Ending homelessness must begin with the understanding that people who are or have been homeless are our neighbors and members of our community.
Public perceptions and attitudes toward persons experiencing homelessness or in danger of becoming homeless need to change in order for positive, long-term solutions to be realized. Most Americans rarely interact with people who are or who have been homeless. The lack of interaction between different groups of our society, combined with impersonal or inaccurate descriptions of homelessness posed by the media and public officials, contributes to a distancing of those who have housing from those who do not.
The Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau is both an accurate and dynamic tool that teaches and challenges tomorrow’s leaders as well as empower those who have experienced homelessness first-hand. By fostering an environment of self-worth, respect, and understanding for all people, the Speakers’ Bureau challenges us to believe that we can and should end homelessness.
For our first year in South Carolina, we have put on 95 presentations throughout the Upstate educating 6367 people. Our goal for next year is to triple our numbers. As we go into this year we are hoping many of you will invite us back again as well as receive first time invites. We need your support to keep this advocacy program alive! Our presentations can be brought in many different avenues. We also have different speakers with totally different stories. As the problem is growing, we need to counter it through education so we can truly reach our ultimate goal of ending homelessness.
We also have some other great ideas in mind for next year. Not only will we do our traditional presentations, but we will incorporate some very creative way to educate the public. If you didn’t get to participate in our 4th Annual Homeless Vigil (that was a huge success) don’t worry, it will be back next year on November 17th , 2011.
Please contact me at dharrison@upstatehomeless.com or check out the Speakers’ Bureau’s Facebook page to get involved. Help us spread the word of all we are doing. Have a great day and thank you again for all your support.
This blog post was written by the Upstate Homeless Coalition‘s own Dawna Harrison, who is our Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau
Coordinator. To hear Dawna’s experiences and triumph over homelessness, check out her segment in our documentary film, “Just One Away.”