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 homeless 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. For meeting times and dates, call 901-300-0006.
End “Play to Stay!”
For over a month now, H.O.P.E. has remained committed to weekly direct actions in order to publicly confront the Beers Van Gogh Center of Excellence. The Beers Center is supposed to provide peer counseling, shelter, and other services to people with severe and persistent mental illness, but for over a year, H.O.P.E. has been receiving complaints about sexual harassment of staff and clients, physical assault, and other illicit activities being perpetrated by one staff person in particular.
We demand that this individual be terminated from his position immediately and that the Tennessee Mental Health Consumer Association, which runs the Beers Van Gogh Center, put in place strong accountability and oversight measures to ensure that predators are not employed in a position where they may prey on vulnerable people. HOPE is now working with investigators from Tennessee Department of Mental Health and the Office of Inspector General, as well as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to make sure we have swift justice for our people. H.O.P.E. members and allies have gathered every Thursday at 12 o’clock, noon in front of the center to directly confront exploitation of people experiencing homelessness by predators and poverty pimps.
We are aware that this is just one example of an issue that is all too familiar to many of our sisters and brothers on the street and we are asking for your support! We will continue to hold weekly protests, every Thursday at 12, Noon in front of the Beers Van Gogh Center, located at 669 Madison Avenue, until we have justice for our people! Please join us!
Branching Out: All Hands on Deck!
H.O.P.E. is taking a leap to the next level. We now have five different volunteer project coordinators that will be assisting our members in developing some very exciting projects!
Street-Wise Ink is a co-operative silk screening business specializing in printing t-shirts. It is owned, operated, and directed by people with a personal experience of homelessness. For several months, our members have been working hard to formulate by-laws and a business plan, familiarize themselves with the silk-screening process, and train new members. We are preparing to begin taking orders from local organizations and businesses, as well as developing our own retail line. We are currently reaching out to local churches and others in the community to find permanent space to house our operations. If you or someone you know is interested in providing space or other support for Street-Wise Ink, please contact Leanna Hicks at leannahicks8@gmail.com.
The Garden Crew is another member-led project of H.O.P.E. that is focusing on developing community gardens. We are working to establish relationships with within the community to beautify our neighborhoods and to educate ourselves on food independence.
This is a very ambitious project; any material support you can offer would be greatly appreciated. We need pitch-forks, hand rakes, shovels, hoes, garden gloves, wheelbarrows, tarps, untreated lumber, screws, nails, wooden palettes, sling blades, hand pruners, water hose, volunteers, organic seeds, and other assorted garden supplies. (No chemical fertilizer, please.) If you would like to donate supplies, or join us in the garden one day, contact Dallas Hollandat dallasholland@gmail.com
Street Watch is a project of H.O.P.E. focused on educating individuals experiencing homelessness about their rights and on how to document potential cases of police harassment and abuse. Street Watch will be organizing street teams with video cameras to document and highlight the harsh realities of life on the streets of Memphis. Currently we are hosting a series of ‘Know Your Rights’ workshops with the public defender’s office. The next workshop is scheduled for June 22nd at Holy Community Church. We will be doing street outreach in the coming weeks focused in the downtown area where we get the most complaints of police harassment. For more information on how you can support this cause, contactBrandon Shaw of Subliminal Thought at mrbcjs@gmail.com
H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus
92% of women experiencing homelessness have suffered severe physical and/or sexual abuse, and have dealt with issues of sexual harassment, rampant in the homeless services system. As homelessness among those who identify as women is a distinct experience, we need an organizing space made up of women to address and confront these issues. The H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus will provide a space where members who identify as women can get mutual emotional support, and also participate in twice-a-month self-defense trainings. For more information on how you can support this project, please contact Ace Madjlesi at acemadjlesi@gmail.com.
Feeding the Movement
H.O.P.E would like to once again thank Just for Lunch and Trolley Stop Market for showing some love by donating meals each month for our weekly H.O.P.E. meetings! We would also like to thank Memphis Center for Independent Living for providing us with space for our meetings while we seek a permanent location. 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!