Project Homeless Connects were successful -share your stories

Thursday morning was rainy and I was a bit worried when I got up. The temperature had dropped overnight and we had three Project Homeless Connects, one each in Wake, Durham, and Orange County. However, despite the rain, it seems that all three events were successful. In total over 850 homeless people received services.

I was priviledged to be coordinating volunteers for the Raleigh event which was held in Moore Square. Over 200 volunteers and 60 service providers assisted over 500 people access services. At least one person found permanent housing that day and 3 others entered drug treatment directly.

Of course the day was not perfect, but all in all it was incredibly successful. Take a look at all the press coverage. My favorite photo of the day can be found at number four in the photo gallery.

I'm hoping that some of you will share your comments and experiences.

DTH on the Orange County Plan

The Daily Tar Heel is the newspaper for UNC-CH. They have a great story on Orange County's 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. Check it out.

And here is a great Q & A session with NC's Senator Richard Burr. We've come a long way in North Carolina to have a Senatory who can talk about this.


Sorry for the short snipits, but the three Project Homeless Connects are two days away and I'm coordinating 150 volunteers at the Raleigh event.

Wimington Needs a Project Coordinator for its 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness

10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness
Project Manager

A community collaboration, coordinated by United Way of the Cape Fear Area, seeks a manager to provide leadership in implementing the 10-Year Plan that will develop housing options, support services, and enhance collaboration among the initiative’s partners.

Work includes significant community engagement activities, fundraising, strategic planning, meeting coordination and facilitation and project management.

Requirements: Bachelor’s degree (Master’s preferred), experience leading complex teams, nonprofit or government agency experience; minimum of 5 years relevant experience in leadership capacity; excellent oral and written communications skills; Microsoft Office experience; ability to work with and take direction from volunteer leadership.

Helpful background/skills: understanding housing/homelessness issues, nonprofit management, volunteer management, strong community relations.

Hiring Range: $45,000 - $50,000, depending on experience

Submit a cover letter and resume to United Way, PO Box 1503, Wilmington, NC 28402 or pamela.wyatt@cfauw.org by close of business November 12, 2007.
E.O.E.

The countdown begins

Three Project Homeless Connects are happening next Thursday throughout the Triangle. For more information go to TUW's website.

Pathways to Wealth Conference

The last couple of days I've been to a conference on asset building. It was hosted by the IDA and Asset Buildling Collaborative of North Carolina and EITC Carolinas. There were many workshops about the differing types of financial literacy curriculums, how to set-up IDA's, how to promote entrepreneurial businesses. The conference also reminded me that over the years the federal government promotes asset building and gives people opportunities to build their assets. However, the types of opportunities depend on who you are and what kind of assets you already have.
One of the presenters was a woman by the name of Meizhu Lui, the Executive Director of United for a Fair Economy and co-author of The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the Racial Wealth Inequality. She used a slide that really struck me about housing. In one column showing the federal government's investment of $70B for Home Mortgage Interest Deductions and the other column showing the $24.5 B that is spent on Homeless Assistance, Public Housing and Section 8 housing. I simply forgot that every time I take my interest deduction on my taxes I get a government benefit. When I bought my first home, I qualified for a Mortgage Credit, that was a government benefit. It seems a bit unfair to me that the more expensive a home and the larger mortgage you have the greater benefit you get to help you build your own personal wealth. It seems interesting then that if you have no assets, the assistance you receive is simply to maintain housing rather than as an incentive to try to build your own assets and invest in owning a home or renting on your own.

If I had a dollar for every time it was said....

Take a look at this story from Wilmington, NC. Did you notice where one of the concerns from the elected officials was that if Wilmington had a really good program, more people would come to Wilmington. Isn't that odd? Last night at a meeting of the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness, some folks were concerned that if this plan is really successful, more people would come to Chapel Hill. I've heard the same from Durham officials and Wake County officials. Who is right?

I've always thought that the reason people are moving to the Triangle, and even North Carolina, is because of the booming economy, the declining unemployment rate, the attraction of new businesses and new jobs. Well, who wouldn't want to come here to try to take advantage of those opportunities? When you live in a rural community and you need help and it can't be found, wouldn't you make the choice to move to a more urban center where you actually might find some help?

People don't move to a community to be homeless. They move because they think there is a better opportunity ahead of them. Who among us wouldn't make that choice?

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard, "If we have a really good program people will come to our community to be homeless," I'd be a rich man right now.

Have emergency housing and feeding programs failed?

Check out this interesting post from LA's Homeless Blog. It asks a key question about whether or not emergency shelters and feeding programs have failed. What do you think?

Lessons from Ikebana

Ikebana is that Japanese art of arranging flowers. Now you may ask, why on earth is Ikebana being discussed in a blog on homelessness? Well, here is the story.

This past weekend a friend of mine and I from the Durham Shambhala Center made a commitment to do some Ikebana arrangements for a wedding. On Friday evening, we went to pick flowers at Harland Creek Farm and then around the corner to the Inn at Celebrity Dairy to arrange the flowers.

While we were paying for the flowers, the farmer said, "Are you sure you really want that? The stems are really crooked and not that pretty."

Our response was, "Sure it will be intersting."

There was some dried allium tops and again she asked, "Those are dead, you really want those?"

We again responded, "In Ikebana, the more interesting looking the flowers and plants the better."

"Well, I've got some dahlias that I wasn't going to take to the farmer's market because the stems are too short. Would you like those?"

We went to the Inn and began arranging. Using the crooked stems, the allium bulbs that looked dead, and the short stemmed dahlias, we put together twenty arrangements. The wedding rehersal dinner was taking place and people came to see us putting the flowers together. Each arrangement was unique in its own right and people pointed out how the unusual looking flowers really were integrated and stood out as the most beautiful when they are coupled with some fresh blooms of zinnias and dahlias.

It's like that with homeless people you know. So many folks want to simply toss them aside because they are worn around the edges, their journey is crooked, and life is not perfect. However, all they need is to be placed in a container with some fresh blooms and they become the most awe inspiring art imaginable.

So that's how Ikebana weaves its way into a homeless blog.