0 Time 4 Compassion Epidemic In Your Community

The swirl of concern inspired by the latest shooting tragedy, snuffing the lives of 20 innocent little kids and 7 adults in the path of senseless bullets, will likely dwindle in our ADD/ADHD collective psyche. In the dust, if anyone cares to look, are millions of kids clamoring for adult attention and action.

Look in the eyes of this child and make a silent promise to do SOMETHING to make life better for kids in your community. 

HEAR US Inc.  strives to create a compassion epidemic for homeless children/youth in every community. You are cordially invited to learn more and do more.

As we near the end of 2012, and I'm rolling in my 8th year of a challenging but rewarding cross-country sojourn, here are some important observations from my travels....

First:

• Homelessness among families/youth is soaring. Despite the hugely questionable data being touted by HUD and a national homelessness group, showing homelessness going down (based on dubious survey methods and an even worse definition of homelessness), every indication shows millions of invisible families and youth bearing the brunt of this brutally unequal economy.
• Efforts to help homeless families and youth are severely strained. I've yet to hear one organization say anything like--we've got it under control, we have lots of resources, our numbers are dropping, our donations are soaring.
• The safety net does not exist in any meaningful way in any community. That's right. The myth that we have a safety net is a myth. 
• Babies and toddlers are the upcoming homeless student population. By the hundreds of thousands (I fear even more), the Littlest Nomads are being neglect in the prime of their development cycle. They'll show up at school doors unprepared and unable to succeed. 
• Record numbers of homeless kids are moving into adulthood. Sure, some kids will succeed and be independent and productive, but the odds are perilously stacked against them. 

Second:

• A different paradigm is needed. Communities are dutifully dusting off the old tried and failed version of HUD's 10 year plan to end homelessness for round 2. They have to, in order to get HUD funding, but it's far past time for a new approach that doesn't ignore/discount/dismiss the needs of the majority of the homeless population--families and youth.
• Thinking that homeless families and youth can make it on their own is hogwash. Not to dismiss the gallant efforts and stellar abilities of an untold number of house-less parents and kids, but the deck is so significantly stacked against them that it's an unfair fight. Housing assistance wait lists, debt and police record barriers, skyrocketing unemployment, shrinking health services, and diminishing child care are just a few obstacles to success.

Most important (ACTION!), third: 

This is no time to wimp out. The old adage, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" needs to kick into gear big time. 

• Newly (re)elected members of Congress need serious work to do. These homeless families and youth are their constituents, albeit a tad powerless. Local efforts can change that. Involve their local office in this unaddressed issue.
• Legislators are clueless as to the scope of homelessness in their communities. 
• Give them a copy of My Own Four Walls (dvd), on the edge: Family Homelessness in America (dvd), or host a screening in your community and make sure they're in the audience. (preview short trailers on our website, http://hearus.us) Anyone in the audience--from parents without homes to parents with more than adequate homes-- can benefit.
• Let them know you think this issue is vital. Invite them to visit and volunteer at local shelters, if your community has them.
• We can all do something to help. See above. 

It's time for a compassion epidemic in every community across this great land. The only thing stopping us is us.

• Check the discussion guides on the HEAR US website. All designed to inform and inspire. 
• Kids experience trauma all the time. It's up to the rest of us to help them cope with the hand they've been dealt. Here's one resource. But remember, it's how we treat the kids around us that can create a ripple effect of compassion.

Whatever fuels your determination to make a difference in your community, thereby creating a ripple of compassion, joining with like-minded persons across the land...well, it's time. Compassion epidemic, catch it!

Detail: Time 4 Compassion Epidemic In Your Community

0 We Proved It. Now What?

"Prove it," my boss demanded before she would agree to my request for a raise. "Prove you really deserve more money." I scrambled off, determined...sometimes I won, sometimes not.

I've been around the world of homelessness since before the government hid behind the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act which passed in 1987. I say "hid behind" because it's been mostly a progression of lackluster efforts, especially from the standpoint of anyone who's been homeless.

I figured it for a smoke screen, but we all pursued the counting angels on the head of a pin nature of documenting how many homeless kids are out here with hope that the huge numbers would bring about a change of the bureaucratic stone-heart and loosen resources to help these kids.

I'm not a numbers person, but I have to say the efforts and results have been impressive. The Huffington Post article that highlighted that issue pointed out:

The government report said 1,065,794 homeless kids were enrolled in schools in the 2010-2011 school year, an increase of 13 percent from the previous year and 57 percent since the start of the recession in 2007.

Consider the daunting challenge of counting homeless children and youth: Families/youth are ashamed, therefore don't volunteer the information to schools about their plight. Parents fear the kids will be removed from their care because of homelessness. Kids don't want to be made to change schools, and despite a 10-year-old federal law that says that won't happen (McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children Act), it occasionally does (not if we can help it).

Important clarification about the 1 million number. It represents probably half the kids in school who are homeless. It doesn't include their younger siblings--Littlest Nomads--the babies and toddlers not in school, or the teens and young adults out of school and homeless. Some of us believe those numbers, plus the parents of kids in this dire situation, would add at least 3-4 million to the count.

And what do those numbers mean? Nothing.

The resources to help homeless students, under our favorite federal law, the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children Act, are less than what it costs to maintain 70 soldiers in Afghanistan, about $70 mil. Less than 10% of the 16k school districts nationwide get any of that money that Congress still needs to appropriate.

If you need a textbook example of how bad this gross negligence of homeless kids is, take the example of Albuquerque, NM, a decent city of about 500k. They recently reported over 4,000 homeless kids UNDER THE AGE OF 6!! Those do-nothing Littlest Nomads freeloaders....

Think how it could have been different--if all the money tossed at bean-counters, software, and meaningless reports to Congress could have been used to, um, house and help families and youth who  desperately cling to hope that we'll stop dinking around and start using what we have to actually address homelessness instead of dither.

So, as HEAR US Inc. enters our 8th (yup, that's right!) year, I'm vowing to pull out all the stops in throwing these astonishing and dismaying numbers in the faces of policymakers, no matter what or how.

Stay tuned! (Follow my travels on Facebook. Keep up with HEAR US on Facebook too.) I can promise it's gonna get, um, interesting, way more than the bean-counters expect.

Detail: We Proved It. Now What?

0 Sigh...Homeless Families: They're Everywhere.

Picture a nondescript New England town on a raw, dreary early June day. I stopped at a gas station to get much-needed propane.

As the very clean-cut man read the impossible-to-ignore signage as he filled Tillie's tank he asked me about what I do. I gave him my standard spiel, I used to run a homeless shelter (actually 2). 7 years ago I went on the road to give homeless kids a chance to tell what it was like to be homeless. (Here's a spread in UNCENSORED magazine that I did which gives you a better idea what I'm up to...worth checking out!)


Do you have a brochure? Well, I do, but not something easy to find. (Memo to self, work on that one.)

As I went inside to pay, I handed the guy a Littlest Nomads card, the best I could do without digging deep into Tillie's bowels.

He sighed and told me about a young woman he knows, a single mom with 2 kids, one 10, the other 4. She had been living with her mother but was just kicked out and now she was homeless. She's not a bad kid, he offered as if I needed convincing.

Does the federal government have any help for someone like this family? I sighed. Not an easy answer. He sure didn't want to hear about our campaign to get HUD to improve their definition of homelessness so at least this family would be counted in the annual homeless census that gets reported to Congress.

I opted to tell him the harsh truth: the feds partially fund some shelters, if a community even has them. But most of the time the shelters are full and turn families away. Then parents face tough "choices," aka survival. She might be able to get some help at the local welfare office, I lamely suggested.

He sighed. He said he gave the mom $60 yesterday so she could get a motel room. I sighed when I pictured her dilemma. Where will she get $60 a night for a motel room?

He sighed and thanked me for the info. I sighed and drove away. Then I fumed.

It's bad enough families go through whatever leads up to their homelessness. But shit happens. To "good" families as well as "bad." The real shit happens when families go looking for help.

I have seen and heard what happens, countless times. It's ugly. And it's frustrating because it's happening to more and more families (as well as single adults and unaccompanied youth). The economy stinks. That means while the government piles on the money for bankers and corporations it piles on the misery for those on the bottom of the ever-growing heap.

And presidential candidates pile up the campaign funds, sucking the wind out of media, as stories of suffering and injustice go untold.

Truth be told, it's likely that this family is screwed without some unimaginable intervention. I'd bet that this little town has no shelter. The mom will likely have nowhere to turn. These kids will learn the hard way that they don't count. Sigh.

The one thing you can do to help (besides supporting HEAR US Inc.) is to go to our campaign to get HUD to change their definition of homelessness. It sounds like a strange campaign, but this web site will explain all about it: http://helphomelesskidsnow.org. It also gives you a simple thing to do--to urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor HR 32, the Homeless Children and Youth Act.

Think of this mom and her kids. And millions more like them here in the good ol' US of A. At least this gas station guy did something to help a little bit. I guess that's what it's going to take. Sigh. Growl.

Detail: Sigh...Homeless Families: They're Everywhere.

0 Counting Homeless Kids--Do They Count?

In a couple nights countless teams of volunteers and staff across the country will fan out and count the uncountable--homeless adults and kids for HUD's annual "Point in Time" count. It's a gallant effort. But too bad it's a misguided one.

3 sisters in Reno, NV bemoan their plight

You see, and this is where it gets confusing, the definition of "homelessness" is different depending on the federal department using it. And HUD, the primary source of funding to address homelessness (albeit inadequately), has a very narrow, inaccurate definition that excludes lots of kids and families.

Why does this seemingly obscure issue rate a mention? Well, since the beginning of the federal McKinney (now McKinney-Vento) homeless programs in 1987, Congress--the body that decides funding for agencies--has been, well, confused. I suspect they think all homeless people are, well, bums.

Now I'll be the first to dispel the myths about homeless adults, having run shelters for 15 years. Homeless adults need and deserve all kinds of help. It's not--nor should it be--"us vs. them" when it comes to funding. But the level at which families and kids have been excluded is obscene.

Camping in NW Oregon. 3 girls and parents.

Families, and youth on their own, often need to be "creative" when it comes to finding a roof over their heads. Shelters, if their community has any, are typically full. Doubling up with others, couch surfing, motels, and campgrounds become stop-gap precarious solutions. I've seen families in tents on the edge of town, in campgrounds (freezing with no access to heat), in vans and cars, and in no-tell motels that wouldn't be appropriate for anyone, much less kids. (Watch CBS 60 Minutes segment on families living in cars.)

Clearly, Congress, federal (state and local) bureaucrats and policymakers just don't get it. Which is why some of us worked hard to facilitate a Congressional hearing on homeless kids by courageous homeless kids. (See it)

 Here's something people don't realize about numbers:

• Schools have identified (2009-10 school year) nearly 1 million students without homes. (This is probably 1/2 of the actual homeless student population--they're hard to identify.)
• That doesn't include an estimated 2-3 million youth not in school (and not with parent/guardian)
• Nor does it include younger siblings (infants-5 year old), a number that could easily hit 1 million.

Do the math. Probably something near 6 million KIDS.

So, when HUD reports a mere 650,000 or so homeless people counted in these PIT tallies, and Congress responds in kind with chump change for homeless programs, well, it's infuriating. And it's wrong. Which is why I got a little, umm, testy when being interviewed on CNN last month.

An effort is afoot in Congress to change the definition. Yep, it will increase the numbers. But at least we won't continue to be stumbling in the dark, ignoring reality.

And HEAR US is working with a small group of people to shine a LED spotlight on the ultra-ignored segment of the homeless population, homeless infants and toddlers. Littlest Nomads we call them.

Seems to me that it's time to have a big ol' camp out in front of the Capitol. It will make it easier to count the growing number of people without homes. Then what will the excuse be?

Detail: Counting Homeless Kids--Do They Count?

0 We've Failed Little Farmers

Plant it and it will grow, at least in places like Eugene, Oregon. But this progressive, verdant community just learned that a valuable asset, the one place little kids can be during the day to escape homelessness and to learn how to be healthy, happy kids is closing. (read the story)

I witnessed the thrill of 3 - 4 year-old toddlers learning the basics of agriculture from Farmer John who every year volunteers to come to First Place Kids Center to give these little ones the all-important lesson of how food gets to our mouths. They attentively knelt at his side near the raised bed plots behind First Place Center and listened, dug, planted and watered their choice of greens. They inspected the blueberry bushes together, excited about the soon-to-emerge succulent berries.

Sadder than a drought or blight, these love-planted crops will have no knee-high farmers to reap the produce of their efforts. Twenty or so little ones are being booted to the streets by cruel budget cuts. Their cutting-edge day care center that focuses so specially on unique needs of highly-mobile and homeless toddlers, an at-risk population growing like weeds in affluent America. will close their doors on June 3rd. (My 1-min. YouTube video)

Few have paid attention to the fact that homeless toddlers are the largest percentage of this nation's homeless population. This bumper-crop is being neglected in their period of vulnerable growth--when experts say vital developmental occurrences will happen or not--the groundwork for productive lives. We've tossed these little kids under the budget bus.

A combination of local funding cuts from a beleaguered United Way and federal/state support was the one-two punch for 1st Place Kids Center. Now Eugene's homeless families--who must cope with the summer closing of their church-based overnight shelter--now have no safe, nurturing place to plant their little ones while these parents go to work, look for jobs, comply with welfare-mandated appointments, seek housing, etc. They'll walk around town, toddler in tow, navigating weather, municipal codes, and societal restrictions and cope somehow with babies with colic and diaper rash, toddlers with flu and fits, and with every parent's need for time away from crying babies.

These "Littlest Nomads" will learn from the streets. They'll ask about their spinach plants, the blueberries and strawberries hanging on their stems, neglected as these little ones. How do you explain that no one is harvesting this hopeful crop? ACTION: Ask Eugene's Mayor Piercy to intervene before these families learn that their precious little children don't count. Sign this petition.

Seems to me someone has some explaining to do. Why do we pretend to care about nutrition and nurturing when we find it so easy to let these resources go to seed and weed? When will these kids matter? When will we care about spending our money on development--of potential and possibilities--instead of punitive poverty penalties that we've gotten so used to distributing?

Detail: We've Failed Little Farmers

0 Homeless Kids of All Ages Thrown Under the Budget-Busting Bus

The longer I stayed to film at First Place Kids Center in Eugene, OR, the more furious I got. Nothing about this center's pending closing makes any sense. But what does nowadays?

If you think budget cut talk is a bunch of hype, think again. I hear and see worthy efforts being stymied or slashed to death, as is this kids' center, everywhere I turn. The carnage hits all age brackets and all on the poverty spectrum. My bias--it's the little kids that have the most to lose. That's certainly the case for Eugene's "littlest nomads" without this first-class daycare program.

The kids lose. They're in the most crucial development stage of their life. Stimuli, learning opportunities, socialization, nutrition, structure, stability...all of this and more are what they need lots of, in a safe, clean environment. Sorry, despite best effort of parents and shelters, those environments usually lack what these kids need.

Parents lose. Ever try to look for a job or housing with a 3-year-old? Do you feel guilty when you can't provide a decent meal, clean diapers, or just some quality time with your little one? Have you ever spent a rainy, chilly day in a beater-car with your little one(s)? I'll stop here. You get the idea.

We lose. When kids show up to school, they should be school-ready. But kids don't become school-ready magically. It takes loving effort--lots of it--like what I saw at the Kids Center (1-min. video I shot). When kids aren't school ready, their chances of success--at school and life--diminish. You can figure what happens then.

I'd like to be an optimist, but these are not the days for Pollyanna. These are days for Diane the Fire-breathing Dragon. The daily litany of drastic cuts on local, state and federal levels targeting these kids, and the rest makes me agree with my friend Pat LaMarche who penned a powerful HuffPo piece about politicians' contempt for the poor. I can't figure another way to take this. You can tell me if Pat/I are wrong.

Seems to me that we should have been paying closer attention to the riots in Egypt. The injustice they were fighting against, the have-lots' contempt for the poor, is the same thing we're seeing here. The difference--we elected these contemptible hypocrites. You can figure out what needs to be done....

Detail: Homeless Kids of All Ages Thrown Under the Budget-Busting Bus