WiserEarth Area of Focus Suggestions

Whatever the reason people become homeless, we* all become penniless, cold, hot, hungry, confused, stressed, lonely and miserable. Homeless shelters are mostly breeding grounds of despair. Some people that purport to be helping the homeless are exploiting or judging them instead. Many over-churched folks think they can "earn points" or smooth out their "Karma" by reducing their stockpiles of worn and out-of-fashion clothing or donating canned goods and stale baloney sandwiches to a local mission. These uninformed "contributions" are quickly seen as hypocritical and of little lasting value to actual homeless people.

On the other side, many well-meaning advocates enter an altruistic effort only to find themselves overwhelmed by the chaos and intensity of urban impoverishment scenes. Crime, mental illness, addiction, despair, poor hygiene, hunger and a range of other conditions including the risk of violence can create culture shock, deep concern and possibly danger for those who really want to help. Further, well-intended contributions can be misspent on inappropriate measures, derailed within hoarding scenarios or embezzled by those in charge. These situations can go unchecked for years, only perpetuating the problem.

Virtually no sociological interaction and study exists to address homelessness in a vast number of cities. Urban institutions, both public and private, are essentially locked inside stagnant cultures of callousness and indifference. Charitable organizations that can help are in constant need of reliable data and criteria that is based in reality. Poverty and homelessness are neither attractive nor lucrative subjects of close direct experience for researchers and activists, but it is clear that solutions are needed more each passing day.

*The author is a homeless person using a borrowed computer.

So much needs to be done to understand the true nature of homelessness. A subjective look at the problem can be enlightening. Empirical data can be gleaned from close honest contact with urban refugees. Building dialog is of core significance in the following plan of action. A surprising number of homeless people you'll meet are intelligent, articulate, willing to work, and creative, which is profoundly contrary to media-formed belief. Some apparently homeless people have college degrees and are homeless by choice. You must meet us* in our element first. This solution outlines a collaborative effort to link urban refugees with rural communities, ecovillages and nature centers. It is very important for the homeless to maintain a healthy connection with the planet. Transportation is provided to give urban poor a taste of life in your suburban or country dreamland**.

This first "brush" is with a homeless community: the experience is completely two-way - community to community. An established rural or suburban group will enter their "mission field" usually an inner city and observe places like shelters and public squares. Most folks know that it's not wise to approach a throng of homeless ostensibly as someone with aid to give out or as representatives of anything. You are a group of learners approaching a group of teachers. Homeless networks in cities are characterized by movement within urban places of refuge such as rescue missions or public squares. The culture of homelessness can best be learned by direct experience as homeless people. (e.g. to learn to speak French correctly you should probably go to France or Quebec). You must learn the routines of movement and the language of your particular city. You may have a rugged individualist in your group who already knows his or her way around and where to get on the "tramp trail" or where the "hobo jungle" is but it's better to go in pairs.

Community building that is inclusive of the homeless requires...

*The author don't need your sympathy
**Even if it's humble

Mentors:

• The Food Not Bombs initiative has shown merit as "one of the fastest growing revolutionary movements active in North America today and is gaining momentum all over the world."
• The Memphis Leadership Foundation has made some progress with the Refugee Empowerment Program and the Cooperative Computer Ministry.
• Common Ground has an explicitly-stated mission to end homelessness. Some of their accomplishments are listed here.
  
• ...list more...
  

Community meets Community : This is not the rich meet the poor. This is not the saints meet the sinners. This is not the fortunate meeting the unfortunate. This is just two groups of people meeting each other. It's true that some homeless folk are isolationists. You as individuals may be called upon to "break someone out" of an psycho-social jail they've put themselves into. This becomes person-to-person and requires a lot of skill and training. Build your community first by looking for key cliques within the existing social fabric.

The first brush: It is called a "brush" to indicate extreme sensitivity. Your objective is to offer long-range opportunity and short-term relief. The people you come into contact with know that they are at a disadvantage. Whatever you do be sensitive.

DO - Go in as a group but split up. Keep meetings balanced one-on-one or two-on-two. Move slowly. Walk circumspectly. Dress appropriately and casually as yourselves. Be discreet but not deceptive. Earn trust. Make Friends.

DON'T - Congregate yourselves or or regroup inappropriately. Don't flaunt anything that indicates affluence. Don't carry signs, wear flamboyant clothing (unless that's your "norm") or make a scene.

Make the map: Think of yourselves as community cartographers. Find a map of the city in whatever form is good for you. Shared "My Maps" on maps.google.com are great*. One of your objectives is to help form criteria for relief and rescue strategies for formal charities. That's how you secure funding. The community map is your first asset.

DO - Explore. As the locals introduce you to public places, programs, problem areas, and other points of interests take note of street names, informal names, trails, shortcuts, etc. Make it a treasure hunt for peace-making data and community resource cataloging. This is the fun part!

DON'T - Record personal information nor mark private homes, squats, hideouts, or anything that can compromise anyone's privacy, dignity or freedom. You are not that kind of informant.

Get everyone online: Most inner cities have a public library, church or facility where even the homeless can get online. A very good way to empower disenfranchised urban transients is to show them around the world of computing and the Internet. They should be able to join or create or collaborations like WiserEarth.org. Find several public access computers that can be accessed without charge and enter their locations on the community map and share the map inclusively.

DO - Subject yourself to the same conditions as your inner-city counter parts and assess the resource on your own. Log on to whatever web projects you work with and make sure there are no proxy issues. Also keep an eye out and an ear to the ground for locals who are already computer savvy. Try to plug them into resources.

DON'T - Intimidate folks with more information than is appropriate or burden them with unwanted responsibility. Some people just really want nothing to do with computing. It's an opportunity, not a requirement.

Organize a ride: The long-term objective is to create a way out of the situation of homelessness for an entire group of people who may or may not know each other ...yet. You are community-builders not just a transportation service, computer literacy program or relief effort. The thing is to build two communities into one while preserving the positive elements of all three cultures - urban, suburban and rural. Sometimes just a little break from the urban environment is extremely positive, especially for those who feel hopelessly trapped**.

DO - Use whatever means you must to introduce your new friends to the world outside... anywhere outside. Take a couple of people to a college campus, community garden, state park, nature center or farm. Build trust and a friendship by sharing your resources.

DON'T - Compromise anyone's safety, security, or possessions. Make sure you know the person well before taking this crucial step. It's probably a good idea to go two-with-two or a small mixed group in a bus.

Repeat the social processes and grow in character as you come out of your comfort zone and into someone elses. Everyone senses that we have to come together to solve problems. Classism is just silly. The problems are growing - shouldn't we?

Repeat, Grow and Build

Resources: Now you should have a set of new friends, a community map, some connections with local relief agencies, knowledge of public access to computers and some established routes and routines. Put all that together and you have what can be called an organization.

Networks: Computer literacy is an empowerment tool. As you network socially, you can also network electronically. Many towns and cities have places to recycle older computers. A nice thing to do is tap into the waste stream and reclaim laptops, consoles and older servers. A small team of technical types can establish a repair shop with on-the-job-training for interns. using free (libre) and open source software such as Linux and FreeBSD, these machines can be re-programmed as networked workstations and servers for projects.

Businesses: If you are connected to a CSA become a proponent of inclusion. CSA farms need workers and urban poor need jobs. The bus, van or carpool can double as a transport into town for goods and produce and a way out for refugees. Scheduling regular trips and building business relationships could jumpstart a local economy-of-scale that could morph into an enterprise.

Communities: Everyone is aware of Habitat for Humanity but do they know that it's history began as an intercultural intentional farm community? Ecovillages are an advanced paradigm combining ecology, permaculture, simple living and renewable energy on a village scale. This genre of lifestyle can be implemented in urban situations also.

Context: As peak oil and climate change continue up their exponential curve, our progress toward transition must also accelerate. For every affluent their is an effluent and eventually their shall be a confluence. Change sometimes requires pain and sacrifice but if we continue working to include everyone, we become a movement.

*The author is a Google fanboy.
**Author is a *nix freak

CQ - I've spent many a night in Jackson Square in New Orleans, camped behind the Pyramid in Memphis in 9 degree weather, showered with 18 other men at Nashville Rescue Mission... I've been there so here's some of my tips:

• Don't get hung up on vice. Drinking alcohol and using tobacco is a normal part of life on the streets, so if you can spare a smoke, spare a smoke. It's a welcome comfort to a vast population.
• Jesus tells us not to judge. The way to make your experience as subjective and relevant as possible - become homeless for real. Once you feel the despair, you'll be changed. 
• I almost always carry a harmonica and I have a unique ability to play a complex tune on my bare hands. Sometimes I can break up an atmosphere of total despair just by hitting a lick or blowing out a funny tune. When all the heads that were hanging down look over at me and smile, it's worth a month's wages working for 'the man'.
• Humor and wit are always fun and proper with street people, but there are things that offend. Learn the culture by learning the language... especially the body language. Much of communicating is with the eyes.
• The police aren't necessarily the bad guys. If only they all knew that. If you look homeless and hang with the homeless, you are treated like the homeless. This really takes you by surprise the first time, but you get used to it.
• The first thing you have to learn is where to find drinking water and a kosher place to relieve yourself. You aren't welcome in stores, hotels, bars, malls... even some bus stations are off limits. It's even worse when the weather is bad.
• Follow the wise ones. You quickly get a sense of who to trust. Don't be too quick to form opinions, especially if you're in the habit of going by appearance. Don't do that. Some homeless people have friends and relatives in high social positions. Others are connected with violent gangs and organized crime.
• Stay with the crowd or in high visibility zones or healthy public places like libraries. I've never been denied access to a library.
• Learn the geography and make the most of your time online. Kudos to Google for pioneering cloud computing. Online maps are especially good to have handy. 
• ...these can go on and on...

New - Add yours:

• More tips

We'll need:

• a bus
• hand-held GPS device
• old computers
• hand tools
• seeds
• ...