Recently, I had the opportunity to volunteer at an event called Project Homeless Connect. This takes place twice annually in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where around 100 different homelessness service providers all set up tables in the convention center to provide a one-stop shop for homeless and near-homeless individuals seeking help. This year's event had a tremendous outpouring of volunteers from the community--over 1400!
Because of this huge number of volunteers, each guest (this is how we referred to the homeless individuals, in an effort to promote an atmosphere of hospitality) worked one-on-one with a volunteer who went through an intake survey and then helped them navigate the convention center to find the services they were looking for. This setup not only was good for the guests, but it also gave each volunteer the opportunity to hear a story, and hopefully better understand homelessness.
Too often the only face of homelessness people see is the adult male panhandler. This is certainly one face of homelessness, but a minority in terms of what homelessness really looks like (47% of Minnesota homeless are 21 or younger). I had the good fortune of working with a middle-aged Black man who I'll call Dan (a pseudonym to respect his privacy).
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