H.O.P.E. is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center sponsored organization whose members are exclusively people who are currently or have formerly experienced homelessness. For over a year now, H.O.P.E. has been organizing and agitating around the issues that are a priority to the homeless community.
DIGNITY:
H.O.P.E. members hit the pavement running this month, volunteering with the Community Alliance for the Homeless for the 100k Homes campaign: Memphis 100, which will get 100 of the most vulnerable individuals of the street and into permanent supportive housing before Christmas.
H.O.P.E. was instrumental in securing the funding for this campaign back in May, and to seal the deal, H.O.P.E. members spent three days getting up at four o’clock in the morning to do outreach and conduct surveys to connect 100 of our brothers and sisters with the housing and supportive services that they so desperately need.
“Of the 259 interviewed, more than half will be near death within the next two years.
Almost all of them sleep outside year round and over half of them have serious medical conditions.”
H.O.P.E. will continue to fight for funding that makes campaigns like this possible!
Mutual Emotional Support:
H.O.P.E. wants to thanks the Krav Maga Center of Memphis for joining forces with H.O.P.E. to produce a series of monthly self defense classes for women experiencing homelessness!
92% of women on the street have experienced the victimization of physical or sexual assault. This will provide our members who are women with a way to develop their survival skills and strengthen the interpersonal bonds they have with one another in a safe andsupportive environment. This, along with the added component of mutual emotional support and group counseling will lead us to the creation of a H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus, to specifically address the issues of women on our streets. We already know that the women in our group are some of our strongest leaders. We are looking forward to the next steps of strengthening these skills and building the internal capacity of H.O.P.E. to continue to win real tangible victories for our members.
Solidarity:
This month, H.O.P.E. men and women stood together with our LGBT brothers and sisters to support the the Non- Discrimination Ordinance, which the Memphis City Council passed with a 9-4 vote on October 16, 2012. This ordinance now provides city employees with equal protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as well as disability, age, sex, national origin, and ethnicity.
H.O.P.E. knows that homelessness is a rainbow issue; there is no issue that we can’t find common ground with in the struggle for civil rights and equality. During a past H.O.P.E. meeting, members voted to support the work of TEP and will continue to support our LGBT members.
Self Determination:
H.O.P.E. members have met every Monday at the Memphis Center for Independent Living, over the past several months to develop a business plan for a worker owned and operated tee-shirt printing co-op. This month, H.O.P.E. members finalized and voted to approve the business plan and bylaws for Street Wise ink CO-OP!
H.O.P.E. would like to thank Dan Levin, our business advisor for his tireless commitment and involvement in this project. Here is an excerpt from our business plan:
“Street Wise Ink is a collaborative group of homeless and formerly homeless men and women joined together sharing knowledge to create a silk-screening business. Based on the principle of “Teach a man to fish,” Street Wise Ink members are empowering themselves to break the chains of homelessness.
This will not only provide a sustainable income to Street Wise Ink members, it will also raise awareness of issues surrounding homelessness and provide additional revenues back to the community.
Additionally, extraordinary member creative talents and reinvestment from wholesale sales, will allow for the development of a retail revenue stream from member-designed items.”
Feeding the Movement:
H.O.P.E would like to thank Just for Lunch and Trolley Stop Market for making a commitment to donate meals each month for our weekly H.O.P.E. meetings at The Manna House! There are lots of ways to feed the movement, and we would like to thank all of our allies for their continued support.
If you are interested in how you can support the work of H.O.P.E. members, please contact Paul Garner @ 901.725.4990 or paul@midsouthpeace.org and don’t forget to like us on Facebook for more H.O.P.E. updates!