Robert Sondak Spare Change News Ecclesia Ministries, is an ecumenical urban church without a building that helps to transform the lives of Boston’s homeless and low-income people through a series of weekly church and social service programs. Its mission is to take the gifts of church out to people who cannot, for whatever reason, come…
Activists See Homeless Teens as Growing Problem in Massachusetts
By Colleen Quinn STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 18, 2012…..Diamond McMillion vividly remembers constantly feeling cold when she became homeless at 16 years old. For the first two years she lived on the streets – sleeping in elevator shafts, under bridges, in parks – she could not shake the cold. “There was…
Housing, Homelessness Prevention and Emergency Services
Kelly Turley of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless spoke at Rosie’s Place on March 21 about housing issues, and some of the problems that we deal with every day. The main issue was how we ladies deal with our financial problems while we’re homeless or before we become homeless. Many ladies pointed out to…
SETTLING FOR LESS
James Shearer Spare Change News A couple of days ago I participated in a forum, The MetroWest Homelessness Forum in Wellesley (Yes there is homelessness in Wellesley.) It was inspiring. I felt a ray of hope, which is pretty unusual these days. Most of the time when I go to an event like this with…
Nick Flynn: From Boston’s Pine Street Inn to Hollywood
Nick Flynn grew up on Boston’s South Shore and spent six years working at the Pine Street Inn, Boston’s largest homeless shelter. Raised by his mother, Jody, who committed suicide when he was 22, Flynn hadn’t seen or spoken to his father in 18 years, until Jonathan Flynn called Nick out of the blue and…
Settling for Less
James Shearer Spare Change News A couple of days ago I participated in a forum, The MetroWest Homelessness Forum in Wellesley (Yes there is homelessness in Wellesley.) It was inspiring. I felt a ray of hope, which is pretty unusual these days. Most of the time when I go to an event like this with…
Northeastern Students Promote Literacy in Family Shelter
Noelle Swan Spare Change News Nine college girls, one professor, one photographer, and a Spare Change reporter spill out of a tiny elevator and into the lobby of Families in Transition, a temporary shelter for families awaiting housing at the Huntington Avenue YMCA in Boston. “Why don’t you go get Sebastian?” Professor Therese O’Neil-Pirozzi asks…
Another battle expected on funding for homeless programs
Tom Benner Spare Change News WELLESLEY — The Patrick administration is trying for a second year in a row to move money currently used to put up the homeless in shelters and motels into permanent housing solutions. But another battle is expected at the State House as advocates differ over the most controversial aspect of…
Editorial: Homeless Hotspots and Sandwich Boards
Since the time of Charles Dickens in the 1800s, the poor and downtrodden have been used in various ways in society, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. The premises and outcomes of this kind of hiring of the disadvantaged are up for review and one ought to understand their clear implications about how a…
INSP offers alternative to ‘Homeless Hotspots’
STREET NEWS SERVICE March 13, 2012 Whilst technology specialists, brand experts and journalists debate the controversial ‘Homeless Hotspots’ initiative of a global ad agency, the International Network of Street Papers’ latest digital project proves that the street paper model is very much alive. Whilst technology specialists, brand experts and journalists debate the controversial ‘Homeless Hotspots’…