Category: Homelessness & Poverty
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Big Talk: Walsh functionally ends veteran homelessness, brags to Obama
This article comes courtesy of Boston Institute from Nonprofit Journalism. “I am so proud to announce: we have ended chronic veterans’ homelessness in Boston.” So said Mayor Marty Walsh in last week’s State of the City address, and in a follow-up tweet copying @WhiteHouse, @FLOTUS, @POTUS, and @SecretaryCastro for good measure. It’s a bold claim,…
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Veterans Legal Services: Pro-bono legal help for homeless and struggling troops
Photo: Veterans Legal Services Coming back is never easy, but for the hundreds of veterans struggling with legal issues and fighting to stay off the streets, Veterans Legal Services (VLS), the Boston-based nonprofit legal team dedicated to providing pro-bono legal aid to veterans who are currently homeless or at risk of losing their homes, is…
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“No person should have to live or die homeless”: US street papers unite to cover National Homeless Person’s Memorial Day
Courtesy of INSP News Service www.INSP.ngo / Street Sense By Ethan Cohen, One Step Away; Colleen Cosgriff, Dottie Kramer and Reginald Black, Street Sense; Alex Ramirez, Spare Change News Photo: Alena Kuzub Just days before Christmas, thousands of people across the U.S. gathered to remember the homeless and formerly-homeless people who died in 2015. INSP members…
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Family Reunions Through Miracle Messages
Miracle Messages, based in San Francisco, is an organization that assists homeless individuals reunite with their lost loved ones using short video messages. Kevin Adler, chief executive officer of the organization, started the organization in honor of his uncle Mark in December 2014. His uncle lived on and off the streets for 30 years and…
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Disney donation to help homeless families get off the streets
Photo: Richard Stephenson Walt Disney World Resort has given advocates for the homeless something to cheer about this holiday season. Earlier this month, it surprised the Homeless Impact Fund of Central Florida Foundation with a $500,000 donation. George Kalogridis, president of Walt Disney World Resort, announced the donation as part of the Candlelight Processional at…
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Advocates Seek to Strengthen Long-ignored Aid Program
Photo: Emmanuel Huybrechts A new bill that would strengthen a program that provides aid to over 21,000 low-income elderly, children, and disabled citizens throughout the Commonwealth is awaiting a vote in the state house. House Bill 529 seeks to make adjustments to the Emergency Aid for the Elderly, Disabled and Children (EAEDC) program, a 27…
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Big Truck 4 Big Wishes: Walmart assists fundraiser for Home for Little Wanderers
Earlier this month, a twenty-four-foot-high truck with an eighteen-foot-wide banner stood near the Route 1 Walmart Superstore to gather gift donations for the Home for Little Wanderers’ annual fundraiser, “Big Truck 4 Big Wishes.” With the help of Walmart’s generous partnership, the Home for Little Wanderers was able to take the annual “Stuff-a-Truck” event and…
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125 Names: Homeless Memorial Day in Boston
All photos: Alena Kuzub A flute solos while a list of names is read from a podium, a candle lit for each one, covering the small altar of Church on the Hill in light. The same names can be found on the packaged blankets piled beneath the altar and lined up along the pews. Names…
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“We need to fight for a world without poverty”: Pope Francis grants rare interview to street papers
By Stijn Fens and Jan-Willem Wits // Courtesy of INSP News Service www.INSP.ngo/Straatnieuws Photo credit: Frank Dries, Straatnieuws Pope Francis rarely grants interviews, but the opportunity to address international street papers was enough to persuade him that INSP was worth a spot in his busy diary. So, on Oct. 27, formerly homeless street-paper seller Marc…
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HUD reports decrease in Mass. homeless population
Homelessness in Massachusetts fell 0.5 percent in 2015, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said. HUD released its 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress on November 19, HUD said in a press release. The report found that 21,135 people experienced homelessness across Massachusetts in 2015, of which 97.2 percent were staying in residential…