On a cold, foggy Saturday morning in late January, an intrepid group of about 20 volunteers convened at the offices of Central Northeast Neighbors (CNN), a nine-neighborhood coalition of which Beaumont-Wilshire is included. The group’s mission that morning was to visit homeless camps to offer bags for trash removal and appropriate receptacles for used “sharps,” a term used in the healthcare field for any device or object used to puncture the skin, such as a hypodermic needle. The Monday following, other CNN volunteers were slated to pick up bagged camp refuse at designated sites.
After signing waiver forms to indemnify CNN in the case of any problems, receiving instructions on how to deal with an aggressive dog or person and other safety suggestions, committee members donned brightly colored vests to help identify them as “official” and set out in small groups to a variety of known homeless camps.
Alison Stoll is CNN’s executive director. She said that while the effort by the members of CNN’s Livability Committee is to reach out to homeless neighbors, the work is ostensibly about neighborhood safety. “When trash and waste pile up, and needles aren’t properly disposed of,” said Stoll, “it presents a safety problem for camp residents as well as others in the neighborhood.”
How did volunteers feel about the mission?
The experience was a positive one, from committee member Jo Schaefer’s perspective. Her team of three approached a campsite in the Madison South neighborhood. “I was comfortable approaching the homeless camp,” she said. “I’ve had lots of diversity training that reveals people respond negatively when approached negatively. Our job was to be welcoming and helpful, and we were treated positively in return.” Schaefer acknowledged her comfort-level was increased by the presence of J.B., a formerly homeless man who came to help that day. “He was great. I’m not sure they would have opened the door to us had J.B. not started the conversation,” she said.
With Schaefer’s team that day was Ramona Reule from the Roseway neighborhood, who also felt having John Boy there was helpful, yet she was not completely at ease. “This engagement activity took me out of my comfort zone,” Reule said, “but I think it’s critical to do so anytime there’s a complicated issue that needs to be approached from many different angles.” Other volunteers, including some who had seen homeless camps but had never approached one, had similar positive experiences.
“Everyone I spoke with felt they learned something, and no one was threatened,” said CNN’s Stoll. “If a camper didn’t want to talk to the volunteers, they just didn’t come out of their tent.”
Reule acknowledged that it remains to be seen if this outreach will make a difference. “But if we can make this a regular activity, I believe it’s a small step toward making a positive impact in the neighborhoods.”
More about CNN and its livability committee
The CNN coalition of neighborhoods is comprised of Beaumont-Wilshire, Cully, Grant Park, Hollywood, Madison South, Rose City Park, Roseway, Sumner, and Sunderland. Cliff Goldman represents the BWNA Board on the Livability Committee, but participation is open to anyone with a residence or business within the boundaries of one of CNN coalition neighborhoods. The committee was formed last spring by the CNN board in response to concerns about trash, including sharps, which began appearing in the neighborhoods as a result of the rising number of homeless camps. “The committee’s overall mission,” said Stoll, “is to keep CNN neighborhoods livable for both housed and unhoused people who live here.”
For more information about CNN or to serve on the CNN livability committee, contact Alison Stoll (alisons@cnncoalition.org) or BWNA board member Cliff Goldman (speechflow@yahoo.com)
Editor’s note: Due to space constraints, Susan’s article was edited down in size. The article in full is posted on the BWNA website home page (www.bwna.us).