Dear Fellow Advocate:
I hope this finds you and your loved ones well. I write today to give you a few updates on our work and introduce you to a couple of new projects that the National Coalition for the Homeless is developing as we push federal officials to Bring America Home Now! As our country emerges from one of the most devastating pandemics in our history, I wanted you to know that we never stopped pushing for an end to this national nightmare of homelessness as we worked to keep those without housing safe. I wanted to thank you for your support of our work at NCH, and encourage you to continue to support our campaign to make housing-for-all a priority in Washington.
Your support for our mission has helped NCH achieve unprecedented success in the involving those who experienced homelessness to be at the table when developing policies to eliminate the trauma of homelessness in America. In the seasons to come, I will work with and alongside you to maximize our impact so that we will begin to see federal changes that result in more housing opportunities and fewer communities, making it illegal to be without housing. NCH will continue to host our remembrance of those who have died as we have done for the last 35 years and we will continue to dispel the myths associated with homelessness with our Speaker’s Bureau.
I wanted to tell you about an exciting new initiative that we developed in 2022 called the Lived Experience Training Academy which will build a leadership corps for the push to end homelessness. This curriculum that we developed can be used across the country to teach those coming out of a period of homelessness to sit on boards, evaluate programs and join the local Continuum of Care boards.
NCH works every day to distribute coats, blankets, backpacks and the 2.5 million masks we distributed in 2021 while at the same time fulfilling our core mission of advocacy on the national level. NCH worked over the past year to extend emergency housing assistance and utilize some of the lessons learned from the de-concentration efforts within the shelters during COVID social distancing mandates. As we see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, we are building a new class of leaders for 2023 who can take on the struggle for civil rights for those who find themselves without housing.
So, I am asking you if you will you partner with us today by investing in the future national advocacy around homelessness? Please consider making a gift to support the National Coalition for the Homeless with a general donation or a gift to one of two new funds to honor some of our past champions.
Join NCH as a member here. This will give you the opportunity to provide input into policy and programming decisions to bring an end to homelessness.
*Make an individual donation to support our Bring America Home Now Campaign, the Lived Experience Training Academy, the Speakers Bureau, and the hundreds of other things NCH oversees. https://national-homeless.networkforgood.com/projects/179863-holiday-giving-2022
*Introducing the Steve Thomas Guaranteed Income Fund. Steve was a long-term staff member who died in 2022 and came to NCH as a speaker fresh off the streets of DC. He then joined the staff as a coordinator of the Speaker’s program to debunk myths about homelessness. Steve’s family has permitted us to name our new Guaranteed Income program after him. The program will give a direct subsidy to a group of people previously living on the streets of D.C. to show that this type of initiative can be successful as one tool for ending homelessness.
*Introducing the Michael Stoops Fellowship Fund. Another of our champions was one of the founders of NCH, Michael Stoops, who passed away in 2017. He was a national leader on civil rights and one of the best community organizers in the country. We intend to set up a separate fund to honor his legacy that will support a fellowship and paid internship that will be primarily responsible for studying solutions to homelessness and changing the narrative in the United States to re-focus on ending homelessness and not criminalizing those who find themselves without housing.
*If you have not recovered from the pandemic but want to help, consider becoming a partner of the Bring America Home Now campaign. We understand rents and evictions have increased dramatically over the last year. We have seen tremendous disruptions in the non-profit social service network, so we understand if you cannot give a monetary donation this year. Could you please help us by endorsing our Bring America Home Now campaign today?
PLEASE GIVE TODAY!
Sincerely,
Donald Whitehead
