Lisa Gieskes – Page 16 – Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force

Johns Creek student builds library for homeless families in Roswell

Brandon Motter, a homeless teen, built a new library to help needy mothers and children at the Roswell-based Drake House.

Homeless at the library get their own program

“An early goal is to see at least 10 percent of the homeless participants find jobs in the first six months.”

Boston’s homeless seniors to get new housing

This will be the seventh affordable housing site for Hearth, an organization which provides affordable housing, medical and support services to elderly homeless and low-income individuals. This site is located at Olmstead Green in Dorchester.

A Philadelphia Homeless Man's Path to Entrepreneurship

”[Mr.] Mercado’s circuitous path to Philadelphia and business ownership isn’t a tale of entrepreneurship’s power to overcome homelessness, as tempting as that might be. Rather, it’s a testament to Mercado’s fortitude and Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, which he took advantage of at every opportunity to lift himself up the ladder of redemption.”

The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Business Science and Industry Department is part of this crucial entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Salt Lake Library aims to help homeless patrons

“Our mission is about connecting people to all sorts of information resources, many times in non-traditional ways.”

Growing Gaps Bring Focus on Poverty's Role in Schooling

“Upward mobility through the mechanism of a good education, which is a widely held value in this country that cuts across the political spectrum, is in serious jeopardy.”

Libraries + Technology =Helping the Poor

“Most (people) think that homeless people are all criminals, on drugs, alcoholics. They think we don’t try to get out of homelessness and that we aren’t successful at anything. Some (homeless people) have college degrees and because of the economy got laid off.”—AnnMarie Walsh

“When Walsh found herself homeless, she used the computers in Chicago’s public libraries to not only look for ways of getting out of her situation but also to share thoughts and worries about her day-to-day struggle, such as finding [a] hostel bed for the night. As her following grew, she began to receive tips on shelters or even gifts of warm clothes and blankets.”

Walsh will speak at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library on Jan. 29,2012.

Author: Lisa Gieskes