The homeless guy (2002-09-26)
When I was an undergrad at Evergreen, I read Richard Sennet's Uses of Disorder and took it to heart. I wanted to create a space where rich and poor people could meet and interact. I was in a community development program. We examined the shrinking of public space and the push to sanitize what was left of it with laws against sitting on sidewalks, loitering, panhandling, distributing food, etc. I wanted to create a cafe where people of all walks of life would feel welcome and would exchange ideas and stories. I thought if people sat down together and had a conversation, they would have more compassion for each other, or at least less enmity. Yes, this was an idealistic notion. Yes, I graduated and went on to other ideas.

It was 1995. I went on to work for the ACLU. The web exploded. I earned a grad degree, worked at a startup or two, and started a career in writing. It wasn't until I ran across the homeless guy blog that I remembered my old idea.

Kevin Michael Barbieux, of Nashville, Tennessee, writes a blog about himself and his life without a home. His FAQ is full of practical advice on how to help homeless people--from how to approach people respectfully to whether it's safe to offer someone a ride. He writes using the free computers at public libraries. While his is a small part in a big web, it's there. I found it. USAToday.com found it. Steve Outing found it and posted it on Poynter's E-Media Tidbits. And so it gets read.

Longfellow wrote, "If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find... enough to disarm all hostility." Maybe people who read Kevin's blog will be inspired to see things differently. And maybe they will do something about it.

Welfare and teens (2002-08-08)
A recent research report reveals how Welfare policies affect teens. The findings indicate that parents participating in Welfare programs reported worse school performance, a higher rate of grade repetition, and more use of special educational services among their teen children than parents not on Welfare.

Homeless get counted -- at what cost? (2002-07-03)
The federal government wants to track the nation's homeless using Web tech. Here's why. Advocates for the homeless have argued that tracking systems don't adequately protect privacy and take up funds that could be used to provide more shelters or housing.

Humanities for the homeless (2002-07-02)
Thirty-two 32 colleges in the U.S., Canada and Mexico offer a first-year college humanities course developed for homeless people. Find out more.

Poor kids in the heartland (2002-07-02)
A recent report from the Children's Defense Fund found that 38 U.S. counties have a higher child poverty rate than the country's poorest big cities. In 14 of the counties, more than fifty percent of the county's kids live in poverty.

Semper Fi (2002-03-25)
For many veterans, the fighting didn’t end when they returned home. Some continue to combat trauma, alcoholism or substance abuse. Some fight to eke out a living on the fringes of a society that forgot or rejected them. They are disowned, dispossessed, weary and wary. On Saturday, at the Brevard Stand Down in Cocoa, they got a day to rest up, patch up, eat up before they resumed their private battles.

The term stand down dates to the Vietnam War, and refers to exhausted combat units returning from the jungle to rest and recover. It’s now the vernacular for events that take place across the country to help homeless vets come in from the cold--or better their chances for survival on the street.

Semper fidelis. Always faithful. Leave no man behind. Veterans continue to look after their own.

The Korean War Veterans Association, Disabled American Veterans, Brevard Veterans Council, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, former WAVES and former Lady Marines joined Wuestoff Hospital, the Veteran’s Administration, Volunteers of America and Brevard Job Link to put on the Brevard Stand Down. Folding tables flanked the perimeter of the Armory’s large hall. Behind each, doctors, lawyers, nurses, food servers, clergy members, employment specialists, and social workers served over 100 veterans who ambled, limped, and shuffled in.

Attorney Leonard Speilvogel spent the day helping vets with their legal problems: writing up wills; answering questions about divorce, VA claims, criminal proceedings--even real estate transactions. Circuit Judge Charles Holcomb joined him at the table to show his support. Both men are veterans, ex-Marines.

“We owe a great debt to our veterans,” says Holcomb, “…It really breaks your heart to see veterans who gave so much so down and out.”

Behind a gauzy blue curtain in the corner of the hall, a hairdresser runs a free barber shop. A veteran herself, she hasn’t forgotten when she was homeless and veterans organizations helped her put her life back together. Now that she’s got a job at Supercuts, she’s sees donating her skills as just giving back.

“We should have more than this, really,” she says.

At the clothing table, a young girl smiles up to a weathered man in baggy pants, cuffs dragging, who has shuffled up to inspect what’s on offer. At a nearby table, women load up bags of non-perishables. The men of the Korean War Veterans’ Association, bent with age, meander back and forth, helping veterans from place to place. Men with faded blue tattoos and ball caps hunker down at tables in the center of the hall to enjoy a hot lunch.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are over 1,000 homeless veterans in Brevard County. They make up roughly 40 percent of the county’s homeless population.

Bill Vagianos, a Vietnam veteran and clinical outreach specialist for the Veterans Health Administration, says, “What these do is say, yeah, we care.”

Still out in the cold (2002-02-14)
A survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors released in December 2001 found:

• Requests for emergency shelter in 27 cities increased an average of 13 percent over last year.
  
• Requests for shelter from families with children increased in 75 percent of the cities surveyed.
  
• Eight cities identified domestic violence as a primary cause of homelessness: Burlington, Denver, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, and St. Louis.

See D.C. run: What Bush and the Dems promise poor kids (2002-02-12)
I could have sent my daughter to law school at UW for the price I paid for her child care tuition in Seattle--and this was the going rate. Child care expenses range anywhere from ,000 to ,000 a year per child. Women on cash assistance face similar costs but have a lot less cash. Yet they have to work or attend job training to continue receiving assistance--so they need child care.

When people in power mention funding for early childhood education, I sure as hell pay attention. So, when Bush slipped in, "We need to prepare our children to read and succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood development programs," during his State of the Union Address, I checked it out.

Bush's 2003 budget proposal includes a plan to move Head Start to the Department of Education and to implement a literacy program in existing preschools and Head Start programs. However, his budget doesn't increase federal funds for child care in 2003 even though the states are facing depleted tax revenues and greater demand for cash assistance and will need more federal money if they are keep their child care programs going.

Back in December, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) introduced the Child Development and Family Employment Act of 2002 (H.R. 3524). The bill proposes .5 billion in funds over five years to increase the availability and affordability of quality child care.

The Child Care Development Block Grant and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families legislation are up for federal reauthorization this year. Child advocates are gearing up to ensure that kids don't get lost in the budget shuffle.