Blog
Our work is characterized by boldness, creativity and a commitment to innovation. This blog offers a space to highlight the work of our team members as well as their unique perspectives on ongoing and emerging issues related to homelessness, health and community building.
Healthy Communities: Northeast Hartford
Northeast Hartford is a place of contradictions, seemingly equal parts opportunities and obstacles. Walking through the neighborhood, one stumbles along crumbling sidewalks under broken streetlights, then finds groups of engaging young people gathered at street corners, energetic but bored. A large historic park provides hundreds of acres of green space, but it is seldom used, as fear of crime keeps residents traveling their own well-worn routes. Two and three-family homes line the streets, many long in need of repair.
Making Probation Work
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to the Brownsville Partnership this week to open the city's first Neighborhood Opportunity Network (NeON), which is co-located with the partnership’s offices.
Staff Q+A: Catherine Craig, Health Integration
Catherine Craig has worked with people and communities from the Philippines to Latin America. As Director of Health Integration at Community Solutions, she oversees elements of just about every major project we're working on. In this month's staff Q+A, we caught up with Catherine to learn more about her work to end homelessness, improve health outcomes, and build efficient systems to ensure that families and individuals can thrive in permanent housing.
Ending Veteran Homelessness: Nine Things Every Community Can Do
The following piece appeared on HuffingtonPost.com on Monday November 14, 2011.
Getting to the Root Causes of Homelessness
Homelessness disproportionately emerges from the poorest neighborhoods in our nation, and that reality begs a question that goes to the heart of ending homelessness: why not go to the places where there is greatest instability and keep vulnerable people from becoming homeless in the first place? That question may seem simple, but -- based on over 20 years' work with the homeless -- it's crucial to the goal of ending, rather than just addressing, homelessness.
Staff Q+A: Becky Kanis, 100,000 Homes Campaign
From 2003-2007, Becky Kanis led the successful effort that reduced street homelessness in Times Square by 87%. Now, she's taking what she learned to communities across the country as Director of our 100,000 Homes Campaign. In a candid Q+A, she opens up about her values, her military background, and the reason she's passionate about ending homelessness.
Q. What is the 100,000 Homes Campaign?
Using Collective Impact to End Homelessness
The following article by 100,000 Homes Campaign Director Becky Kanis was published this month by the Stanford Social Innovation Review:
Recuperative Care: Better Care at Lower Costs
Homelessness can make people sick. Really sick.
Among over 20,000 homeless people surveyed nationally through our 100,000 Homes Campaign, more than one in five lives with a chronic health condition alongside a substance addiction and a mental health condition. These co-occurring conditions are often exacerbated by the harsh realities of life on the streets. Addressing them requires a coordinated approach to care.
All Hands on Deck
If you saw our 100,000 Homes Campaign on the CBS Evening News last week, you heard a lot about volunteers. And rightly so— in Campaign communities, volunteers wake up at 3am multiple mornings in a row to help their neighbors experiencing homelessness. They deserve as much recognition as we can give them!