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What is it going to take to end homelessness in the US?

Jean-Michel Giraud, Executive Director of Friendship Place, recently published a great blog post in the Huffington Post that stressed the importance of working together to make positive changes in the world. He realistically states that homelessness is not likely to become extinct, and that the focus should not be to end homelessness, but rather to strengthen the system to shorten the period of homelessness. How? By offering a strong support system that can get people back into housing that they can stay in. Giraud stresses:

This should start at home — right here in Washington, D.C., where more than 220 homeless families were housed in motel rooms at the peak of hypothermia season this past winter. […]

So the solution is to build strong homeless services networks. One of the things I like about the notion of “building” is that you can do it one brick at a time. This means that, even in hard times, you can lay a brick down — no matter how small — and grow the system at large toward a better day for people on the street. At the risk of overdoing the whole brick metaphor, another thing I like about it is that the bricks don’t all have to look the same and it’s really up to each one of us and each community empowering homeless people to find new and effective ways to solve homelessness, even if we have to split our bricks and rub our pennies together to do so.

Great words that are applicable for any problem. We are all part of the solution. Every little bit helps, whether it’s donating towels and toothbrushes to GMC, attending a Help the Homeless fundraiser, or lobbying against budget cuts to homeless services.

Last Friday, a group of six MBA interns from Danaher Corporation gave Georgetown Ministry Center four hours of their time and knowledge to assist us with any business/administrative obstacles we were facing. We experienced what was probably the most productive four hours we’ve ever had. On the agenda: a road map to success for our members; tracking and reporting metrics; and strengthening GMC in all aspects.

We couldn’t have asked for a better or smarter group of volunteers. Andrew, Bryce, Danish, Fiete, Jake, and Trip were organized, focused, and worked cohesively together. We started out the morning creating a road map to success for our members that begins with engaging an individual and ends with housing.¹ The group also created a spreadsheet dashboard for us to keep track of just about everything: case management, grant applications, volunteer hours, social media analytics. We learned so much and felt so energized and excited after working with them.

Thank you so much, Andrew, Bryce, Danish, Fiete, Jake, and Trip! We hope you’ll come back to visit soon!

¹ But it doesn’t end there! We also try to keep in touch and provide supportive services to those we are able to get into housing.

At Georgetown Ministry Center, we talk about community a lot. There’s the community and camaraderie in the center, and there’s our relationship with the Georgetown community, which varies from love and support to frustration and resentment. We do our best to strengthen our community by bridging gaps of understanding and communication, whether we are attending Block by Block meet and greets or inviting members of the community into our center to meet our awesome guests.

At this week’s house meeting, Officer Atkins from the Metropolitan Police Department came in to meet and speak with our guests. It was our most well-attended house meeting to date; even those who usually don’t participate in our weekly house meetings came into the room to hear what Officer Atkins had to say.

In addition to encouraging our guests to introduce themselves to his fellow officers, Officer Atkins had his captive audience discuss panhandling laws and define “agressive panhandling” to each other. He also pushed our guests not to leave their bags unattended, as it uses a lot of time and resources when authorities have to examine suspicious bags. Some of our guests had no idea that the FBI, canine unit, and bomb squad all respond to calls in which their bag might be the focus.

Above all of his talking points, Officer Atkins stressed that we, whether we have a house or not, are all part of the same community, and that this community is only as strong and cohesive as we choose to make it. He urged everyone report suspicious activity, understand where others are coming from, and to reach out to those in need.

The New Yorker recently published a 15,000-word feature about Bruce Springsteen, which delves into Springsteen’s life and history of clinical depression. This news and word of this feature is making its way into many headlines, news segments, and blog posts.

Maybe you are wondering why we are blogging about it, too. Why would a homeless outreach organization be interested in what Springsteen, an influential and important figure in the music industry, has to say? The answer is this: When the Boss talks about a decades-long struggle with clinical depression, suicidal thoughts, and a family history of mental illness, it opens up a discussion about these issues that affect so many people, including the homeless.

The CDC’s staggering statistic is that one in ten Americans report suffering from depression. Research also show that chronically and street-based homeless people are more likely to experience depression.¹ Whether depression is a cause or result (or both) of homelessness, the fact is that many of the guests who pass through GMC’s doors are depressed, and so we bring in experts like Dr. Ron Koshes, our psychiatrist, to help diagnose and treat those who need help.

The news segment we aired this morning in our clubhouse mentioned Springsteen’s depression, which we hope will open channels of communication between us and our community.

¹La Gory, Mark, Ferris J. Ritchey, and Jeff Mullis. “Depression among the Homeless.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 31.1 (1990): 87-102. Web. 25 Jul. 2012.

Summertime for most means fun in the sun, trips to the beach, ice cream for every meal… for us, it means that our towels start disappearing and that we’re left scrambling for new replacements.

This morning, we transferred the last of our bath towels from our storage unit to our center, and we unless we get new ones, we probably won’t have enough to last us through the summer. During the hot and sticky days of summer, our guests tend to walk out of the center with our towels so that they have something to help keep them clean on the streets. Please help us replenish our stock of bath towels!

You can bring bath towels to our center any day of the week between 8am and 5pm.

Fun Ways to Donate Towels

Are you having a barbecue or pool party? If your guests ask what they can bring, tell them to bring a bath towel for us.

Do you know someone on a swim team? Get everyone on the team to donate a towel!

What are other creative ways to help collect towels for us?