Wednesday Wal Mart opened one of their Neighborhood Market stores on Hall Street just across Central Expressway from our technology center. About six weeks before the opening, members of their human resources team set up an employment center in our building.
The results were encouraging. Forty-seven of our people from the neighborhood found jobs!
At the grand opening it was really fun walking around the new store sharing "high fives" with people we knew from our training efforts.
The Dallas Morning News picked up the story and ran an article on page one of today's Metro section. As a result, Channels 5 and 8 called. Channel 5 did a remote broadcast yesterday evening from our tech center--The CyberSpot.
Funny how things play out. Sometimes the timing seems uncanny.
Let me explain. Bear with me.
Day before yesterday the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness provided an official briefing to the Dallas City Council. The mission of this select group of citizens was to recommend a site for the city's new homeless assistance center. I was there for the briefing.
Interestingly enough, the report, presented by chairman Tom Dunning, focused on a topic unrelated to the new center. The task force reported that to effectively address homelessness the city needed to produce a large number of single resident occupancy apartments (SROs) for the homeless population (more on this subject in future posts).
Now back to Channel 5.
Ramona Logan, the reporter on the story, connected the news story dots for the day and asked me how our employment training program might affect the homeless population and the problems of homelessness in general.
My reply dealt almost completely with housing.
It is really not rocket science. Everyone who can work needs a job.
But a job is not enough.
Everyone needs a decent, affordable place in which to live. A place where the days end. A place where the days begin.
A space to "own," if not literally, then spiritually, personally, emotionally.
Everyone needs a place to call home.
I am so glad when our neighbors find work.
But, we can't afford to rest until they all find home as well.
3 comments:
Glad to know the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness is at least willing to address the fact that shelters are not the solution. Hopefully, the media will pick up what you have offered them and run with it: there is a LOT of meat here, if they're willing to sink their teeth into the issue.
Larry! That's great news! I'm so encouraged by the work CDM is doing. You truly are blazing a trail. My prayers are with you and the rest of CDM.
You got it! Having come from my first Habitat for Humanity board meeting last night, this rings so true! Thanks, Larry, for expressing it so well!
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