Guest Opinion: Homeless students would suffer with state Housing Trust Fund cuts

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Originally posted in Crosscut  on April 15, 2013

Homeless students would suffer with state Housing Trust Fund cuts

Guest Opinion: Facing demands for school funding, legislators are looking for other savings. But homeless kids need a place to live.

Have you ever been driving behind a school bus on I-5 or I-90 and noticed there is only one kid on board? Like most people you probably had no idea you’d just witnessed a homeless child being transported to school from a shelter, transitional housing or even more uncertain living arrangement.

Imagine how it feels to step off that bus alone in front of your classmates. That unwanted attention can only add to the daily trauma of surviving without a home in a region that prides itself on its quality of life.

Over 5,000 children (a third of them under the age of 10) are homeless in public schools throughout King County. That’s the equivalent of about eight elementary schools or almost 200 school buses full of kids who sleep each night on a shelter cot, on a couch or floor in a tenuous doubled-up situation or in the back seat of a car parked on some dark side street.

We should make sure that the problem for families doesn’t get worse, as could happen under proposed budgets in Olympia. The families of these children don’t have financial control over their housing situation and must struggle to maintain even a sliver of the stability such control allows the rest of us. No child asks to be homeless and no parent wants their child to go through that experience.  But because rents are high and pay is low (assuming steady work can be found), homelessness or the imminent risk of homelessness persists for far too many of our neighbors . Continue reading →

Everett Poverty Immersion Workshop – Sold Out!

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Poverty Immersion Color Flyer Everett April 2013

Sunday, April 28 2013* 2pm – 5pm* Everett Transit Station 

 

Registration is closed 

To volunteer, or with questions, email gustavel@seattleu.edu or phone 206-296-2657.

During the Poverty Immersion Workshop, participants role-play lives of low-income individuals, including: 
  • single parents trying to care for their children
  • senior citizens trying to maintain their self-sufficiency on Social Security
  • kids struggling with missed experiences at school, skipped meals, peer pressure
 The challenge for each family:
  • provide food, shelter, and other basic necessities
  • deal with life’s daily setbacks
  • try to access various community resources
  • have precious little time or money
Details:
  • the workshop runs for three hours, run by an experienced facilitator who will provide both orientation and guided discussion
  • the workshop involves ~80 participants and  17-20 volunteer staffers
  • Each participant is essential, and plays a unique, pre-assigned role
  • One week prior to the event, all participant attendance must be confirmed
  • People 12 years or older may participate

Guest Post – Everyone Counts: Connecting Volunteers

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From our advocacy partners at Firesteel

Everyone Counts: The Point In Time Count Connects Volunteers to the Homeless Community

April 15, 2013

By Catherine Hinrichsen, Seattle University’s Project on Family Homelessness
The latest “State of Homelessness in America” report, released last week by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), isn’t just about numbers. It’s about people – not only those who are homeless, but those who helped collect the data. When NAEH and others compile reports like this every year, it’s based partly on the information gathered one person at a time from Point-in-Time Count volunteers – people like Breanne, Cherisse, Felicia, Jerry, Kevin and Maria.On a cold and rainy day this past January, these Snohomish County volunteers were among the many thousands nationwide who helped conduct a Point-in-Time Count of homelessness in their communities. Our Seattle University team visited two of the sites, in Everett and Lynnwood, and shared the stories of those volunteers in anearlier Firesteel blog post.As a companion piece, our grad student, Judy Pansullo, created this video highlighting some of the volunteers who talked to us that day.

You’ll meet Kevin Marshall, Felicia Cain, Breanne Andrews, Cherisse Webb, Maria Bighaus and Jerry Gadek, and hear them talk about why they volunteer for this important advocacy effort.

In Snohomish County, volunteers like Kevin and Felicia conduct face-to-face interviews with people who are experiencing homelessness. Volunteers either go out into the community, or do the surveys at a central site such as those we visited: the Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Lynnwood, or the Salvation Army in Everett. Other volunteers, like Maria, Breanne and Cherisse, organize the whole event for their community, while in Everett, Jerry trains the volunteers on how to gather the important data they collect – and what to expect from the experience.

Video producer Judy Pansullo is a veteran documentary filmmaker who’s earning her master’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership. In this video, she artfully blends volunteer interviews with photos that remind us of the reason why we all do this: the people in Washington state who need stable housing. The striking photos are by the acclaimed photojournalist Dan Lamont, one of our original Journalism Fellows.

Watch for the memorable “Finally Home” photo of Cory and Kaylee at the end of the video, illustrating a message on which we can all agree: Everyone in Washington should have access to a safe, healthy, affordable home.

Judy got some assistance that day from our other grad student, Perry Firth, from Community Counseling. I still marvel that Perry was able to go on this trip with us and do the Lynnwood interviews, then drive back for an evening class, then go out and participate in the One Night Count that night in Seattle.

But then, that’s the kind of dedication you would expect from the Point-in-Time Count volunteers – whether it’s those you’ll meet in the video, the 900 or so in King County, or the many thousands more across the country.

It’s because of these volunteers that we’re able to gather important data that creates a snapshot of homelessness in our communities and leads to important investments in housing and services.

Did you volunteer in a Point-in-Time Count this year? What was your takeaway? Please share your thoughts by posting a video or text comment below.

Tenant Tip: Evictions in Clean & Sober Housing (Part 2)

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Reblogged from Solid Ground Blog:

Click to visit the original post

In Evictions in Clean & Sober Housing (Part 1), we explained some of the requirements and the specific evictions process for tenants living in clean and sober housing in Washington State. Current legislation does not provide strong protections for these tenants, so in Part 2, we’ll address some of the barriers they face.

In the 2013 legislative session, there was an effort by certain housing providers to introduce legislation to make it faster for landlords of clean and sober housing to evict tenants.

Read more… 638 more words

An important post outlining the barriers tenants in recovery face!

Guest Post by Cecelia Black: Express Advantage and the Benefits of Financial Education

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Cecelia Black is a VISTA volunteer at Express Advantage, a nonprofit organization which she explains below. Take a few moments to consider your own interactions with financial institutions (positive and negative), and whether you might be able to volunteer to work with Express Advantage.

Express Advantage is asking you to join their efforts in supporting financial resiliency in Western Washington.  Express is a Seattle based nonprofit that focuses on helping low-income members reach financial stability through financial education, community outreach, and access to fair and affordable financial services.

How can you help?  Express is looking for committed volunteers to teach our financial education classes and volunteer in our one-on-one financial coaching program.  No financial background is necessary- the most important qualities are dedication and enthusiasm.   We are now accepting applications for both positions!  Volunteer educator training is April 27th.  The financial coaching training is on May 18th.

Why financial education? Barriers to accessing mainstream financial services are a huge, but often overlooked factor affecting low-income and homeless families.  The FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Under-banked Households conducted in 2009 found that 21.2% of Washington State households are unbanked or under-banked.

Why is this a big deal?  Going “off the grid” and avoiding all those small fees, paperwork, and lines sounds idyllic, but try to think for a moment about any loan you have taken out, any time you have used a credit card, deposited a paycheck or needed a credit score.  Without a positive relationship to a financial institution, things like renting an apartment and securing funds for an emergency become very difficult.  Even more alarming, taking out loans from payday lenders becomes more necessary.  Predatory lenders have capitalized on these situations and fueled their booming industry by trapping predominately low income people in a cycle of debt.   In Washington state, the average Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of a payday loan is 390% (versus a credit card which has an average APR of 15%).    To solve these gaps in financial services, it important that banks and credit unions offer more services to low income communities.  Yet, it is equally critical that people get accurate information and support to safely and confidently utilize financial tools.  Learn how you can be a part of this effort at http://expresscu.org/express-advantage/.

Contact Cecelia Black for more volunteer information and application at Cecelia.black@expresscu.org or (425)359-5256.

Homeless Survival Road Show Forums

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Ever wanted to learn more about how you can support people living in tent cities or vehicles? Three upcoming forums, hosted by a partnership between Real Change,
SHARE, WHEEL, and Nickelsville, can help you to learn more! 

FORUMS

Thursday, April 11, 7 PM at the Common Good Café, University Temple, 1415 NE 43rd St, Seattle

Friday, April 12, 6:30 PM at Otto Miller Hall, Seattle Pacific University, 3307 3rd Ave W, Seattle

Tuesday, April 16, 6:30 PM at People’s Institutional Baptist Church, 159 24th Ave, Seattle

See the Roadshow Forums Flyer for more information!

Homeless Survival Road Show

Repost: The Music of Ending Homelessness

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Originally posted in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Impatient Optimists on March 19, 2013 by KOLLIN MIN  Senior Program Officer in the Pacific Northwest Family Homelessness team. Kollin shares a story about making a difference, and how inspired he was by a random act of kindness.

The Music of Ending Homelessness

The music in my home when I was growing up was an unusual blend of 70’s Korean pop ballads, Simon and Garfunkel, and The Who. Today when I come home from work I’m more likely to hear Gangnam Style, the Harlem Shake, or Macklemore coming from my kids’ iPods. Times may have changed, but music is still a large part of what makes a home, and that’s why Richard Carter’s story has meant so much to me.

Most of our work at the Foundation is aimed at bringing about large scale changes that address major inequities around the world.  The foundation takes on huge challenges—eradicating polio overseas, ensuring that all children in the United States have a quality education, or in my case, reducing family homelessness in the Puget Sound region.  The only way the foundation can have lasting and meaningful impact is by using our funds to trigger changes in the larger governmental systems that exist to solve these problems at scale.  We necessarily focus our efforts on developing strong, catalytic partnerships with governments and direct service providers, and so all too frequently, our work can feel somewhat removed from the lives of the people we’re trying to serve.

Last October, we had the opportunity to interview four families recovering from homelessness in the Puget Sound region that had received services from the Washington Families Fund, a public-private partnership administered byBuilding Changes, a Foundation grantee.

The interviews – including one with Richard Carter, the young man who appears in this video – were conducted to prepare a four-minute film that kicked off a two-day family homelessness meeting at the Foundation that brought together federal, state and local leaders, housing and homelessness advocates, as well as the country’s leading homelessness researchers, to discuss the most effective ways to deliver housing and services for homeless families.

As the Foundation’s film crew was wrapping its interview with Richard, Dave Gross, the sound man for the shoot, asked him about a small piano in the corner of Richard’s bedroom and asked him whether he played.  The crew saw Richard smile and after some persuasion, as the crew scrambled to relight and reset their equipment, Richard performed the original composition that became the orchestrated score that graces the video.  The crew was immediately struck by the poignancy of Richard’s performance and knew as they were rolling that they had captured a special moment that would anchor the heart of their production.

As the crew left Richard’s family’s apartment, Richard commented that noise restrictions in the complex unfortunately limited his ability to play his piano on a regular basis.  Gross immediately realized that what Richard needed was a digital piano with headphones so that he could play without disturbing anyone.  Continue reading →