Dear Advocate
As we informed you in February, the National Coalition for the Homeless was going to unveil a brand new website this month. It is HERE and ready to view! Our updated platform features an all new information, a new look, and details on our campaign to end homelessness in the United States!! In keeping with that effort we are doing some house cleaning with our databases and contact information. We are going to archive our thousands of contacts we have gathered and start fresh with a new group. We will continue our contacts with our organizational and individual members, those who have donated to NCH over the past year along with those who request to remain in contact with NCH, but all the rest we will start with a new database. We will limit our communication going forward to our new list of contacts. Some of you have already signed up for receiving newsletters and advocacy alerts over the last month. If you have not done this yet please respond to [email protected] indicating in the subject line "Remain on the NCH periodic update list” or you can become a member of NCH here.
There are so many organizations working on housing and homelessness advocacy in Washington. Only one group is working on focusing public attention on the health risks associated with homelessness along with the violence associated with being without housing. For the past 33 years, the National Coalition for the Homeless has co-hosted an annual Candlelight Vigil to remember those who died far too soon after experiencing a period of time without housing. Along with our calls regarding the risk of death because of the negative health consequences of living rough, NCH is also regularly highlighting the violence and dangers associated with sleeping outside. We are going to be in California this spring for a bus tour to call attention to the horrendous treatment of those without housing by local Mayors and the Governor.
We are one of the only national groups that regularly calls attention to the criminalization of homelessness in the United States while also pushing alternative policies on Capitol Hill. This is why we do what we do, a recent study showed that the rate of death is three times higher among people who experience homelessness in Minnesota than the general population. Twenty-year-olds experiencing homelessness in Minnesota have the same rate of death as 50-year-olds in the general population. Your support for our mission in the past has helped NCH achieve unprecedented success in amplifying the voices of those who experienced homelessness. We have invited those with previous homeless experience to the table when developing policies and practices for moving people back into housing. NCH will continue organizing public demonstrations against hate and reminding civic leaders that turning a blind eye to the rising number of displaced and hungry people is just as harmful as sending law enforcement out to arrest those without housing.
NCH works year round to answer the hundreds of calls for help and we are working on putting place a network to respond to these concerns by partnering with those who have previous experience with homelessness in a few cities. Our new website can be used to bolster advocacy at the state and local level and can be used by students for research and local affordable housing campaigns. The one piece that separates us from all the other groups in everything we do is to feature the voices of those without housing. Our new website, all of our social media and every presentation that we undertake involve the voices of those struggling to find a safe place to live. Please check it out and if you are or have experienced homelessness feel free to share that information with us.
Most of you have already donated to NCH and we appreciate that. If you have not here is the link to renew your support for NCH today Please consider making a gift to support the National Coalition for the Homeless with a general donation or commit to helping us to amplify our advocacy locally.
Join NCH as a member as well, which would 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.
We also encourage other non-monetary support for the organization such as volunteering or donating household goods. Consider becoming a partner of the Bring America Home Now campaign to show your support. There are places in every single city that want your help in sheltering or sharing a meal with those struggling. You can call 2-1-1 or search for “Shelters or Meal Programs” in your community. We have put together a list of out of the ordinary items that those without a place to live are regularly looking for. Everything helps us to fulfill our mission of Bringing America Home Now.
PLEASE GIVE TODAY!
Sincerely,
Donald Whitehead
