POVERTY
The changing face of homelessness

IN THE NORTHEAST
• Center City Churches is a ministry supported by congregations in downtown Hartford. It emphasizes “programs that change lives.” The MANNA program offers advocacy, shelter and support for those most in need, including providing meals daily for 3,000 homeless and low-income people. Contact executive director Paul Christie, 860-728-3201 ext. 2006, pchristie@centercitychurches.org.
• The New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness is a nonprofit group which estimates that more than 3,000 people a day already are homeless in the state, as housing costs in the region continue to rise dramatically. A quarter of those in New Hampshire shelters serving the homeless are children. Contact executive director Keith Kuenning, 603-774-5195, keithkuenning@comcast.net.
• Christopher Jencks is the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is the author of The Homeless and has written about poverty, welfare reform and changes in American family structure. Contact 617-495-0546, Christopher_jencks@harvard.edu.

IN THE EAST
• Dr. James Withers, a physician, started Operation Safety Net, a health care outreach program that’s based at Mercy Hospital and provides medical care to homeless people living on the streets of Pittsburgh. He’s also working to develop an international network to improve “street medicine.” Read a story on Withers’ work on the Association of American Medical Colleges Web site. Contact 412-232-5739 or 888-492-8950, jwithers@mercy.pmhs.org.
• Project ORE is a homeless outreach program of The Educational Alliance, one of the first settlement houses in New York’s Lower East Side. Project ORE, located at Congregation Emunath Israel, works with people ages 45 and older – providing kosher meals, programs in art and wellness, and opportunities to learn about Judaism and celebrate Jewish holidays. Read a March 5, 2004, story from the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California about five people who held their b’nai mitzvah ceremonies through the program. Contact Pinchos Kurinsky, 212-780-5436, info@edalliance.org.
• Heather Larkin is an assistant professor in the school of social welfare at the State University of New York in Albany. She is doing research on the impact that childhood neglect and abuse has had on homeless people in Albany and Petaluma, Calif. Contact 518-591-8779, hlarkin@albany.edu.
• The Coalition for the Homeless provides services to more than 3,500 homeless people in New York each day, and monitors the conditions in municipal shelters. It’s involved in the “NY Kids Need Housing!” campaign, in which religious leaders and others are encouraging New York’s mayor to provide more affordable housing for children and their families. Contact 212-776-2000, info@cfthomeless.org.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• Muffet Robinson is director of community relations for the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida. The coalition, with support from individuals, businesses, philanthropic and faith-based groups, is the largest provider of homeless services in the region, serving nearly 650 people each day. Contact 407-426-1255, muffet.robinson@cflhomeless.org.
• Sister Farhanahz Ellis is interfaith outreach director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Va. She serves on the board of Reston Interfaith, which operates the Embry Rucker Community Shelter in northern Virginia. Read a Feb. 27, 2007, story from The Washington Post about homelessness in northern Virginia, generally considered a well-to-do area. Contact 703-433-1325 ext. 107, farhanahzellis@yahoo.com.
• Robert Wineburg is the Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He wrote the 2007 book Faith-Based Inefficiency: The Follies of Bush’s Initiatives and can speak about the role faith-based groups play in delivering social services. Read a Feb. 13, 2007, interview with The Roundtable on Religion & Social Welfare Policy. Contact 336-334-5228, bobwineburg@gmail.com or bob_wineburg@uncg.edu.

IN THE SOUTH
• Through the Room in the Inn program in Nashville, congregations take turns hosting as many as 225 homeless people each night during the winter months, from November through March. More than 150 congregations participate, providing shelter and meals. Read a Nov. 29, 2005, story from Tennessean.com. Room in the Inn has become a model for similar programs in Charlotte; Murfreesboro and Clarksville, Tenn.; Lexington, Ky., and elsewhere. Contact Campus for Human Development founding director Charles F. Strobel or Room in the Inn executive director Rachel Hester, 615-251-9791, charlestrobel@chd-nashville.org, or rachelhester@chd-nashville.org.
• UNITY of Greater New Orleans is working to end homelessness in that city – both for people who were homeless before Hurricane Katrina and those who lost their homes as a result of the storm. Read a March 28, 2007, story from The Christian Science Monitor, reporting the number of homeless needing shelter each night has doubled in the city, while emergency shelters have closed down. Contact UNITY executive director Martha Kegel, 504-821-4496, admin@unitygno.org.
• The Coalition for the Homeless in Louisville, in its homeless census, says that nearly 11,000 people used services for the homeless in the metropolitan area in 2006, including 652 youths not accompanied by an adult. Watch a video from the coalition’s Web site called “Our Forgotten Community.” Contact executive director Marlene Gordon, 502-589-0190, mogordon@bellsouth.net.

IN THE MIDWEST
• The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless works to empower homeless people in the Cleveland area. It’s involved in public advocacy on issues such as affordable housing and living wage legislation. It provides a free voice-mail service through which homeless people can retrieve phone messages from landlords, doctors, employers or loved ones. And it helps publish The Homeless Grapevine, a street newspaper distributed and written by people who are currently or formerly homeless (along with a blog on homelessness in the area). Contact coalition executive director Brian Davis, 216-432-0540, neoch@neoch.org.
• Vicki L. Dercher is executive director of the Johnson County Interfaith Hospitality Network in Olathe, Kan. This suburban county, part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, is considered one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S., according to the 2000 census, but the number of people living in poverty there is growing. Through the Hospitality Network, more than 30 congregations – from Seventh-day Adventist to Catholic – take turns providing overnight accommodations and meals to homeless families. Read a June 8, 2007, story from The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle about Jewish congregations getting involved. Contact 913-345-2121, JoCoIHN-Vicki@sbcglobal.net.
• Diane Nilan of Naperville, Ill., is a former shelter director who founded the nonprofit group Hear Us, to allow the voices of homeless children and youth to be heard. In 2005, Nilan sold her home and set off across the country to interview more than 70 homeless children and teenagers in 16 states, mostly in small towns and rural areas, and used those interviews to create the documentary video My Own Four Walls. She is the author of the 2006 book Crossing the Line: Taking Steps to End Homelessness. Contact 630-225-5012, diane@hearus.us.
• Interfaith Council for the Homeless in Chicago is working to break the cycle of homelessness. The council is involved in advocacy and providing resources to educate and empower homeless individuals and families. Contact executive director Bill Johnson, 773-265-1207, bill@ichchicago.org. A Chicago faith community can commit to sponsor a homeless family for a year through one program and work to move the family toward permanent housing. Contact the Rev. Mark W. Wendorf, 773-265-1207, mark@ichchicago.org.
• Susan Grettenberger is an assistant professor of social work at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich. She has done research for the Aspen Institute on the involvement of religious groups in providing social services. She also has done research for the for The Roundtable on Religion & Social Welfare Policy comparing secular and faith-based providers of housing for the homeless in Michigan. Contact 989-774-3591, grett1se@cmich.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Arizona state Rep. Robert Meza, a Democrat from Phoenix, has introduced legislation that would provide up to $5 million annually in unclaimed lottery prize money to assist nonprofit and faith-based groups that serve the homeless. Contact 602-926-3425, rmeza@azleg.gov.
• Oscar B. Goodman is mayor of Las Vegas and a supporter of an ordinance prohibiting the feeding of homeless people in city parks. Read a July 28, 2006, story from The New York Times. Contact 702-229-6241 or contact David Riggleman in the public affairs office, 702-229-6138, driggleman@lasvegasnevada.gov.
• Allen Lichtenstein is general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which has opposed the Las Vegas ordinance. Contact 702-366-1226, aclunv@aclunv.org.
• Community Partnership for the Homeless is a nonprofit group working to provide safe and affordable housing and support services to homeless people in Austin, Texas. Contact executive director Frank Fernandez, 512-469-9130, ffernandez@austinhomeless.org.
• Karen Dudley is founder and senior pastor of Dallas International Street Church, a nondenominational church of homeless people in Dallas. Contact 214-421-1288, streetsofdallas@yahoo.com.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• The Mental Health Chaplaincy is a Seattle program that has trained chaplains walking the city streets looking for vulnerable, mentally ill people who may need assistance. Chaplain Craig Rennebohm, a United Church of Christ minister and author of A Ministry of Presence, also visits patients in the mental health units of a local hospital. Contact craig@mentalhealthchaplain.org.
• Jana Drakka, a senior Soto Zen Buddhist priest and a calligrapher, holds memorial services for homeless and formerly homeless people who die. She also offers six meditation and harm reduction groups each week for the homeless though the San Francisco Zen Center. Read a Jan. 3, 2007, profile of her work with the homeless in the San Francisco Chronicle. She is also involved with Faithful Fools, a ministry to people in poverty. Contact 415-701-9123, liz2jan@yahoo.com.
• Temple Beth Am in Seattle, through its Repairing the World program, has become involved in advocacy and outreach on behalf of the homeless. It has hosted Tent City, a traveling community of people lacking permanent homes, and supports the Homeless To Renter (H2R) program, which helps homeless families move into affordable rental housing. Temple Beth Am also has sponsored educational forums exploring factors that contribute to people becoming homeless, including economic justice and health care issues. Contact Rabbis Jonathan Singer or Beth Singer, 206-525-0915, rabbijonathan@templebetham.org or rabbibeth@templebetham.org.
• Nancy Atchley is founder and executive director of Powerhouse Ministries in Folsom, Calif. With support from local churches, this interfaith group opened the Powerhouse Transition Shelter, the only homeless shelter in Folsom, in 2004, providing lodging, food and services to try to transition homeless individuals and families into long-term housing. Contact 916-983-0658, phoffice@powerhouse-ministries.org or nancy.atchley@powerhouse-ministries.org.