Emma Young

319 E Magnolia St
Bellingham WA 98225
To: Mike Parker
From: Emma Young
Subject: Community Outreach Programs
Date: March 3, 2015
Where is your home?
I live on a busy street in downtown Bellingham. My property is not private in any way shape or
form. My roommates and I hang out on the porch a lot and have had many unwanted visitors.
The form of these visits range from having homeless people physically walking up to us,
scavenging through our yard for drugs, defecating on our property, leaving needles or throwing
our garbage/recycling all over the alleyway. None of our experiences have been pleasant. I
acknowledge that this is not a single incident and part of a much larger issue at hand. For those
who dont have a place to go to heres what I propose.
Those without homes or the financial position to support themselves make up much of the
population that I live in and that Whatcom county transcends. For the homeless count on January
29, 2015 in Bellingham there were 449 homeless households counted and 651 individuals. It is
also acknowledged by the Whatcom Homeless Service Center that this is an underestimate
because it is only a snapshot at one point in time of the homeless population.
Who is homeless?
The only way to help clean up the downtown area is to give homes and the means of survival to
those who dont have them. Not all homeless people are drug addicts or mentally unstable, while
some are that is not the . From the same 2015 report, the leading cause of homelessness was
economic hardship at 43% of those counted. Under complex circumstances people are forced to
choose between shelter, food and other basic needs which leads to homelessness. The top six
highest reasons people were forced into homelessness none had to do with drug or alcohol abuse.
The top factors for 2014 were economic reasons, domestic violence, family crisis, loss of a job,
mental illness, temporary living situation ended and then followed by drug or alcohol use.
When I first started looking into this issue I thought that a majority of the homeless were adults,
predominantly males, drug addicts and the mentally ill. Since looking into the issue Ive come
learn that over 50% of those counted at the 2015 count were female and 92 families had children.
And although the median age was 32 the range was from less than one year old all the way up to
73. 44% of homeless actually have jobs but cant get housing which is where low-income
housing comes into play. 165 of those counted for 2015 were children under 18. 19% of all
homeless were children. With a large population of children without any support the issue goes

beyond rummaging through trash. These are the next generation of people. The importance of
giving support to those who can still find their place in the world is something priceless that must
be addressed. What about the others who dont even have jobs though?
Changing How We Think
The Bellingham Film Project is a film project used to inspire action to end homelessness. It
highlights the relatableness and everyday situations that can put anyone in a difficult situation.
Having a voice is what educates people and will help the community come together to fight this
situation.
On October 3, 2015 Forbes released an interview with Julia Gillard, Australias first prime
minister about how education is the key to all developmental goals. And I agree. Large
humanitarian issues overshadow the seemingly separate issue of education. Education is
important for children and for adults. Education does not start or stop with children. The children
who are homeless will have better opportunities if their caretakers are given the education to get
them back on their feet. Only 9 of the homeless counted on January 29, 2015 were
unaccompanied. This means that a large amount of the children are with a guardian of some sort.
Current Priority
Low income housing is a priority for Bellingham in their plans. In order to help any of these
people in need of support, getting them on their feet in a stable home is the first part. Since 2008
homelessness has decreased by 35% but the population is still large for a smaller city. When the
homeless were asked where they slept the night before 32% said on the streets and 30% and 28%
said emergency housing or transitional housing. No matter by how much the largest percentage
of where homeless sleep should not be the streets, especially in the freezing winter months when
the survey was taken.
The homeless coalition has a tab where you can peruse different sites that offer low-income and
affordable housing. It also has links to help tenants who are in danger of losing their housing.
The focus on the homeless coalition website is to get homeless individuals and families into
housing. While this is definitely important thats not the end.
Successful Programs
Throughout Washington there is a heavy focus on veteran reintegration program. In the 10 year
plan released by the Homeless Coalition since 2008 the veteran homelessness rate decreased by
54%. Job reintegration and health services are most available to veterans. So if outreach
programs could be widely extended to all those in need then we know that homelessness could
decrease.
What sets this apart? Veterans have gotten the best rep of all the homeless populations. We
recognize them as a successful part of society. Their past is recognizably admired. We have set

them apart from the feared. What we need now is a way to decriminalize all of the homeless. The
Bellingham Film Project is the first of many advocacies that could be implemented to show the
true stories and relatableness to the people who dont see that. There is a larger diverse
population of homeless than we generally think about so the way we need to tackle this issue is
in a way that will get to every individual.
Skills to be Successful
Once people are on the streets or begin to enter low-income housing reintegrating them into a
productive workforce poses a challenge. Reintegration is a term that we associate with those
being released from prison, but it extends anyone who needs to be reintroduced into society.
People who are homeless or in low-income housing need the same type of integration into the
workforce and society. Promoting and increasing funding for job interviewing, resume building,
applying to jobs and sustaining jobs is one very important aspect.
Even if homeless are put in housing there is no guarantee they can keep it or sustain the means to
survive. There was an article on a homeless individual, Leo Grand who was offered a hundred
dollars or two months of coding classes by Patrick McConlogue (Moss 2014). He chose the
computer programming and created an app and made an estimated $10,000-15,000. This is a solo
incident, but stories like these show that there is motivation to get back into society and continue
life after going through an economic or personal hardship. Patrick McConlogue was testing a
theory about education being greater than any amount of money or outside help that can be
offered.
The trick to his tale is that he is still homeless. He used that money to rent a storage shed and pay
for his personal needs. For this reason I stress the need for the low-income housing project to
extend into outreach programs. Neither is good alone.
Community Outreach Programs
The 10 year plan to end homelessness released in 2012 has increasing economic security and
reducing financial vulnerability as number 7. In 2006 the progress was graded and Whatcom
county received a B letter grade. The opportunity council created management services linked to
housing clients. This is a trend that should be used as a leading example. this collaboration is the
kind of work that the Homeless Center needs to make priority. A new navigator program at
WorkSource now works with 360 families newly since the grading.
Goodwill of Bellingham holds free classes for writing, GED prep, online job search, microsoft
software and more. There is the opportunity council which is a nonprofit that helps people
become self-sufficient. Two programs run by the council are the North West Training Institute
and Financial Literacy and Renter Education (F.L.A.R.E). F.L.A.R.E is catered to education
about renting and not job searching, basic skills or anything that will give people the opportunity

to support themselves. Other larger funded widespread programs are done by the Washington
Community Action Partnership, National Community Action Partnership and Foundation.
Many of these focus solely or largely on renters rights and keeping your home permanent. The
programs are there and they just need to expanded to a wider range of skills and audiences.
Building off of the Projects Already in Place
Programs focusing on getting people into permanent homes needs to collaborate with the
opportunistic programs. Once these two courses of action are seen necessary hand in hand then
homelessness we will see less and less people re-entering homelessness. These programs dont
discriminate against any peoples by helping all that have been pushed aside by society.
For a city of roughly 82,631 people where 651 are homeless individuals programs to help people
find permanent housing need to be supplemented with opportunities in education for the
workforce, basic skills and how to successfully integrate back into a normal society.
While it should build off of current programs it also needs to extend those who are homeless and
maybe not in the position of getting into low-income housing. Whether we realize it or not there
is a hierarchy in the homeless population and by only targeting those in the position of getting
housing we are playing into the society that didnt let these people succeed in the first place. As
trivial as it may sound we need to advertise and extend a helping hand to those who dont have
the means to even access information on job programs or skill building through newspapers,
flyers, individual volunteers and as many ways as we can.
A Permanent Solution
First comes finding permanent homes as the Whatcom Homeless Service emphasizes, but to end
the vicious cycle of homelessness these community outreach programs are at the utmost
importance. Homelessness has decreased with low-income housing as a priority. Half way
through the initial 10 year plan it is time to take into consideration the next steps. We need to
work as a community to keep people off the streets and it doesnt end with finding housing. In
2015, 15% of the people had 4 or more episodes of homelessness over the past 3 years.
A home does not hold all the tools to end homelessness. Homelessness can be temporary,
permanent or recurring. The goal should be to eradicate homelessness and prevent these episodes
from recurring. Outreach programs that teach skills, enrich creativity and help people enter the
job force ready are at utmost importance at this time. Housing is not guaranteed to be permanent,
but skills are something someone can use for a lifetime.

Sincerely.

Emma Young

Sources:
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/employment.html
http://www.whatcomhsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FINAL_Whatcom-2015-homelesscount-report-062515.pdf
http://www.oppco.org/about/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2015/10/03/education-is-the-key-to-all-globaldevelopment-goals-qa-with-julia-gillard/#11dd314e73ae