeless Radio Marathon by Linda Pinkow Email: eclecticideas (nospam) juno.com (unverified!) 19 Feb 2008 The 11th Annual Homelessness Marathon, a 14-hour national radio dialogue on poverty and housing in the US, will take place Wednesday night to Thursday morning, February 20-21. Originating this year in Nashville, the Marathon is a live, outdoor, broadcasting event featuring homeless people, advocates for the homeless and call-ins from the public. A broadcast booth is set up outside, with open mics for people who are out on the street in Nashville that night. The Marathon does not raise money for charity. Its mission is to raise consciousness, by covering a broad range of topics, speaking with experts, taking calls from around the country, and above all, by putting homeless people on the air directly. LISTEN LIVE: At WMBR 88.1FM or via streaming at http://www.wmbr.org
More than 100 radio and TV stations across the country will air this unique program; in the Boston area, you can hear it on WMBR 88.1 FM, or streaming live at wmbr.org The national broadcast starts 7pm Weds. to 9am Thurs. The WMBR News Dept. is also producing a one-hour program on homelessness in Greater Boston, which will air 6-7pm on Wednesday. Invited guests include: * Joe Finn, executive director, Mass. Housing and Shelter Alliance, and a member of the State Commission to End Homelessness. The MHSA is a public policy advocacy organization with the mission of ending homelessness in the Commonwealth. * Ruth Woods Dunham -- Executive Director of On The Rise, Inc.,. a Cambridge-based non-profit organization assisting homeless women in the area who are unable to get the support and services they need from traditional programs. * James Shearer, a formerly homeless man who was one of the original co-founders of Spare Change in 1992, and is now President of Board of Trustees of Homeless Empowerment Project (which publishes Spare Change). "This year we picked Nashville," explains the Homeless Marathon's director and founder, Jeremy Weir Alderson, on their press release "party because it is a city at the crossroads in terms of its treatment of homeless people, and in this respect, it is like many other cities across the United States." Nashville is leading the fight against poverty through its Homeless Power Project composed of homeless and former homeless people, organizing for housing and workers rights. "We're hoping our broadcast can reach across class and color lines to help tip the balance towards treating homeless people like citizens instead of criminals," said Alderson. For more information, visit: http://www.homelessnessmarathon.org
WMBR FM Radio in Nashville, TN> Good coverage of forum... 23.02.2008 - 10:37 This is such a good example of why independant media is so crucial. The trib and tidings failed to even cover this story and ironically it happened during the same week that Central Point Police and Jackson County Sheriff Department conducted a "homeless sweep" on the Bear Creek Greenway, kicking them off public lands. It fascinates me that they covered the Central Point story and missed this one because the fact that adjacent cities dealt with homelessness in such different ways this week could have been a great story. By the way, vegan4peace, I wish you would use your "real name", as I often admire your posts and wonder who you are? Vanessa Houk> Thank you, Vanessa... 23.02.2008 - 13:39 Well, we know each other, just haven't talked in awhile... The low-intensity-warfare response to homelessness is pretty creepy. At http://www.rogueimc.org/en/2005/06/4799.shtml I talk about the "Operation Green Sweep" of nearly three years ago, and the follow up sweep of homeless camps in Ashland two weeks later, with the death of Waylon Andreason the night his camp was raided. That our community allows its law enforcement to attack the homeless in this way, taking bedding and tents to expose the homeless to cold weather, is outrageous. Typically shelters don't have enough beds, are places where contagious diseases spread, and are operated without respect to differing religious beliefs. Police abuse with "assistance to those they found camping along the greenway by giving them contact information to local homeless shelters, medical services and other resources of which they can take advantage" ( http://www.ktvl.com/news/greenway_1185798___article.html/homeless_police.html) only disguises the inherent violent nature of exposing people to the elements this time of year. Hoeff talked about how this sort of thing damages psychological health, leads to alcoholism and suicide. In the long run, the society pays a higher price....
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