Events

2016 Community Resource Exchange: Wed. April 6 at CenturyLink Field

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The 2016 Community Resource Exchange will be held Wednesday, April 6th at CenturyLink Field.  Please register HERE as a service provider. Download, post, and share the 2016 Community Resource Exchange Outreach Poster. This is a day where barriers are reduced to haircuts, dental checks, free shoes, a hot meal, transportation, and so much more! Click here for more info about the exchange, run by United Way of King County, or email exchange [at] uwkc [dot] org. The Coalition on Homelessness will be hosting a Voter Registration table!  Email Hillary if you’re interested in more information about our voter registration work for people who are unstably housed, or if you’d like to volunteer.

Recap: Youth and Young Adults 11/10/15 meeting: Seattle Public Library Programs and Partnership Opportunties

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Big thanks to Shelley Mastalerz and Summer Hayes from the Seattle Central Library’s Children’s and Teen Services for joining us at our YYAC meeting last Tuesday, November 10! At the meeting, Shelley and Summer shared with us some of the current events/opportunities that the Seattle Public Library (SPL) hosts, and some opportunities for developing community partnerships. Every Thursday afternoon, from 3pm-5pm, the Central Library hosts a youth drop-in, put on by a partnership between the Library and New Horizons Ministries. This time was created to fill a gap in time where drop-in hours were not available at New Horizons. SPL is seeking to expand programs such as this, and we enjoyed discussing what this growth could look like. Some of the ideas from the group included advertising the resource by visiting current drop-in centers and passing on the word, creating an easily accessible resource center as part of the Teen Center, diversifying available activities, and offering incentives for youth to visit the Teen Center during Thursday drop-in times. Shelley and Summer hope to form more community partnerships and work with youth and young adult service providers, so please reach out to them with ideas, questions, or to work towards beginning a partnership with them. Contact the Seattle Public Library’s Children’s and Teen Services with teencenter[at]spl[dot]org. Thanks again, Shelley and Summer! Member updates from the meeting: Trevor with Friends of Youth: Drop-in hours at Friends in Youth are changing from the previous time of 11am-2pm to a later time of 2pm-5pm. Matthew with United Way: United Way will be housing a youth Community Resource Exchange on January 28, 2016. Programming and resources for this exchange are being developed. If you have ideas, questions or suggestions, please reach out to Matthew at mridgeway[at]uwkc[dot]org. Coalition updates from the meeting: 2016 will be a  year of case manager trainings: If you’re …

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Event: Film Screening and Discussion to Address Problems Related to Injecting Drugs in Public Places and Opportunities for Preventing Overdose Deaths

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Join us for a public screening of Everywhere But Safe: Public Injecting in New York. To be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers and public health experts.Panelists will discuss drug user health and the role of safe injection sites and other interventions in improving public health and community safety. Read more about the event in this Press Release. WHEN: November 13th, Doors 6pm – Screening 7pm WHERE: Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 TICKETS: FREE – Suggested Price: $5 INFO: www.townhallseattle.org Facebook Event The event is co-sponsored by the Public Defender Association, VOCAL-WA, ACLU of Washington, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, University of Washington, Hepatitis Education Project, Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, Urban Survivors’ Union, Real Change, and the Capitol Hill Community Council. Speaking at the event will be filmmakers Matt Curtis, MPH and Taeko Frost, MPH, as well Eric Seitz a street outreach public health nurse; Chloe Gale, MSW (REACH); Caleb Banta-Green, PhD (Senior Research Scientist at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute as well as an Affiliate Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Washington); Vivek Chaudhary (long time officer of the Urban Survivors Union, Seattle’s longest standing drug user union); and Shilo Murphy (co-founder and executive director of the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance). The event is open to the public and panelists will be available to speak to the media both before and after.

Julia’s reflection on the 2015 Homeless and Formerly Homeless Youth Advocacy Summit

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Six weeks into my internship with the Coalition on Homelessness, and my experiences have been above and beyond any of my expectations a month ago. Two weeks ago, I was excited to be a part of the 10th Annual Homeless and Formerly Homeless Youth Advocacy Summit (October 5-6, 2015). While doing advocacy work in Minnesota, I learned that I would constantly learn and grow by witnessing folks advocate around issues that impact their lives, and my time at the Youth Advocacy Summit proved to be no exception to this rule! Having just supported the Coalition’s 2015 Voter Registration drive, one of the highlights of the Summit for me was witnessing young people choosing to participate in advocacy by exercising their right to vote. Over the course of the Summit, I was particularly excited to watch people think in a different, new way about voting. On the first day of the Summit, one participant was pretty vocal in their choice to not register to vote, feeling that their vote wasn’t enough to make change. Through conversations with other Summit participants, discussions about our elected officials in city and county government, and time to reflect, this participant changed their mind and decided to register! They are ready to have their voice heard in the upcoming election, and will do so through their vote as well as their conversations with Councilmembers during and beyond the Youth Advocacy Summit. Participants at the Youth Advocacy Summit took on no small task! I was impressed by these advocates’ commitment over two very full days (three days for Peer Leaders!) of discussing some of the hard work that needs to be done in this community. Advocates worked on and presented one of four issues throughout the Summit: 1 – Need for an increase in the numbers of available permanent and affordable housing units 2 – Issues specifically impacting People of …

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Event Announcement: The New York Experience with Rent Regulations (10/15)

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Posted with permission from the Tenants Union of Washington State and Timothy Collins The New York Experience with Rent Regulations Timothy L. Collins – former Exec. Director, New York City Rent Guidelines Board October 15, 2015 – 7:30 pm Tenants Union of Washington State, 5425 B Rainier Ave, Seattle, WA 98118 The Tenants Union of Washington State has invited Timothy L. Collins to talk about how rent regulations have worked in New York City. Mr. Collins was Executive Director and Counsel of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board for seven years, managing a research and administrative staff for a board that sets rents for one million housing units in New York City. He has an unmatched grasp of the on-the-ground realities – economic, political, social and legal – of New York City and state rental housing and efforts to keep it affordable. Mr. Collins also served as Assistant Attorney General of New York State in the Real Estate Finance Bureau, and as Assistant Counsel in the New York City Office of Rent and Housing Maintenance. He is currently a partner in the law firm of Collins, Dobkin and Miller LLP in New York City, and teaches constitutional history at Pace University there. Mr. Collins will address both the controversies around rent regulation and the question of home rule for cities on housing issues. For more details, see Mr. Collins paper: “Rent Regulation in New York: Myths and Facts” – http://www.seattle.gov/council/licata/attachments/Rent-Regulation-in-New-York-Myths-and-Facts.pdf For more information: Tenants Union of Washington State, 206-722-6848, tenantsunion.org. Peter Costantini, jpetercostantini@comcast.net, 206-290-0219.

Homeless and Formerly Homeless Youth Advocacy Summit — Oct 5-6, 2015

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A message brought to you by our Youth and Young Adults Committee Co-Chairs, Michael and Emily: Friends! Mark your calendars as the 10th Annual Youth Advocacy Summit – brought to you by the Coalition’s Youth and Young Adults Committee –  will be taking place on October 5 and 6, 2015!  Join us at the next YYA Committee meeting to help solidify the planning of the Summit this Tuesday, September 8 from 10AM-11AM at the Capitol Hill Library Branch (425 Harvard Ave E., Seattle, 98102). We will have color Summit flyers available for you to bring back to your agencies! Please be sure to send a representative from your agency to attend.  Agenda for the YYA Committee Meeting Agency/Program Updates Peer Leaders & Peer Leader Training Thursday, October 11AM-4PM at HEYO Youth Space (1161 11th Ave in Capitol Hill) Role of Peer Leaders Agency Recruitment Youth Participant Recruitment & Transportation ​Who is doing recruitment from each agency What agencies are sending staff? What agencies can help arrange transportation (eg: car pools, bus tickets, etc.) Other recruitment strategies? Food and Other In-Kind Donations ​What business relationships do we already have that we can utilize? What resources do our agencies already have that can be donated? Who can spend some time sending out some letters to secure donations? Other Roles & Responsibilities ​Day of staff / volunteer support Start spreading the word about the Summit . . .  Please help in spreading the word by forwarding this email along to interested youth and young adults and community stakeholders and by posting flyers in your respective youth serving agencies! Adult-identified staff members from youth servicing agencies are welcome to join in supporting the event as well—if you are interested in participating, please reach out! Who: All former or current homeless or unstably housed youth and young adults (ages 13-26) are …

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Recap: General Meeting and Street Drugs 101 Case Manager Training – June 18,2015

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What a meeting!  Among the friendly faces were representatives from SHARE, YWCA, Plymouth Housing Group, Housing Development Consortium, Child Care Resources, Compass Housing Alliance, Housing Justice Project, Hopelink, REACH/Evergreen Treatment Services, North Helpline, Catholic Community Services, Recovery Cafe, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, Jewish Family Services, Aridell Mitchell Home (Goodwill Development Association), Washington Family Counseling Service, ROOTS, YouthCare, El Centro de la Raza, Multi-Service Center, Year Up, and 2-1-1. Following the General Meeting, representatives from even more organizations and community members joined us for our Street Drugs 101 + Naloxone + Related Laws training. Both were informative meetings – Here’s a brief recap . . .  [Psssst! Don’t miss out in the future — add our General Meeting dates to your calendar.] June 18, 2015 General Membership Meeting Report-back Smoking Ban update – On Thursday, May 28, the Board of Park Commissioners voted unanimously (8-0) to pass a smoking ban in Seattle Parks. This ban will take effect 30 days after the vote, likely beginning in July. While this is still a disappointing outcome, it’s important to remember the impact of our collective action. By speaking up with many community members and organizations, we were able to influence the removal of the $27 citation, ensure a “Right to Dispute” be made available, and see to it that there is oversight of enforcement. An emphasis of education is also a feature of this policy. Read the Seattle Parks and Recreation’s release about the new smoking ban.  Now, we all have continued work to do to ensure that what is “in writing” is put into action, and that whatever plays out is brought to light. This means we need you, your colleagues, your friends and family, and, certainly, the people you serve who are (likely) most impacted by this policy to keep us informed about how the implementation and enactment of …

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