Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force – SRRT/ALA
Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association
The Danville Public Library started Project Uplift four years ago to help people experiencing homelessness.
Project Uplift is designed to connect people with information and resources within the Danville community.
“We have around 20 organizations this year,” said Jessica Augustson, community engagement librarian.
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“We do offer library cards for displaced persons,” she said.
“A unique intramural partnership bridges the Dauphin County Library System and county Human Services to create new avenues in crisis response.”
“David Siders, the library’s civic engagement coordinator, told WCPO that the services are an attempt to bolster the community and break away from some of the conventional thinking about the role of libraries.”
“The Pikes Peak Library District said adding a social worker to its staff helps fill a gap that traditional library personnel weren’t prepared to meet, furthering its mission to connect people with resources, whatever those may be.”
“In recognition of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, Richland Library is asking you to spend a few moments in the life of someone who can no longer afford a home.
The library offers the My Life Experience Empathy Lab, which uses virtual technology and simulation tools to see things from a new perspective.”
“It’s a food shelf with the soul of a Little Free Library. A new “neighborhood food box” has become a quick drop site for food donations and food collections at 46th & Colfax.”
“As part of a concentrated effort to help people experiencing homelessness, the city of Duluth last week took laws off the books that made it illegal to panhandle and sleep in a car.”
“The proposal by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson to at least triple the minimum rent that the poorest Americans pay for federally subsidized housing would put nearly 1 million children at risk of homelessness, according to an analysis of HUD data by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).”
“But while some libraries have looked for ways to dissuade the homeless from using their facilities, leaders in Richmond have taken a different tack.
Over the past two years, they have eliminated rules that targeted people without housing by banning such items as large bags and bedrolls and begun adding services aimed at aiding the growing class of patrons. They made it easier for people without state identification to access the library’s computers, which are heavily used by homeless and low-income people for both job searches and entertainment. And, power outlets being an in-demand commodity among the homeless, this month they installed a cellphone charging station.
By April, they plan to hire a part-time social worker to work directly with homeless patrons.”
“We’re making a lot of progress in our community,” Dornfeld said. “Our goal is to reduce youth homelessness so it’s rare, brief and non-reoccurring.”
