Press Release for Monday, March 8, 2010
UNF Hosts Jacksonville Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau Forum
Share
Joanna Norris, Assistant Director
Department of Media Relations and Events
(904) 620-2102
The American
Democracy Project at the University of
North Florida and the Emergency
Services and Homeless Coalition (ESHC) are sponsoring the Jacksonville Faces of
Homelessness Speakers Bureau Forum at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 22, at the University Center (
Board of Trustees Room 1058)
on campus.
This
event is free and open to the public. All donations collected will be provided
to the speakers, who are formerly or presently struggling with poverty and
homelessness. For more information about this event, contact Erin Dupree at
(904) 859-2431.
The forum includes an overview about
homelessness on a local, state and national level presented by Tamara Patton,
Americorps VISTA for the ESHC, and is then followed by local speakers who will
share their moving experiences about homelessness.
Across the state of Florida, 85,907 people
are homeless on any given day and 40 percent of all homeless people are
families. In Jacksonville, 46 percent of the
homeless population is homeless for the first time and one-third of them were
born and raised right here on the First
Coast.
Several UNF students have organized the event as a result of
attending The Resolve to Fight Hunger and Homeless conference in Chicago last fall. UNF
student Cody Spencer, a senior majoring in sociology with a concentration in
social welfare, has always been interested in why people become homeless but,
it wasn’t until he started volunteering that he became motivated to do
something about it.
“The reason I’m so passionate about the homeless is because
they’re people just like you and me. No one chooses to be discarded, forgotten
and overlooked,” he said.
Spencer has personally talked to homeless individuals from
all walks of life as part of the annual Homeless Census Survey, led by UNF
sociology professor Dr. Jeff Will, as well as spent time last summer working on
the project, Food for Thought: A Community Outreach Initiative, to raise money
for the Sulzbacher
Center. The proceeds were
used to serve a meal at the center.
UNF senior, Erin Dupree, a psychology major, also attended
the hunger and homeless conference last fall and believes as members of the
wealthiest society in the world, it’s essential to our humanity that we don’t
ignore the poorest and least fortunate among us. “In order to attack the causes
of homelessness—a need for affordable housing and jobs with livable wages—we
have to have conversations within our communities about the individuals and
families who are falling through the cracks.”
Patton hopes that the event will dispel misconceptions and
stereotypes about the homeless community and will hopefully reconnect them with
Northeast Florida residents on a more personal
level.
“So often there is a disconnection
in a community between people who are experiencing homelessness and those who
are not. This is due to the perceptions about homelessness from the media, our
families, etc.,” said Patton. “Through these individual’s personal stories, the
issues surrounding homelessness are brought closer to home and remind the
audience that not only are these people neighbors and members of the community,
but that it can happen to anyone.”
The Emergency Services and Homeless Coalition of
Jacksonville coordinates efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness. As a lead
agency for Duval, Clay and Nassau
counties, ESHC assists member organizations in applying for and receiving
federal and state grant money, develops the local homeless continuum of care
plan and coordinates the delivery of services for the homeless and those with
extremely low incomes. With two employees, ESHC supports an Americorps VISTA
who coordinates the Jacksonville Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau.
Beginning in September of 2009, the Jacksonville Faces of
Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau has reached more than 350 children and adults and
currently has 21 speakers. For more information, contact Tamara Patton at (904)
384-0164 or by e-mail at tpatton@eshcnet.org.
The American Democracy Project targets undergraduate
students enrolled at institutions that are members of the American Association
of State Colleges and Universities. The project grows out of concern about
decreasing rates of participation in civic life among Americans in the areas of
voting, advocacy, local grassroots associations, and other forms of civic
engagement that are necessary for the vitality of our democracy.
-
UNF-
.gif)
