Brutal history of slavery from John Wesley's point of view

In my view everyone should read this sermon.

President Carter: a message unheard today

Texas Rangers and Community

OK, OK, I'm a die-hard fan. I admit it! But, I couldn't resist sharing this message from the home team!

Homelessness, a personal response. . .

When it comes to relating to and moving alongside a person or persons who are homeless, what can be done practically?  People frequently ask me this question in one form or another.

"What should I do when a person on the street asks me for money?"

"How should I respond to a homeless person when I pass them on the sidewalk or encounter them begging at a stoplight?"

"How can I get to know a person who deals with a poverty so deep that they have no place to live?"

Good questions!

As I've noted several times over the last few days, efforts to end homelessness in Dallas face a number of obstacles, most of which appear in the form of what I call "unsatisfying half measures." 

At a very personal level, how do we move beyond "halfway" responses?

Let me offer an idea or two.

First, find a way to truly befriend a homeless person without rushing ahead to "fix" everything or to change the person's life or situation, as if that is your responsibility.  It is likely unrealistic that this can be done using a "fly-by" strategy.  It won't happen that you will become friends with a person by just seeing them a time or two on the street or corner.  What can be done is to stop, slow the frames down dramatically and just be human with another person.  Stop and talk.  Introduce yourself to the other person.  Plan to come back to the area where the person lives.  Realize that you likely won't find each other every time you try to, but keep coming back.  Join me on "the Corner" of Malcolm X and I-30 on Thursday afternoons at 2 p.m. and get accustomed to the approach.  Or volunteer at one of our housing sites on a regular basis.  I can hook you up!

Second, value every person you meet no matter how poor, ragged, rugged, dirty or injured they are when you encounter them.  We convey value to another by the way we respond and by how we refuse to be put off by their circumstances.  Work on creating relationships that are defined by reciprocity--relationships in which everyone gives and everyone receives.

Third, develop a new understanding of how enlightened self-interest serves the entire community. The fact is when everyone does better in a city, everyone benefits!  Begin to regard the real, pressing needs of your poor friends as opportunities for you and your community to invest in solutions.  These solutions will benefit the poor, but they will also benefit you and everyone else.  Better health, better housing, better diet, better work skills, better mental health--these are not expenses to be avoided, but investments to be made that enrich the quality of life for us all.

Finally, if you are a person of faith, begin to "re-read" the story of your faith with new eyes for compassion, justice, the city and the poor.  Decide to spend time reading the words of Jesus from the perspective of your new friends who happen to be poor and cast aside.

While I cannot answer all of the "how to" questions, I do know that what I have in mind can be done.  And, in the doing we discover real answers and make new, very satisfying friendships.

Housing and the "shutdown"

For your information (From the Texas Homeless Network’s Newsletter):

Effects of Shutdown on HUD

On the morning of October 1, federal employees were required to show up for work to implement steps to close down federal activities. HUD’s shutdown contingency plan left fewer than 400 employees “excepted” from the shutdown to ensure that basic activities occur. The criteria for an activity to be excepted is “where the failure to address issues result in a threat to safety of life and protection of property.” Excepted activities include most functions of homeless assistance programs, the distribution of HUD block grants, and FHA insurance programs.

HUD’s largest rental assistance programs (tenant-based rental assistance, public housing, and project-based rental assistance) appear to have previously-obligated funding or advance appropriations funding to continue normal operations through October and, for the project-based program, “into November,” according to an October 2 update of HUD’s Contingency Plan. HUD also says in the October 2 update that it will continue to process project-based contract renewals during the shutdown to the extent there is available funding into November.

An October 4 memo from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities states that since funding for the public housing and housing choice voucher programs are made for calendar years, Congress has already appropriated these resources. It is now a matter of whether or not HUD will have sufficient staff due to the shutdown to administer these funds. The administration of funds may fall under HUD’s plan to deploy staff excepted from the shutdown to prevent imminent threats to the safety of human life or the protection of property.

For tenant-based rental assistance, HUD has disbursed October housing assistance payments and administrative fees, but there are no payments beyond October scheduled at this time. HUD is not processing requests for tenant protection vouchers for public housing or multifamily actions.

HUD’s contingency plan predicts that most of the country’s 3,300 public housing agencies (PHAs) have the necessary funds to continue providing public housing assistance for the remainder of the month. Funding beyond October will depend in part upon the resources of individual PHAs.

Homeless Assistance activities that “protect against imminent threats to the safety of human life” are continuing, including housing for people with AIDS and supportive housing for veterans.

HUD will disburse HOME Investment Partnerships program, Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), and other block grants for which funds have already been appropriated.

View HUD’s contingency plan for additional details on agency functions that will continue or have already halted at: http://www.hud.gov

View the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ October 4 Memo on the shutdown’s impact on housing programs at: http://bit.ly/176QLiz

  

Paula Maroney

Director - Continuum of Care

Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA)

2816 Swiss Avenue, Dallas, TX 75204

Chaplain's Prayer

Dylan Garity: Passionate appeal for immigrant children

Housing First. . .and Human Rights (Part IV)

As promised, I've been sharing, in bits and pieces, a message that I recently delivered to a group of people who wanted to talk about housing for our homeless neighbors.  What follows is the next "bite-sized piece" of that conversation.    And, as always, I invite comments.  

Efforts to end homelessness in Dallas face a number of obstacles, most of which appear in the form of what I call "unsatisfying half measures."  Here's another of those:

When it comes to homelessness and solutions, we continue to go out "on the cheap."

Oh, we talk about all that we're doing, all that we've done, all that we plan to do.  We populate endless PowerPoint presentations with full-color photos and lots of number-laden charts and graphs, supposedly mapping our "progress."

The fact is we need more money, hard cash to really cut into the problems we face in overcoming homelessness in Dallas.

We need more funding for the development of much-needed, additional permanent supportive housing units--new construction and creative renovations.

We need additional funding for leasing existing apartments out in the private housing market of our community.

We need funding for adequate case management.  On this one, I believe if we employ Housing First models that include focused case management services (read "concierge" just here) we can have great impact with fewer workers than some social work professionals believe. Our problem is we haven't really given this approach a fair chance as a community.  

We need funding to beef up our city's housing department.  Virtually all of the revenue currently received for our housing department comes to us from Washington, DC.  Our city's annual, general revenue budget contains almost nothing for housing development and services, certainly not enough to really attack homelessness at scale.

We need funding to communicate the challenges to our entire community.  And, we need funds to authorize a modest amount of research to demonstrate the amazing impact of permanent supportive housing on the overall crisis and relief of homelessness.

On the funding side in terms of sources, I believe we need to include funding for the city's Housing Trust Fund in our next bond issue/election.  Before the "crash of 2008," Mayor Leppert was thinking in terms of a $50 million bond fund for this purpose.  That would have been a good start.  The idea is smart.

We need advocates from our city to press on the state of Texas to begin to develop special new, tax credit financial "products" for developers wanting the deliver permanent housing units to cities like Dallas. Permanent supportive housing units for homeless persons should not be lumped together with other affordable housing finance decisions, but deserve a special, new category all their own.

Finally, when it comes to innovation, I've thought for a long time that real estate closing transactions across the state should include a $.50 or $1.00 filing fee that could fund a state housing trust fund for developers of permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless persons. Real estate folks don't like the idea, seeing it as a "slippery slope" to more and more fees for causes.  But the legislation could be styled to restrict such fund development policy to only this purpose.

In general, what's called for is a new community commitment.

People should not be living on our streets or in emergency shelters for years.

We can solve this problem.

But to do so, we must give up on "unsatisfying half measures."

Housing First. . .and Human Rights (Part III)

As I noted last Friday, over the next several days I intend to share a message that I recently delivered to a group of people who wanted to talk about housing for our homeless neighbors.  I will break it down into bite-sized pieces.  And, as always, I invite conversation.  

Efforts to end homelessness in Dallas face a number of obstacles, most of which appear in the form of what I call "unsatisfying half measures."  Here's another of those:

In Dallas, and in a  number of other American cities, one may observe a growing, strident, mean-spirited legal bias working against the homeless poor.  This emerging, swelling bias makes the state of living without the benefits of a home illegal.  Many of the practical problems and choices facing homeless persons lead to "criminal acts," as defined by those with the bias problem.  Criminalizing homelessness and poverty is an aggressive half measure that gets us no where in terms of solving the housing crisis facing the poorest among us. 

Here is a list of typical "criminal infractions" committed by persons who live on the streets:

• Loitering
• Panhandling or begging
• Sleeping outside on public or private property
• Relieving oneself out doors
• Trespassing to access a place to sit down, lie down or simply rest
• Vagrancy
• Sitting on benches in front of or in proximity to private office buildings downtown. 

A friend of mine, who has been homeless for a long time, once told me that his life was like "an endless parade."  Up early, he hit the streets walking basically the same daily circuit.  Every day he had three fundamental objectives.  First, to find something to eat.  Second, to find somewhere to use a restroom. Third, locating a safe place to rest.  On a daily basis, these three objectives defined his life mission.  

It is very difficult from a "life platform" like his to find the traction needed to escape the "parade."  

Our bias is killing the poorest among us.  

Permanent, supportive housing reduces crime, saves public funds and responds to a huge problem with humanity and moral soundness. 

An Important Challenge

CitySquare has been involved from the start: Health and Wellness Alliance for Children

The Health & Wellness Alliance for Children (the Alliance) is a coalition with the goal that “Every child achieves their fullest health, well-being, and potential.”

·        The Alliance plans to use a “collective impact” approach to work across sectors, including health, education, government, the faith community, nonprofit service providers, and others, to form and implement a common agenda for change in children’s health.

·         The initial clinical focus will be children’s asthma, though over time the Alliance plans to tackle children’s health across issues.

·         The initial geographic focus will be on Dallas County, though the Alliance is working with partners throughout North Texas.

Why asthma?

·         While there are many health issues that demand our community’s attention, it is important to focus on one area in order to have a measurable impact.

·         Addressing asthma allows us to focus on several areas that are crucial to children’s health overall: improving financial and physical access to care, improving quality of health care delivery, equipping children and families with tools for wellness, creating asthma-healthy physical environments.

·         The Alliance can use its experience with asthma to expand focus to other areas in the near future.

·         Asthma and other pulmonary illnesses are the top causes for admission to the emergency department at Children’s Medical Center, indicating a real community need.

·         Other communities around the country have had great success in using a coalition approach to improve child asthma.

Who is involved in this effort?

·      The Steering Committee and Working Groups include representatives from many organizations across North Texas, including hospitals, physicians, school administrators, school nurses, the faith community, family health and wellness service providers, urban planners, city and state government, and others.

·         Children’s Medical Center (Children’s) has committed to catalyzing this effort. However, the Alliance is comprised of and led by a cross-section of Dallas community stakeholders committed to children’s health. The effort is and will be driven by the community, not just one organization or sector. 

·     Children and their families have been involved since the start in interviews and workshops to better understand the challenges they face and potential solutions.

 Dallas County Asthma Data

Asthma outcomes

·         Approximately 60,000 children in Dallas have asthma, 9% of all Dallas children[i]

·         In Texas, 54% of children with asthma missed at least one school day per year due to their condition[ii]

·         In 2012, nearly 1500 children in Dallas County visited an emergency room or were admitted to a hospital due to asthma[iii]

·         The hospitalization rate for African-American children is 3.8 times the rate of white children in Dallas (2010)[iv]

·       Annual economic costs to Dallas including cost to families and to medical care facilities across the community is estimated to be a staggering $60M[v]

Potential contributing conditions

·        18% of Dallas children don’t have health insurance; this exceeds the 15% fraction across TX, which is the highest percentage of uninsured children of any US state (2010)[vi]

·         While 46% of Dallas children are covered by Medicaid and CHIP, it is estimated that 76% percent of Dallas physicians would not accept new Medicaid or CHIP patients[vii]

·         Children with asthma are especially susceptible to the effects of ozone pollution, and Dallas’s ozone levels exceed the EPA’s legal standard[viii]

·         Child poverty in Dallas: 29% of Dallas kids live in poverty; 28% have inadequate food and nutrition; 35% live in a single-parent home[ix]

[i] Harrison, Whitney (MPH, Epidemiologist), Texas Asthma Control Program, Dept. of State Health Services. “Asthma Morbidity and Mortality in Texas and Health Region 3.” October 17, 2011.

[ii] Harrison, 2011.

[iii] Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation, 2013.

[iv] Texas Health Care Information Collection (THCIC), Inpatient Hospital Discharge Public Use Data File, 2010.

[v] The cost estimate per child based on: Li Yan Wang et. al; “Direct and Indirect Cost of Asthma in School age Children”.  Preventing Chronic Disease (January 2005).  This number is multiplied by the number of children with asthma in Dallas.

[vi] Harris, J., Hogan, J., and the Beyond ABC Advisory Board, ed. Beyond ABC:  Assessing Children’s Health in Dallas County, 2011.

[vii] “Texas State Health Facts”. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. ; Harris, J., Hogan, J., and the Beyond ABC Advisory Board, ed. Beyond ABC:  Assessing Children’s Health in Dallas County, 2011.

[viii] “Dallas-Fort Worth: Current Attainment Status”. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. <http://www.tceq.texas.gov/airquality/sip/dfw/dfw-status>.

[ix] Harrison, 2011.

Assumptions. . .about ownership

Possession

Because the tea shop was crowded, a man took the other chair at her table and ordered tea. The woman [already seated there] was prepared for a leisurely time, so she began to read her paper. As she did so, she took a cookie from the package on the table, and noticed that the man across from her also took a cookie from the same package. This upset her greatly, but she ignored it and kept reading. After a while she took another cookie. And so did he! This unnerved her and she glared at the man.

While she glared, he reached for the fifth and last cookie, smiled and offered her half of it. She was indignant. She paid her money and left in a great hurry, enraged at such a presumptuous man. She hurried to her bus stop just outside. She opened her purse to get her fare. And then she saw, much to her distress, that in her purse was her own package of cookies unopened.

Told by Walter Brueggemann
Source: Voices of the Night

Good news for Dallas vets!

Health Care Policy from Faith Perspective

162  III.  THE SOCIAL COMMUNITY

V) Right to Health Care--Health is a condition of physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being. John 10:10b says, "I came so that they could have life--indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest."  Stewardship of health is the responsibility of each person to whom health has been entrusted.  Creating the personal, environmental, and social conditions in which health can thrive is a joint responsibility--public and private.  We encourage individuals to pursue a healthy lifestyle and affirm the importance of preventive heath care, health education, environmental and occupational safety, good nutrition, and secure housing in achieving health.  Health care is a basic human right.

Providing the care needed to maintain health, prevent disease, and restore health after injury or illness is a responsibility each person owes others and government owes to all,  a responsibility government ignores at its peril.  In Ezekiel 34:4a, God points out the failures of the leadership of Israel to care for the weak:  "You don't strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strays, or seek out the lost."  As a result all suffer.  Like police and fire protection, health care is best funded through the government's ability to tax each person equitably and directly fund the provider entities. 

We believe it is a governmental responsibility to provide all citizens with health care. 

We encourage hospitals, physicians, and medical clinics to provide access to primary health care to all people regardless of their health-care coverage or ability to pay for treatment. 

The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church (2012)

pages 126-127

Housing First. . .and Human Rights (Part II)

As I noted last Friday, over the next several days I intend to share a message that I recently delivered to a group of people who wanted to talk about housing for our homeless neighbors.  I will break it down into bite-sized pieces.  And, as always, I invite conversation.  

Efforts to end homelessness in Dallas face a number of obstacles, most of which appear in the form of what I call "unsatisfying half measures."  


Here's one:  Transitional housing or "We have a plan for your life!"

People who enjoy stable housing often believe that they know what's best for people who don't have stable housing.

Lots of us believe that homeless persons need to be made "housing ready" before being placed in a home.

Think about that for a moment.

If I'm homeless, what do you think that I think?

Would I consider myself "housing ready"?

What does that mean, after all?

One thing it means is that people with the resources believe that they need to put people through a prescribed plan before housing can be "awarded."

Two things here.

First, housing, in my view, is not an award, but a basic right that comes with being a human being.

Second, if someone else makes the plan for my life, what becomes of my plan or the expectation that I would even have one?

A couple of weeks ago, I visited with a man on the street just across from our new Opportunity Center.  He asked me if we were going to have housing in the new development.  I told him that we were not.  He continued our conversation and asked if we placed people in housing.

"Well, that depends," I said.  "What is your plan to get off of the street?"

"What is my plan to get off the street?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied.  "What is your plan to get off of the street?"

He grew silent, as if he had never been asked that question before.

"I sure don't have a plan for your life," I informed him.

"No, man," he declared, "I don't really have a plan, but I do know I need a place to live."

"Well, in that case," I responded, "we may be able to help out because we do have some apartments and we would be glad to work with you."

About this same time, John Siburt (VP of Program Administration at CitySquare) encountered a gentleman named "Big Richard" during a street outreach at mid-night.

As they talked, John asked Richard if he stayed at the Bridge or in one of the downtown shelters.

"Naw, man," he replied, "I can't stay in the shelters, man."

John asked why that was the case.

"Man, in the shelters all they want to talk about is me going to 'a class,' man.  They got a class for alcoholics and a class for drug addicts.  Man, I don't need no class for that stuff.  I don't use that stuff," he reported.

"Then, man, they want me to see a psychic doctor!" he shared with incredulity.  "Man, I ain't crazy, I'm homeless!"

He went on, pointing down the street to another person, "Now that woman down there, she crazy!" he declared.  "But, I'm not!"

Sensing that John really cared, he went on, "Then, man, I went to another shelter once and man, they had church every day, they had church, six days a week, church!  Man, than's enough church to kill a horse!" he said.

Then, he summed up.

"Man, I don't need a class or a psych doctor or church. . . I need a place."

That's what all homeless people need: a place to call "home," a place to hang a picture.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Do we understand?

Article 25.

• (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Housing First. . .and Human Rights

Working the streets of Dallas drives me to one conclusion:  our city needs hundreds of additional housing units that could immediately be filled with people who live on our streets.  My experience over the past two decades has converted me to the "Housing First" model.

Simply put, "Housing First" directs us to solve a person's housing problem quickly and first, even before rendering other direct services.

Once a person has housing, supportive services and the assurance that their housing is permanent, then friends and advocates can go to work with a person on a life plan of the neighbor's own devising.  Managing change, providing treatment and further interventions for life and health, all happen best and most effectively when a person is working from the stability of having a place to call home.

Lots of people don't agree.

Over the next several days I intend to share a message that I recently delivered to a group of people who wanted to talk about housing for our homeless neighbors.  I will break it down into bite-sized pieces.  And, as always, I invite conversation.

Efforts to end homelessness in Dallas face a number of obstacles, most of which appear in the form of what I call "unsatisfying half measures."  

Here's one:  Shelters posing as housing.

Shelters operated properly can be humane, cheap and efficient ways to provide beds, a night at a time, for our homeless friends.

However, and listen hard just here, we must not regard night shelters as housing.  In my view, every night shelter in the U. S. should be required to put the word "Emergency" in their organizational titles.

If you can't hang a picture on a wall, what you're living in is not a home.  

For all the good a well-run night shelter may accomplish, let's just be clear, shelters don't provide a home for any homeless person.

Affordable Care Act and health coverage

On next Tuesday, October 1, 2013, Americans without health insurance coverage will be able to enroll for coverage under provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

The process is fairly simple. 

You can apply online at www.healthcare.gov.

The enrollment process is easy to understand.

The website lets you know what you will need to do to sign up.  You'll be able to shop various health insurance options to find what's best for you!  The program will be very beneficial to persons who currently have no health coverage or who battle "pre-existing conditions." 

If you have questions, call 1-800-318-2596. Information is available 24/7 in 140 languages.

You'll even be able to enter into a chat online, if that is more to your liking!

Who can guess the source of this statement on poverty and church?

E) Poverty – In spite of general affluence in the industrialized nations, the majority of persons in the world live in poverty. In order to provide basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, and other necessities, ways must be found to share more equitably the resources of the world. Increasing technology, when accompanied by exploitative economic practices, impoverishes many persons and makes poverty self-perpetuating. Poverty due to natural catastrophes and environmental changes is growing and needs attention and support. Conflicts and war impoverish the population on all sides, and an important way to support the poor will be to work for peaceful solutions.

As a church, we are called to support the poor and challenge the rich. To begin to alleviate poverty, we support such policies as: adequate income maintenance, quality education, decent housing, job training, meaningful employment opportunities, adequate medical and hospital care, humanization and radical revisions of welfare programs, work for peace in conflict areas and efforts to protect creation’s integrity. Since low wages are often a cause of poverty, employers should pay their employees a wage that does not require them to depend upon government subsidies such as food stamps or welfare for their livelihood.

Because we recognize that the long-term reduction of poverty must move beyond services to and employment for the poor, which can be taken away, we emphasize measures that build and maintain the wealth of poor people, including asset-building strategies such as individual development savings accounts, micro-enterprise development programs, programs enabling home ownership, and financial management training and counseling. We call upon churches to develop these and other ministries that promote asset-building among the poor. We are especially mindful of the Global South, where investment and micro-enterprise are especially needed. We urge support for policies that will encourage equitable economic growth in the Global South and around the world, providing a just opportunity for all.

Poverty most often has systemic causes, and therefore we do not hold poor people morally responsible for their economic state.

Seeing people. . .refusing to turn away

Paul Quinn College deserves our attention and support!

Conversion to the neighbor, part 3

Christians have not done enough in this area of conversion to the neighbor, to social justice, to history.  They have not perceived clearly enough yet that to know God is to do justice.  They still do not live in one sole action with both God and all humans.  They still do not situate themselves in Christ without attempting to avoid concrete human history.  They have yet to tread the path that will lead them to seek effectively the peace of the Lord in the heart of social struggle (page 49).

Gustavo Gutierrez

Spiritual Writings

A Night to Remember 2013. . .25 years!

Conversion to the neighbor, part 2

Conversion is a permanent process in which very often the obstacles we meet make us lose all we had gained and start anew.  The fruitfulness of our conversion depends on our openness to doing this, our spiritual childhood.  All conversion implies a break:  "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me" (Matt. 10:37).  To wish to accomplish it without conflict is to deceive oneself and others.  But it is not a question of withdrawn and pious attitude.  Our conversion process is affected by the socioeconomic, political, cultural and human environment in which it occurs.  Without a change in these structures, there is no authentic conversion.  We have to break with our mental categories, with the way we relate to others, with our way of identifying with the Lord, with our cultural milieu, with our social class, in other words, with all that can stand in the way of a real, profound solidarity with those who suffer, in the first place, from misery and injustice.  Only through this, and not through purely interior and spiritual attitudes, will the "new person" arise from the ashes of the "old." (page 48)

Gustavo Gutierrez

Spiritual Writings



Conversion to the neighbor, part 1

A spirituality of liberation will center on a conversion to the neighbor, the oppressed person, the exploited social class, the despised ethnic group, the dominated country.  Our conversion to the Lord implies this conversion to the neighbor.  Evangelical conversion is indeed the touchstone of all spirituality.  Conversion means a radical transformation of ourselves; it means thinking, feeling and living as Christ--present in exploited and alienated persons.  To be converted is to commit oneself lucidly, realistically, and concretely to the process of the liberation of the poor and oppressed.  It means to commit oneself not only generously, but also with an analysis of the situation and a strategy for action.  To be converted its to know and experience the fact that, contrary to the laws of physics, we can stand straight, according to the Gospel, only when our center of gravity is outside ourselves (page 48).

Gustavo Gutierrez

Spiritual Writings

Diana Ross coming to CitySquare next Friday night, September 13!

We still have a few seats remaining!  

To buy your tickets click here.

In addition, you still have time to become an event sponsor by going here.

What are we doing to prevent and end homelessness in Dallas?

CitySquare has five programs aimed at preventing and ending homelessness in Dallas County.

Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) – CitySquare deploys a team of workers that walks and drives the streets in and around downtown Dallas’ central business district to locate and engage individuals who are homeless.  HOT workers get to know these individuals and their unique situations.  Individuals are diverted to the services of various CitySquare programs, as well as the services of other community partners.  Services include food assistance, housing, health care, and case management, including the arrangement and coordination of transportation to cities of origin for the purpose of reuniting with families.  In 2012, CitySquare’s HOT team recorded 2349 encounters with homeless individuals and was successful in connecting 726 individuals with resources for food, housing, health care, and/or transportation.

Rapid Rehousing – In 2013, CitySquare received federal grant funds through the city of Dallas to house 45 homeless individuals.  CitySquare provides support services, including case management which connects individuals to services within CitySquare, as well as to our partners in the larger community. CitySquare’s case management focuses on working with individuals to provide short-to-mid-term assistance while helping individuals towards greater self- sufficiency. The Rapid Rehousing team and the Homeless Outreach Team work together to place some of the most service-resistant individuals from the downtown Dallas area into stable housing.

Destination Home – Since 2004 CitySquare’s Destination Home program has housed over 2,000 individuals who were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Through U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants, Destination Home provides permanent support housing and case management services to an average of 200 individuals annually. These individuals receive counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, job support/training and a variety of other services designed to stabilize their lives and establish a pattern of healthier behaviors.

Transition Resource Action Center (TRAC) – TRAC provides a “one stop” assessment and referral facility for youth “aging out” of foster and juvenile care in the 19-county, Child Protective Services North Texas region.  TRAC brings together community resources and intensive case management services to benefit these special needs young people.  TRAC is the only program in North Texas that exists to comprehensively address the needs of this population which is at high risk of homelessness.  Annually, TRAC works with over 800 of the most challenged, at-risk teens and young adults in the region.  Participants craft an individualized life plan and acquire skills needed to survive on their own after”emancipation” from substitutionary care. TRAC provides transitional housing for many of the program’s most vulnerable youth.

CityWalk@Akard – CitySquare’s 15-story building in downtown Dallas is a unique and diverse vertical neighborhood housing over 200 low-income individuals, over half of whom were formerly homeless, or in grave danger of becoming homeless.   In addition, CityWalk provides much needed quality affordable housing for low-income wage earners who work Downtown. CitySquare Community Life Team provides counseling and case management services to a majority of the individuals and families who live at CityWalk.

Could hell be any hotter, good news any sweeter?

Thursday, August 29, 2013
4:09 p.m.

Just left the Corner where the temperature on my Jeep read 111.

If hell is hotter, I don't want to go!

The crowd of neighbors at the Corner was the largest to date.

Everyone was hot and thirsty.

Wendy, my friend, rushed me as I got out of my car wanting to know if I had the papers needed to get a copy of her birth certificate. We've been working on this project for a while.  If you've lost all of the documents proving you are who you say you are, how to you move forward?

Without the papers I can see how I might begin to think that in fact I'm nobody.

I worked down the list on the papers that I received from the state that instructed her as to what she would need since she had no documents proving who she was.  It is complicated.  No one could do this alone, including me.  Reality for the poorest of the poor.

Attitudes out on the Corner amaze me.

A smiling white dude in a cowboy hat walked up, shook my hand and replied to my inquiry as to how he was doing saying, "If I was any better, I couldn't stand it!"

He then begin to talk about his faith and his walk with God.

I thought of the church folk who are so quick to ask me if any "ministry" takes place in our work.

I'd say it does.

Except it's the homeless poor ministering to me, every single time.

At one point as I looked across the red hot pavement of Malcolm X Boulevard, I spotted a homeless black man assisting a blind, Latino man to the bus stop.  Community defined by compassion.

Preaching broke out when Robert, a regular at the Corner, told the story of Jesus and the woman caught in the act of adultery.

"'Who among you is without sin?' is what Jesus asked," the street preacher said.  "And everybody started mumbling and finally said, 'I'll catch y'all tomorrow.'"

"Yep," I replied, "they all started dropping rocks!"

"My favorite story, my very, most favorite!" Robert said.

Ministry, indeed.

Ice cold water,

Gatorade.

Snacks.

Someone to simply pat my back, tell me that I matter and urge me to be careful. Sincere thank yous tossed back into your heart.

Good news, in a very limited way, but good news just the same to the poverty in all of us.

Love this photo. . .who are these men?

In the battle. . .

This clip from Henry V could be applied to our battle against the forces, the seemingly unrelenting forces of poverty, despair and oppression.

Still, the speech by Henry calling his band of brothers to fight, against all odds the battle they were called to fight, fits well with our own struggle in the city.

As Matt Lair, board member with Urban Connection--San Antonio, who sent this to me said, "We few.  We happy few!"