“The Homeless people don’t have a lobby. So they’re not going to be down at city hall and the legislature.” Those were the words spoken by Memphis Mayor AC Wharton while giving a speech on the need for Ten Year Plan To End Homelessness in April of 2010. The Mayor was correct; people who are experiencing homelessness did not have a lobby or organization whose chief priority was to ensure that the needs of this constituency were being heard loud and clear by our elected officials. That was true until now.
Over the past four years the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center has worked to make the struggle against of homelessness and poverty cornerstone issues of this organization. Together….
- We fought against the criminalization of homelessness and addiction by opposing unconstitutional anti-panhandling laws that seek to move those with addiction away from needed services.
- We created Memphis’s first user friendly comprehensive hand held directory of all homeless, addiction, runaway and veteran services in our community with the Memphis Survival Guide.
- We organized to exposed police harassment and mobilized to oppose the Downtown/Midtown police sweep of those experiencing homelessness and as a result there has not been such a sweep in the past two years.
- We have worked with countless families and individuals to help them navigate the network of homeless of homeless services.
- We worked as members of the planning and policy committee of the Memphis and Shelby County Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.
- We recruited volunteers for the Memphis/Shelby county Point in time count of our population living in homelessness.
- We successfully organized for $2.3 million dollars in funding for programs such as the Shelby County Drug Court and the Jericho initiative for alternatives to incarceration for those with addiction and or mental illness in our criminal justice system.
- We organized and advocated for funding of the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness and showed how increased services and housing opportunities actually can save tax payer dollars.
- We recruited volunteers and worked as a sponsor for Project Homeless Connect, a citywide day where various homeless services were placed under one roof to better facilitate people being provided access to immediate services.
Over the past four years we have worked very hard on all of these fronts….but it’s not enough.
What is needed at the core is an organization made up of, directed and led by those who are the real experts on homelessness and the harsh realities of life on the streets, those who have directly experienced it for themselves. Since last fall our organizers have been working with a core group of individuals with the Homelessness Caucus of Occupy Memphis. From these discussions the word has begun of creating a new organizing team made up exclusively of people who are currently or have previously experienced homelessness. Over the past five months this group has met weekly to not only talk about issues and plan actions and campaigns but also to begin the work of a real movement for justice on our streets.
Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality (H.O.P.E.) was the name of all MSPJC activities related to homelessness, but now it’s poised to be so much more. This group with assistance and support from allies is going to be at the forefront of not only confronting issues of lack of affordable housing and criminalization of poverty but the wide spectrum of issues that stem from and feed into homelessness. From domestic violence, the leading cause of homelessness among women and children, to felony disenfranchisement and lack of adequate mental health services to name a few.
Recently, H.O.P.E has begun to solidify it’s purpose and vision around four core values. DIGNITY, SELF DETERMINATION, SOLIDARITY and MUTUAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT. Under this lens exciting and desperately needed work is already starting to emerge.
DIGNITY
- Senate Bill 2508 recently passed by the Tennessee Legislature makes it a Class A Misdemeanor to sleep on public property owned by the state. This new law will effectively make homelessness a crime with a penalty of a jail sentence up to 11 months and 29 days and/or a $2500 fine.
- This is a civil rights issue and a violation of our constitutional rights. The time has come to stand up and in one voice push back not only against this law but also rally support for badly needed reforms of our criminal justice system and for employment and housing opportunities.
- H.O.P.E. asserts that District Attorney Amy Weirich and MPD Director Armstrong should come forward and publicly state that neither the DA nor MPD will make arrest or prosecute offenders under this unconstitutional law. The H.O.P.E. group has started recruitment meetings every Thursday at 9AM at Manna House 1268 Jefferson to begin a campaign to relentlessly push back against the criminalization of HOMELESSNESS.
SELF DETERMINATION
- H.O.P.E. members are working on creating a Workers Co’op for an all organic cleaning service for local companies, churches and other organizations. This will be created in part with the help of business students who will work with the group in drafting a business plan and bylaws. This service will be fully owned and operated by the members themselves.
SOLIDARITY
- Members are currently planning a mobilization around the issues of homelessness,felony disenfranchisement and the civil rights abuses that occur daily at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar on May 1st. This action is part of a larger day of action planned by various organization and issues on that day.
MUTUAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
- For the past two weeks members of H.O.P.E. went through the first in a monthly series of regular workshops on emotional healing and community building. The isolation and alienation of homelessness can create barriers to escaping it. Which is why we don’t just want to build a group that addresses issues and policies but also creates a space of solidarity and mutual emotional support. Our members teach us a great deal via such conversations and shared profound insights like “Everyone talks about how mental illness can cause homelessness, but nobody talks about how homelessness can cause mental illness.” The loneliness, isolation, the daily stress and fear takes a terrible toil on a person and that pain may reinforce or promote making the wrong choices. We believe at our core that people who have their emotional needs met and a feeling of belonging and “family” make better life choices.
H.O.P.E meets every Thursday night at Manna House If you have any questions or if you or your congregation would like to join H.O.P.E. as a member or an ally please contact Brad Watkins at 901-725-4990 or by email at brad@midsouthpeace.org