HVolume 12, No. 6

OMEWA RDMember NAS N A

No rth Ame ri can Street Ne w s pap e r Assoc ia t i o n Nov / Dec, 2008

Page 2

Keys to Kingdom?Crisis Conclusion

Page 3

America’s ScrapConclusion

Page 4

Fresno MeetingNickelsville Arrests

Page 5

Press ConferenceBob & Spencer

Page 6

Chongo - Riding aBeam of Light

Page 7

Poetry

Obituary

Page 8

Homeless ResourcesInfo

No n -Pr o fi t Or g.U . S. Po stag e

P A I DP erm i t No .1774

Sac rame nto , CA

Street Jou r n a l

A VOICE FORTHE SACRAMENTO AREAHOMELESS COMMUNITY SINCE 1997

by Heike BarkawitzInter Press Service

NEW YORK (IPS): Wa l lStreet may be in the throesof agony, but business isbooming at the Holy ApostlesSoup Kitchen a bit farthernorth in the Manhattan neigh-borhood of Chelsea.

And that’s not particularlygood news.

Just ask Ishmael, a youngman who has been eating hismeals at Holy Apostles forabout three months now. “Icome here in order to savemoney,” he told IPS. “I dohave a job, but still cannotafford to buy food every day.”

Ishmael also lives in a home-

less shelter because rentingan apartment is beyond hismeans — perhaps not sur-prising in a place that boaststhe highest housing costs inthe United States, with anaverage rent of 2,400 dollarsper month, according to thereal estate data firm ReisClient Services.

Across the city, New York’ssocial services are troubled.Even as the weak economydrives more and more peopleto seek help in soup kitchensor shelters, advocates worrythat the private donationsthey rely on will simultane-ously begin to dry up.

R e v. Elizabeth Maxwell,interim executive director ofHoly Apostles, is unsure how

the church will cope with aninevitable surge in clientele inthe months and years ahead.

“It’s coming from both sides— the demand is increasing,the need is increasing and atthe same time, the resourcesare shrinking. Due to thefinancial crisis — especiallyin a city like New York, whereso much of the city’s economyis tied to the fortunes of WallStreet — city government isgoing to cut and state gov-ernment has already cut.”

Maxwell said the HolyApostles soup has alreadyseen a “massive increase inthe last year”.

“In July, we served moremeals than in any month in

our history — an average of1,353 meals each weekday— and in August the averagewas higher than in any monthin our history, and we’re up22 percent in the month ofSeptember from the previousSeptember,” she said.

The city’s homeless shelterpopulation has been mount-ing steadily for years, from21,100 people per night in1998 to 35,200 in April 2007,an increase of about 65percent. The number of chil -dren has increased by 18percent, to over 14,000.

Patrick Markee, a seniorpolicy analyst at the Coalitionfor the Homeless (CFTH),

Shelters and Soup Kitchens Hold Credit Crisis Front Lines Street News Service www. s t r e e t n e w s s e r v i c e . o r g

continued Page 2

by Tim CoviDenver Voice, USA

In search of America’s crap,Denver Voice follows yourjunk from the dumpster, to thehomeless and into the globalmarket place.

One ride with Paul Campbelland you start to look at junka little differently. The beat upold dresser with half-brokendrawers might have brasshandles: a few dollars. Thebroken windows that wouldbe useless in a home aremade of extruded aluminum- a nice set of those strippeddown will bring another $10or $15. Even a broken broomwith an aluminum handle willadd up with other metals tofetch a price.

And all this starts in yourhome. In a country where 67

percent of our gross domes-tic product comes from con-sumer spending, it’s notshocking that the alleywaysof our cities are lined withreusable refuse, or that in2006 our second largestexport to China was scrapmaterial.

You do a remodel and tosssome old cabinets in thealley. Your toaster wears out,or you just want to replacean appliance with somethingnewer. So you take it out andtoss it in the trash. A home-less scrapper comes by andcuts the electrical cord off,winds it up and puts it in abag. If it’s made of steel oraluminum, another personmight break it down intoparts, separate out themetals, and add it to a col-lection they’ll turn in at ascrap yard later. For a home-

less person, your junk meansdaily bread, and for a scrapmerchant in a $65 billion ayear industry, with $15.7billion in exports, it turns atidy profit on the national andinternational market.

The Industry and Its Workers

The streets of WashingtonPark are quiet at 6 a.m. onSunday. With the sun peakingover the horizon, PaulCampbell, homeless for thebetter part of the past 10years, rides his bike down tothe starting point of a regularSunday morning rummagingroute, looking for “groundscores” along the way - thingsof value you find on the side-walk or street. He explainsthat Sunday mornings are agood time for ground scores.A lot of people drunk from thenight before drop things.

Phones, cash, wallets,watches, who knows? Hesaid he’s found twenties andmore just lying in the gutter.

To look at him, you wouldn’tthink that Campbell is home-less. He keeps himselftogether, clean cut. His back-pack ready to be filled, he isequipped with a small satchelof trade tools on his handle-bars - pliers, wire cutters anda magnet mounted on thecrossbar that he uses todetermine if something isferrous (iron or steel) or non-ferrous. We turn off down analley just past DowningStreet, a little south ofAlameda. The route will windthrough the neighborhoodand take us past about 10-miles of Dumpsters before 10o’clock.

Wasteland: In search of Ame r i c a ’s ScrapStreet News Service www.streetnewsservice.org

continued Page 3

by Rodney GrahamStreet Sheet Canada

WINNIPEG, CANADA: -Were the “mission keys” anidea to help the homeless orjust another attempt by meanspirited businessmen to pushthe homeless off the street?In 2002 Winnipeg took theexample of Halifax, Ottawaand Burnaby, B.C. where both“donation boxes” and “keys”were used to manipulate“consumers” into not giving topanhandlers. The “keys” (Plastic keys with a missionsaddress on it) were boughtfrom businessmen for onedollar and given by the publicdonators to homeless whothen could redeem them fora shower, a meal, etc..: ser-vices already provided free atcertain missions. The idea didnot work. According to “Katy”,an employee of Union GospelMission in Winnipeg, the keyprogram was discontinuedbecause the keys were “notneeded” as the services werealready provided for freeanyway. She also said that,“..yes, businesses did see thehomeless as a “threat”.

Some anti-poverty activistssay the help key program isinsulting to panhandlersbecause it assumes theyspend their cash handouts onbooze and drugs.

“It does reduce their dignity,”

says Linda Lalonde of theNational A n t i - P o v e r t yOrganization in Ottawa. “Ittakes away their self-deter-mination. If I decide that Idon’t want to have chickennoodle soup, which is whatthey’re serving at the missionfor lunch today, can I notmake that decision just asanyone else would?”

A more recent scheme to vil-lianize the poor in Winterpegwas bus shelter ads. The adsshowed a picture of a home-less youth laying on the side-walk (whether the youth wassick or tired or stoned - itdidn’t say) the wording gavea statistic (from where it didnot say) that a large numberof homeless used their pan-handling change for drugsand encouraged the public tonot give to the poor. How suchan ad could be posted in ademocratic society I don”tknow, but I think it is scary!Such self-righteous propa-ganda was also advertisedduring Hitler’s rise to powerand in totalitarian regimes -but in Canada? - where weboastfully pride ourselves onbeing so much more moraland righteous than the badAmericans? When govern-ments bail out businessmenand the wealthy and givethem tax shelters and such.Does any of our citizenry postads saying “Don’t give to therich! They use it to buy pros-

titutes, Caribbean vacations,tax shelters, expensive sportscars, expensive whiskey, etc..etc.. etc..”

My opinion, and the opinionof many activists is that it wasjust another attempt to demo-nize the less fortunate whoalready are feared by thepublic at large and keep themaway from their businesses.Poor people are bad for busi-ness aesthetics.

Interestingly, in the late 90s“Change for the Better” boxeswere given to businessmen.The idea was to have thepublic give change to littleyellow boxes in businessesinstead of to those who coulddirectly benefit from cashmoney. An employee of abusiness in the trendy area ofWinnipeg, Osborne Village,told me she was sure that theowner was pilfering the boxesafter they were full of money.Interestingly as well, theboxes seemed to disappearafter being filled. Seems thereis no record of anyone gettingcaught stealing any though.The scheme was discontin-ued also. Perhaps “Changefor the Better” actually meantnot “change for the better” tochange the lives of the poor,but rather, “change” (As inpocket change) for the better- the better meaning the“better” human beings - thebusinessmen who possibly

stole the boxes!

In my early years of socialactivism I learned a few thingsfrom some American activists;there are people and organi-zations out there that thriveoff the charity of the public,and they are not homelesspeople. My American cousinscalled them “poverty pimps”and “fund suckers”. No needto delve into that too much...The average income for adirector of a social agency inCanada is $150, 000. Theaverage income for a socialworker is between $35 to$60,000!

In 1997, Winnipeg “criminal-ized” a group of individual cit-izens who were underprivi-leged and vulnerable.Homeless youth calledsqueegee kids (who wash carwindows at intersections forchange). A lengthy whitewashwas done by city hall. 50“experts” representing socialagencies lined up at thethrough. There were severalmeetings concerning thesqueegee “problem” Very fewsqueegee kids went to themeetings, although they“found” one supposedsqueegee kid, who was not areal squeegee kid at all andwas not homeless, but livedin River Heights with his nicemiddle class family!

Needless to say after talking

about “alternatives” severalsocial organizations actuallyrecommended thatsqueegeeing was actually agood idea and it didn”t sendmega funds into social orga-nizations and their highpaying employees/fundsuckers - but money actuallywent into the hands of thosewho needed it, and whoneeded it sometimes in urgentsituations, such as whenhaving to escape abusiveparents/social agencies suchas foster care, group homesetc of which there are manywhich are abusive in Canada.But after all these “experts”and politicians sat on theirasses for months talking, theinevitable occurred and thedecision was made that thechamber of commerce andcity hall knew would happen- a whole new law criminaliz-ing a group of underprivilegedwas implemented. The “alter-natives” were all bullshit anddidn’t work out.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we couldso easily criminalize in a fewshort months crooked politi-cians, clergy, brutal discrimi-nating cops, and mean spir-ited businessmen? What aday - a glorious day - thatwould be!

Reprinted from Street Sheet© Street News Service:www.street-papers.org/

told IPS that the number of homelessfamilies in New York has now hit an“all-time record” of about 9,000. “Onlythis month, the number of familiesentering shelters increased again,” hesaid, interpreting the situation as a“real sign of an economic downturn”.

Surviving in New York City without adecent salary can be an almost impos-sible task. Many adults in sheltersshare Ishmael’s predicament — theyhave jobs, yet still cannot affordhousing, CFTH says.

According to the Census Bureau’sHousing Vacancy Survey, in 2005,one out of four New Yorkers spenthalf of their income on rent alone,leaving little left over for other neces-sities.

“Many people in New York have tochoose between food and rent orbetween medical care and rent,” Rev.Maxwell told IPS.

One out of five adults and one of fourchildren in New York now live belowthe poverty line, which is 17,600dollars per year for a family of three.

This equals about two million peopleliving in poverty, Markee told IPS.

Speaking to IPS, many homelesspeople expressed anger at the gov-ernment. “This country is ass-back-wards,” exclaimed one man who gavehis name as Robert. “The situationgets worse for the struggling individ-uals and only gets better for thosewho have money. This country isabout to collapse and I’m pretty surethat there’s going to be a revolt soon.”

Edward, 55, became homeless whenhis father died and didn’t leave a will.Two hospitalizations left him 3,600dollars in debt. The federal govern-ment sends a check for about 150dollars a month that he can use forfood, but it’s not nearly enough, hesaid.

Like Holy Apostles, whose budget is2.7 million dollars, many of the city’sestimated 1,200 non-profit soupkitchens and food pantries raise thevast majority of their funding fromprivate individuals and foundations,with only a small percentage comingfrom the government.

“ We’re very concerned, becausepeople’s ability to give is going to bevery impacted by the financial crisis,”Rev. Maxwell told IPS.

“A lot of the foundations that we getmoney from certainly have a lot oftheir assets in stock market,” addedMark Walter, Holy Apostles’ develop-ment assistant. “So we don’t knowwhat’s coming down the pike. NewYork State just cut its funding forhunger relief programs by 16 percentand then a couple of months later,they announced that they would bedecreasing it an additional six percentof the funds that have not alreadybeen spent.”

The Coalition for the Homeless alsoraises 60 percent of its funding fromprivate sources, Patrick Markee toldIPS.

“We’re definitely worried for contribu-tions to go down with the financialcrisis. Particularly after public holidayswe get a lot of private donations. Nowwith the economy getting worse, theseprivate donations might go down,” he

said, adding that the coalition wouldbe highly dependent on donations dueto an increased need.

However, the funding has alreadybeen reduced. “We’re hoping for thebest and planning for the worst,”Markee concluded.

Throughout the country, homelessadvocacy groups are reporting themost visible rise in homeless encamp-ments in a generation. “The economyis in chaos, we’re in an unofficialrecession and Americans are worried,from the homeless to the middle class,about their future,” Michael Stoops,acting executive director of the CFTH,said in a statement.

The New York City government maysoon be forced to resort to the emer-gency measure taken by authoritiesin Reno, Nevada, where a tent cityhas been erected to house those whohave tumbled through the wideningeconomic cracks.

Courtesy of Inter Press Service ©Street News Service: www.street-papers.org

Crisis Front Lines continued from page 1

Keys to the Kingdom or Another Attempt to Demonize the Poor?Street News Service www.streetnewsservice.org

page 2 Homeward 12.6

Homeward 12.6 page 3

Even the alleyways seem incongru-ous this morning. Floral lined fencesand blooming trees adorn thesenarrow corridors behind beautifulhomes, while Campbell fishes throughtrash for an electrical cord from aseemingly good lamp. He rides fast,pulling up next to each dumpster, flip-ping the lid and quickly glancing fora good find inside before moving on.He says the faster you get throughthe route, and the earlier, the morelikely you are to get good scrap.

All said, though, Paul will be lucky towalk away from today with about $15.He says that business used to be alot more lucrative. When he was usinga bike trailer he could earn about $60or more a day. “When I first started Iwas running about 30 to 35 cents apound back in 2004. And prices justkept going up. I’d make $12 to $15a day, and by 2006 was averaging adollar a pound and running 30, 40,50 pounds a day. As late as 2006 Icould go out and almost guaranteemyself 10 bucks an hour. Now I can’teven guarantee myself a dollar a day.”

It’s an ironic situation for the small-time scrapper using just a bike or cart;because the price of scrap hasincreased so much in the past coupleof years, it’s harder to make money.“The higher the prices get, the morepeople are going to do it. I used tofind a lot of extruded aluminum fromwindow frames. I don’t remember thelast time I found a window. You gottatake the glass out, the screws out,but people are doing it.”

A d d i t i o n a l l y, he thinks our badeconomy has put more people into aposition where they either have toscrap for a living, or they save theirmaterial, so there’s less scrap to beginwith. “The better the economy the lesspeople are going to have to go outto scrap, so you find more in a goodeconomy. Right now, most of theseplumbers and electricians that havecopper and brass are saving it to payfor their $3.50 gasoline.”

Paul’s more-than-modest income isan interesting pittance when lookedat in relation to the industry he playsa role in. His job, although for himabout survival, feeds into a micro-economy that is driven by Americanconsumerism and waste, and in turnfeeds into new consumer productsand means billions in annual profitsacross the recycling and metals man-ufacturing industries.

Matt Alvarez, a buyer at All Recyclingin Englewood, pointed out that theU.S. is a primary source for scrapmaterial that goes into new productsworldwide.

“You’ve got foreign steel mills lookingfor scrap, and America’s the numberone source for it. Obviously - in third-world countries - their structures areall sticks and stones - they don’t havea plentiful scrap supply to pull from,”Alvarez said.

The scrap recycling industry has beena significant part of the globaleconomy in the past century, provid-ing raw material for new steel, copper,brass and other metals. According tothe Institute of Scrap RecyclingIndustries, in the U.S. two of everythree pounds of steel are made fromrecycled ferrous material, and 60percent of other alloys and metals aremade from recycled nonferrous mate-rial.

Since the environmental movement ofthe 1970s the industry has growntremendously, moving from once mom& pop style junkyard operations to anincreasingly corporate and homoge-nized style of businesses.

“Scrap has turned into a global com-modity,” says Alvarez. “China, India,Brazil - those three especially aredriving the market right now.” Headded that this competition anddemand from oversees producers isdriving the price of scrap feedstockhigher, resulting in American steelcompanies buying out or merging withlarge scrap merchants to controlcosts.

“There’s a lot of consolidation goingon now. We’re one of the last familyowned and operated [scrap yards] oursize. Most of them are being boughtup or are part of larger guys,” he said.He pointed out two companies in par-ticular, “David Joseph and anothercalled Metal Management are like theWal-Marts of scrap. New Corp, thelargest North American steel maker,just bought David Joseph. They’retrying to control regions and controlscrap, and New Corp is buying thembecause in their case they need tocontrol where their material is comingfrom,” Alvarez said.

As the industry has grown andchanged, the people who supply ithave also shifted. Scrappers repre-sent a broad range of workers in anindustry with very little regulation or

price guarantee. They range from thehomeless guy with a cart or a bikepicking through alley-trash for lightalloys and metals like copper andbronze tubing, to the family with apickup truck and a regular clienteleof local businesses that they receivescrap from, to those who steal copperwire, tubing and other metals fromconstruction sites, houses or evenlight posts.

With these almost class-like divisions,Campbell says scrapping has its ownstratified social system, where thoseon the bottom can even be given alesser price for the same materialsthan those with greater means. Hesaid Atlas Metal & Iron Corp., a ferrousand nonferrous metal recyclingcompany in downtown Denver, waswhere most of the homeless scrap-pers went because they could walkin.

“If you walked in or rode a bike orpushed a cart, they’d pay you lessthan if you came in a car,” Campbellsaid. “Most of the people downtownare walking all the way up to 48thand York now,” he said, referring toDo More Recycling.

Mike Rosen of Atlas Metals acknowl-edged that they do have tiered pricing,but said it has nothing to do withsomeone’s social or economic status.

“We have tiered pricing based onvolume, but it has nothing to do withthe person bringing the material in.Our feeling is that someone with alarger volume is a bigger presence inthe market, so we’ll pay them a higherrate.”

Rosen also said Atlas Metals stoppeddoing walk-ins about two years ago

based on a “tag and hold” law thatrequires scrap metal recyclers toobtain a license plate number fromsellers and hold metals aside for fivebusiness days before processingthem. The law, HB07 1141, wasenacted to prevent metal theft.Industry experts, however, say “tagand hold” laws are ineffective sinceso few metals are actually traceable.The Colorado law also provides thata scrap metal purchaser may avoidthe license plate requirement if theycreate a video record of each trans-action. Several scrap recyclers in thecity and surrounding area still acceptwalk-ins on this basis.

Regardless of the changes and thepeaks and valleys of the industry, PaulCampbell and others who are home-less will continue to rely on scrappingas a way of life. He has been workingthe alleys in Denver since 2004. Hishands show signs of homelessnessand hard work as he reaches into thetrash can to pull out another find. Hepulls out some chrome-plated tubing,places it between the arms of theDumpster and wrenches it back andforth a couple times, splitting it toreveal a light yellow sheen on theinside of the pipe. “Brass” he says,breaking up the remaining lengths tofit into his bag, “probably worth aboutfive or six bucks.” A light paycheck bymost standards, but he has a differ-ent philosophy.

“I actually don’t mind it. I can go any-where in the country now and makemoney out of nothing. I can work formyself and by myself. I can work whenI want and how long I want,” he said.

Reprinted from StreetWise© Street News Service: www.street-papers.org

America’s Scrap continued from page 1

page 4 Homeward 12.6

by Cydney GillisReal Change News, USA

SEATTLE, WA: Aaron Colyer had built alittle shack to house the pink tent that theorganizers of Nickelsville gave him. Hehad painted part of the shack pink tomatch, and he was sitting out front Fridayafternoon as he waited for the police tocome.

When they did, Colyer, a fresh-facedyoung veteran of the Marine Corps.,wasn’t shy about trying to talk the officersout o f arresting him and a fellowNickelodeon sitting at a tent nearby.

“The Constitution says we have an inalien-able right to life, liberty and the pursuit ofhappiness,” Colyer began while the offi-cers were still a few tents away. “You knowyou guys have a choice in the matter. Youcan choose not to do this. What are theygoing to do, fire you?”

The officers paid no mind, continuing tolift and look in tents for any unseen strag-glers. Then they came to Colyer ’s shack,following the same procedure as the fiveother arrests they had already made. Anofficer bent over and asked Colyer if heunderstood that, if he didn’t leave, hewould be charged with criminal trespass.

Colyer said yes. Like the others, officers

lifted him to his feet and took him awayin the hot sun to the applause and cheersof Nickeleons and onlookers on the otherside of a 26-officer line of blue that slowlybut surely was clearing the camp of theoccupants who took the city lot along WestMarginal Way SW five days before,dubbing it Nickelsville in honor of themayor and his policy of sweeping home-less camps on public property.

The arrests, all 22 of them, went on foran hour. But when the blue line finallytopped a little hill overlooking a parkinglot just west of Nickelsville, they stopped.It was a small but notable victory for thehomeless and their advocates, who hadbeen on the phone that morning askingGov. Christine Gregoire to intervene - andshe did.

Sometime after 1 p.m., after a city workerhad announced that the field was SeattleDepartment of Transportation propertyand the Nickelodeons would have toleave, after the police had already madetheir first arrests at the east end of thefield, Ron Judd, a senior aide to the gov-ernor, charged onto the field, telling theSeattle officers that the governor hadgiven her permission for the tent dwellersto stay five more days in the tiny parkinglot, which is owned by the WashingtonState Department of Transportation, notthe city.

I t ’s a move that the 140 or soNickelodeons, who put up the renegadetent city in the early morning hours ofSept. 22, had hoped and planned for.Before dawn, in a desperate attempt tostand their ground, many had draggedtheir tents through the field and up overthe hill to the parking lot in hopes the gov-ernor would come through - a desperatemeasure that worked.

But on ly temporarily. On Oct. 1 ,Nickelsville’s time will be up again. Its res-idents have already written a letter to thegovernor asking permission to move toanother piece of state land, but havepromised to be out of the parking lot bymidnight We d n e s d a y. Many say theycame to Nickelsville because the city’sshelters are full and overflowing. The nightbefore police came to clear the camp,they say, 13 people were turned awayfrom Operation Nightwatch, a dispatchservice for the city’s downtown shelters.

Nickels’ spokesperson Karin Zaugg Blacksays shelter is available, adding that 14people had accepted a shelter placementfrom three outreach workers dispatchedto Nickelsville by the city’s Department ofHuman Services.

But, “If they get a referral, someone hasto get kicked out of that bed to make roomfor them,” says Real Change vendor and

Nickelodeon Richard White. “There are noshelter beds.”

Many who remain at Nickelsville - includ-ing several who returned after beingarrested and released from the city’sSouthwest Precinct - say they’d ratherstay at a tent city over a shelter, whererules are strict, conditions crowded andloud, and where people can’t come andgo on their own schedule, a particularproblem for those who hold a job.

“I got tired of being bitten by bugs at theshelters and I got tired of the repugnantattitude of some of those shelter workers,”says Alfredo Torres, a 50-year-old CoastGuard veteran who’s out of work. “Theygive you a place to sleep, but they humil-iate and talk down to us all the time.”

Reprinted from Real Change News© Street News Service: www.street-papers.org

Blue Line Combs Through Campsite - Arrests Come to Nickelsville Street News Service www.streetnewsservice.org

On Monday, Sept. 22, Seattle home-less people, with the aid of support-ers, set up 150 tents on vacant land.They claim that Seattle does not haveenough shelters. The tent “city” wasnamed Nickelsville after Mayor GregNickels, whose policy has been toclear out and bulldoze any homelessencampment within 72 hours of beingfound. The orginal story was reportedin the September 22nd issue of theSeattle Post Intelligence. - HW Ed.

by Cat Williams

FRESNO, CA: In the centralvalley in September the aircan be golden and still. It isa time when the people whobelong to this land can, for amoment, exist without beingcrushed by exposure to thesummer heat or the wet, pen-etrating cold of winter.

In September, a group ofhomeless people and home-less activists from differentcities — Fresno, San Jose,Merced, Sacramento, SanFrancisco — met in Fresno,California, to discuss thefuture of organizing againsthomelessness. The Fresnohomeless community foughtback against the destructionof the property of homelesspeople and recently won amulti-million dollar judgmentagainst the city.

Before meeting we toured thedesolate areas in Fresnowhere homeless people live— the community of lean-tosand rickety shelters built byhomeless people on aban-doned acres next to the railroad tracks, a toxic dump sitewhere oil and industrial chem-icals are visibly present asblack sludge just a few feet

underneath the ground; wewalked past scores of tentscrowded under a freewayoverpass, sheltering from thebrutal sun of summer and therains yet to come in thewinter; we walked past anasphalt lot where twenty-twotool sheds — without elec-tricity or water — are avail-able for a few selected home-less people to share at night.The gates here are lockedduring the day — everyonemust leave at 7:30 and maynot return until late in the day.

It has come to this in theworld’s richest land where theformer executive of an invest-ment bank who earned hun-dreds of millions — HenryPaulson, now Secretary of theTreasury — has the arro-gance to come to Congressto commandeer 750 billiondollars to save rich investorsand their banks. Never moreclearly have we seen how thegovernment serves only thewealthy elite, the people whoown the banks and stocks.Paulson tells us the fall of thestock market is an “emer-g e n c y.” Destitution andhomelessness across theland is not.

As activists and homeless

people we came to Fresno totalk what to do about home-lessness, and how to orga-nize against it, recognizingthat homeless people cannotbe isolated from others whoare being excluded from thebenefits of our economy.Homeless people have thesame interests as other poorand low income people whohave not yet faced ultimatedisplacement onto thestreets. All are strugglingagainst the dire issues ofpoverty and its hardship —desperate lack of access tohealth care, hostile denial ofbasic needs like a good joband affordable stable housingand quality education.

Never before have homelesspeople and activists cometogether from these commu-nities to discuss and planorganizing and action, and inthis sense the meeting wasan historic step to define acommon direction. Yet it wasfrustrating, too, facing thegreat need, the urgency, thenational scope of the issues.

While no one had easyanswers or immediate solu-tions, the consensus of themeeting was clear:

1. We must focus onWashington and demandfederal funding for affordablehousing, funding that hasbeen reduced by some 53billion dollars in the lastdecades, at the same time weorganize lawyers and otherall ies locally to representhomeless people who facecriminal charges becausethey must live outside.

2. We must draw strengthfrom each other and educateourselves. We must reject theidea that over one millionpeople in this country arehomeless because as indi-

viduals they have failed, andfocus on the systemic causeof homelessness, which ispoverty and lack of power.Knowing this, and workingtogether, we must begin tobuild a movement to reclaimour rights, using the People’sTribune and other communitynewspapers and publicationsin our work.

3. We must plan now fordemonstrations and take-overs of vacant property topublicize the dire conditionsthat face homeless people inour communities.

Homeless Commu nity Comes To g e t h e r In Fre s n o

Staff Report

Ten year plans to end chronic home -lessness are sweeping across thenation, with Philip Mangano some -where behind the broom.

Philip Mangano, Director of the U.S.Interagency Council onHomelessness came to town recentlyon what some may call his one mandog-and-pony show, while othersdeem him one of the top 100 mostinfluential people in the U.S (TimeMagazine, 2007). He was touring theregion and came to commendSacramento on two innovations: Ascore card for reporting progress onSacramento’s 10 Year Plan to End

Chronic Homelessness, and theSacramento Housing andRedevelopment A g e n c y ’s use ofRedevelopment Tax IncrementHousing Funds to provide rentalassistance to support the Plan’shousing stratiegies.

At the press conference Phil Manganotouted an increase in funding forhomelessness at the Federal leveland a corresponding decrease inhomelessness nationwide. He hasreceived criticism for not eagerly dis-tinguishing that the decrease innumbers are only for the chronichomeless population. He did say thatthe number of homeless families hasrisen lately. He said that previously

there was no methodology for endinghomelessness. With the chronichomeless focus, he said the most vul-nerable people and the most expen-sive to serve are finally getting help.He believes that when communitiesfinally win and have housed all theirchronic homeless neighbors, then thecommunities will feel empoweredenough to then tackle ending allhomelessness.

Phil recommends that all communi-ties should perform a cost benefitstudy because nothing is driving polit-ical will more. There have been 65studies around the nation. They arefinding that it will cost a communityanywhere from $35,000 to $150,000per person per year to leave thatperson homeless. This is due to moretrips to hospital emergency rooms,increased mental health services,dealings with police, etc. At the sametime it will cost a community any-where from $13,000 to $25,000 toprovide permanent supportive

housing to that same person.

After the speeches, when asked histhoughts about the criminalization ofhomelessness, he said; “Ten yearplans are the best antidote I know tothe criminalization of homelessness.Why? The whole community comestogether. They move beyond crimi-nalization, which doesn’t work, towhat does work – Housing our home-less neighbors, not on the street. Itre-sensitizes the community to thefact that homeless people are ourneighbors and what we should wantfor our neighbors is what we want forourselves – which is a place to liveand opportunity.”

Other speakers at the press confer-ence were Bruce Wagstaff , Directorof Sacramento County Department ofHuman Assistance; SacramentoMayor Heather Fargo; and CortezQuinn, Supervisor Roger Dickinson’sChief of Staff.

Homeward 12.6 p a ge 5

A Press Conference with Philip Mangano

From left to right: Ed Cabrera, Regional Director of US Interagency Council on Homelessness ;TimBrown, Director of Sacramento’s Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative, and former director Diane

Luther; Philip Mangano, Director of US Interagency Council on Homelessness; Sacramento MayorHeather Fargo; Cortez Quinn, Sacramento County Supervisor Dickenson’s Chief of Staff.

page 6 Homeward 12.6

by the homeless science writer,C h o n g o

In this edition’s science article, we willconsider an aspect of relativity that wehave yet to explore. We will, as Einsteinh imself did, imagine riding on a beam ofl i g h t .

Ever wonder just what it would be liketo ride on a beam of light? Put anotherw a y, have you ever wondered what itwould be like to travel at the speed ofl ight? We can demonstrate by means ofan experiment, using a clock set intomotion, and watching it tic as it moves.By moving it fast enough, we will be ableto watch it as we might watch light itself,move across space. By seeing whathappens to the clock, we see exactlywhat would happen to us, were we tomake such a journey ourselves.

Let us begin by imagining ourselves ona space station with a rocket-poweredclock, a very large clock that can be readfrom very, very far away, by using anextremely powerful telescope on thestation. The clock is equipped with asecond hand we are able to see throughour telescope, at any distance, a llowingus to watch time pass, as the clockmoves. We send the clock far out intospace, the precise distance of exactly tenl ight minutes from the station. Weprogram its rockets to turn it around, aimi t right for the station, accelerate it tonearly the speed of light very quickly,a llow it to coast at that speed for a while,then decelerate it just as quickly, finallybringing it to a halt at the very momentbefore it would crash into our station (thuspreserving the experiment by not annihi-lating clock, station, and observers).Looking through our telescope, we watchthe clock turn around, once it is ten lightminutes out. It starts heading straight forus. We watch it as it approaches. What,p r e c i s e l y, do we see?

First, for nearly thirty seconds, we seethe second hand on the clock graduallymove more and more slowly, almost stop-p ing completely for what is only a secondto us. In that second, the clock growsv e r y, very fast. Then, for nearly thirtymore seconds, we see the second handon the clock move gradually faster. T h eclock comes to a halt right in front of us,the second hand moving at the properspeed. A minute and a second haveelapsed. The clock sitting in front of usthough, shows that less than a minutehas passed for i t, even though slightlymore than a full minute has passed onour clock at the station since the veryfirst moment we began seeing the clocka p p r o a c h .

The clock has traveled ten light minutes.We, however, watched it trave l for onlya minute, plus one second. Its clockshows that less time has passed for it,than for us. Considering its distance fromthe station (ten light minutes), the clockshould have spent more than ten minutestraveling, since, traveling slower than thespeed of light, it had to take, from ourperspective, minimally, ten minutes toarrive, plus an additional minute for accel-erating and decelerating - assigning thirtyseconds to each. This is approximately

an e leven-minute journey. Why did wesee it for only a minute and one second,when it had to take, approximate ly(according to our measures), e levenminutes to arrive at the station? Whydoesn’t its clock reflect the approximateeleven minutes of its journey?

R e l a t i v i t y, of course, explains why. Whiletraveling at ‘nearly’ the speed of light,time ‘near ly’ stands still, so appropriately,its second hand barely moved. For thesingle second that the second handnearly stopped and the clock grew in size,it was traveling at nearly the speed oflight. Relativity tells us that, in our frameof reference, time nearly stood still forthe clock whi le it was moving at thatspeed. And indeed, we watched thesecond hand nearly stand sti ll, while thesize of the clock grew ENORMOUSLY,as the second elapsed, indicating howmuch closer i t came and so just how farit had traveled in that second. Before that,we saw it accelerate to near-light speedas we watched the second hand gradu-ally slow down. A f t e r, we watched itdecelerate, as the second hand gradu-ally sped up again. We watched it crossthe majority of the ten light minutes ofspace in what appears to us (accordingto what we saw through our telescope -our measures), to be the single secondthat the hand on the clock nearly stoppedmoving altogether, and the clock grew somuch in size. Staying close behind theapproaching edge of its own light, wesee the nearly ten minutes that it spenttraveling at near-light speed, over thecourse of just a sing le second. What wedo not see is a clock nearly frozen intime for ten minutes. Ten minutes of itsjourney look like only a second to us,because at the moment we watched theclock turn around, it had al ready com-pleted most of its journey, even thoughwe did not see it until later.

When we saw the second hand start toslow down, the clock had already trav-eled nearly ten minutes along its path.The stream of light we saw during thecourse of the minute and the second thatwe watched the clock travel was a recordof this journey. It is what happenedaccording to the clock’s measures fortime and space. Relativity tells us thatwhat happened according to its measuresfor time and space is not what happenedaccording to our measures for them.According to our measures, a journeywas made across a vast distance ofspace and time, according to our stipu-lated measures. According to us, mil lionsof mi les of space were crossed, and many(eleven) minutes were spent doing so.But, according to its measures, a muchshorter distance was crossed, and mosti m p o r t a n t l y, fewer minutes and so lesstime passed during its journey.

N o w, let us imagine that, instead ofspending the two, thi rty-second periodsof time required to accelerate and decel-erate the clock, we accelerate it to nearlythe speed of light instantaneously - andlikewise decelerate it instantaneously.This would reduce both thirty-secondper iods to zero seconds, as instanta-neous anything means that no time what-soever is spent. Were we to completelyeliminate this minute spent for acceler-

ating and decelerating, what would wesee then? We can imagine what we wouldsee, were no time spent for acceleratingor decelerating, by ed iting our record ofthat minute and one second of light weobserved, while watching the clock’s nearlight-speed journey through the tele-scope. We do so by deleting the firstthirty seconds of its acceleration, as wellas the last th irty seconds of its deceler-ation, since we are imagining that neitherrequi res any time. This would leave onlythe second in between, when the secondhand on the clock seemed to stop, andthe clock grew so much. In other words,we would get exactly a second’s worthof light, and no more.

We would see the tiny image of the clock(star ting from its turnaround point) growenormously in the passing of a second,appearing before us once the secondpassed. We know that, had it gone atthe exact speed of light, not just nearlythat speed, then instead of a secondpassing, no time at all would havepassed; zero time, to be precise. T h e r ewould not even have been time for therocketing clock to brake, to decelerate.Looking through our telescope we wouldhave seen nothing revealing a journey“before,” it would have appeared beforeus, from one moment to the next. Itsjourney would be completely unknown tous, until the very moment it arrived.Relativity tells us that this is what wouldhappen to the clock, making the entirejourney at light speed.

According to relativity, time stands sti ll atthe speed of light. Moving at that speed,the second hand on the clock would nothave advanced, in the least. This meansthat the time spent for its journey wouldbe reduced to zero, which is to say,reduced to an infinitely small moment.The clock would be a moment of light,o r, a “particle” of light, which, by any othername, is a ‘photon.’ Since, for the sakeof our explanation, the clock and a photonare one and the same, we can say thatthe clock is accurate for determining howmuch time elapses on a photon. No timepasses on the clock, traveling at uniformlight speed, which means that no timepasses during a photon’s journey, either.Not only that, with respect to its measureof spatial distance.

A photon is at one place and one placeo n l y, since it is ‘there’ for only a singlemoment. There is never any ‘time’ for itto move (or brake), since a zero-dimen-sional moment provides none. (This isconsistent with relativity, as the enormousdistance of its journey, is ‘contracted’ i n f i-n i t e l y, reducing this distance to zero.)According to the clock’s measures trav-eling at the speed of light, and so, forany photon too, the moment it is at whatis, according to our measures (of spacead time), one end of its journey, is, forit, the same moment that it is at, whatis, again according to our measures, theother end. Put another way, in the uni-verse of photons (the extent of its mea-sures) there is no ‘then’ or ‘there’, only‘ h e r e ’ and ‘now’, with no “elsewhere” orany “other” moment except the presento n e .

According to our measures, each end

of its journey is two di fferent places, attwo different moments in time, whileaccording to its measures, it is not attwo different places, but at a single one,making both ends of its journey and everypoint in between (which is, in classicterms, a line) the very same place andthe very same moment. For it, that singleplace and single moment is the entireextent o f its existence. Distance, eitherspatial or temporal, does not exist for thephoton. For it, ‘there’ does not exist, anymore than ‘before’ or ‘after’ do. Its frameencompasses only ‘here’ and ‘now’, anddoes not extend beyond. It is this littleinsight that reveals what space really is,a collection of lines, stacked upon eachother to form our constantly changingthree-dimensional space, in the sameway that a collection of lines on a surfacecould define that surface. Adding time, a‘ s t a c k ’ of surfaces results. That is whatthe visible universe consists of, a col-lection of lines ordered according tot i m e ’s passage, which again, accordingto relativity, depends wholly upon one’smotion. This tells us what the visible uni-verse and all the space that we seearound us really is and most importantly,that what we see is happening right now,not billions of years “ago.”

Because an understanding of the princi-ples of relativity is so uncommon, espe-cially among many who teach us, indeedamong many who teach us science, wethink that because light “takes time” totravel, what we see is not happeningwhen we see it. If we recognize how thephoton “particle” is actua lly instead a lineforming part of the space that surroundsus with each passing moment, which isexactly what Einstein did. He recognizedthat that this common, conventional, andwidespread notion of ‘now’ being whenthings actually happen in - and this isaccording to Einstein - never anythingmore than a mere “stipula tion” (the termhe used in The Theory of Relativity byAlbert Einstein , Appendix V) “that weplace upon ... physical existence,” unlesswe mean the one ‘made’ of all the lightthat we perceive around and in us. T h i s‘ n o w ’ is as real and physically existentas much as everything that it reveals is.This is our “true” ‘now’ present moment,as far as can be seen. Looking far enoughwe can see the very shape of space andtime itself within our universe - that is,within the visible one.

© 2007, C. Tucker (Chongo). All rightsr e s e r v e d .

(From Relativity in Half an Hour, byChongo in collaboration with Jose. To seeall the books that Chongo has written onnature (physical theory), go to CHONG -O N ATION.COM, which is a web site ded -icated to educating those who have leastopportunity for learning the scientificfoundations that describe nature (accu -rately) . Chongonation provides booksthat allow such opportunity, in lay terms,without any math. Simply go to thew w w.chongonation.com home page andclick on either ‘Nature’ or ‘Products &P r i c e s ’ to see just how many books area v a i l a b l e . )

Riding a Beam of Light: A Diary of the Journey

Dos Rios(For Michael Tinius)

Dos Riosthe rivers

like wild seams through the city

where our desires are made knownor rather necessities

a tribein the city’s midst robed

in cheap fabric, mermen, mermaids, poor for sure

as if any human could be “homeless”

a word ancient spokenbefore “Man” itself: “home”

we anchor each body builds around itself

and so by the riverson the city dump at 20th and C streets

small cooking fires the luxury of smokedrinking beer and tea, trading monikers“Gremlin,” say, or “Monkey,”

the summer, severe as bitter wintertents brittle: ultravioletand “Gremlin” killed on the leveebecause someone came out there from the city, a nobody

to knife someone like him and he tried to stop itthe poppies flaring in the grassthe willows leafing out it was May

on the graveled levee near the railroad bridgethe trestle you can brave and balance walk

waste and trash and neatly stacked canned foodrousted out, dumpster, snapshot

the baby on the lawn, a door partly seen“black and whites” the police cruisers

“Cat Man” keeps a catwho hunts wild birds by the riverside

eases feral by the riverside

“Cat Man” calls his name and home

by Cat Williams

Richard “Big Lip”Joe Glick

d. 6/24/08 Aged 31of accidental O.D.

Dale Wisemand. 9/2/08 Aged 62

of Cancer

Robert Carlandd. 8/11/08 Aged 58of Natural Causes

John “JimmyMcCoy” Chelfd. 9/23/08 Aged 57of Natural Causes

Stanley Wilsond. 10/19/08 Aged 50

Cause Pending

John Adamsd. 10/12/08 Aged 39of Natural Causes

James Michael Leonardd. 10/26/08 Aged 51

Cause Pending

Sam Lee Ferrarad. 4/16/08 Aged 48Died in House Fire

Barbara Moored. 4/28/08 Aged 53of accidental O.D.

Eugenio Arrietad. 5/30/08 Aged 64

of cancer

Willis Smithd. 5/31/08 Aged 70of accidental O.D.

Lorri Rice Sylvesterd. 6/25/08 Aged 50of accidental O.D.

Alfreda Greend. 7/18/08 Aged 49of Natural Causes

Loaves & Fishes Staff

Terry Travisd. 9/29/08 Aged 53

of sever infection inhospice

A Homeward Distributor

Douglas Greg“Cat Man” Carr

d. 9/23/08 Aged 52 Cause Pending

In the ‘80’s Greg went to CapitalChristian College for 2 yearsand served as a youth minis-ter for a church in Elk Grove.By the 90’s he lived on thestreets, and when his dog diedabout 3 years ago, he spent allhis time on 16th Street. He diedoutside.

Bill “Dawg” Kellyd. 10/3/08 Aged 60

Died outside, cause pending

ObituaryHomeward 12.6 page 7

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Sta te:__________________________________________ Zip: ____________ Make checks payable to the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee (SHOC)

and mail to: PO Box 952 • Sacramento, CA 95812

page 8 Homeward 12.6

Night SheltersSalvation Army: 12th and North B St.

30 days per year: Dormitory living, C&S:Dinner, breakfast clothing for residents:Men/Women: Sign-up SA patio weekdaysat 1PM. 442-0331

St. John’s Shelter: Women andChildren. 4410 Power Inn Rd. Callbetween 10am & 3pm for space avail-ability. 453-1482

Union Gospel Mission: 400 BannonSt. Beds for Men Only, sign up 6:30pm atmission, Newcomers/Referrals have prior-ity. 7:30pm Chapel Service with mealafterwards, 6am breakfast for residents.Showers / shaves 9-11am & 1-2:45pm.open to all homeless men: 447-3268

SAEHC, Sacramento AreaEmergency Housing Ce nter: 4 5 1 6Parker Ave. 24 hrs: Family Shelter:Families, single adults with children whohave no other resource: Women’s Refuge,single women, no children: Call for screen-ing/space availability 455-2160

Day SheltersFriendship Park: 12th St. & North C:

Weekdays 7am - 2:30pm: open to anyone:Many services

MealsUnion Gospel Mission: 400 Bannon

St.: 7 days, Evening meal, Men/Women:Church service 7:00pm required, dinnerfollowing 8:30-9:15pm. Sunday 11amservice, lunch at noon. 447-3268

Loaves & Fishes: 1321 No. C St.:Lunch every day 11:30am-1pm. Ticketsavailable 7 am- 12:30 pm at FriendshipPark weekdays: at 8 am on Saturday and10am on Sundays .

Women’s Civic Improvement Center:Seniors Only: 3555 3rd Ave. 11:30-12:30lunch M-F 452-2866

Helping Ha nds: 3526 5th Ave.Sundays, 8-11 breakfast, sack lunch,clothing

Food-not-Bombs: serves free food inCesear Chavez Plaza, 9th & J St., everySunday 1:30 pm. and at James McClatchyPark on Wed. 4 pm. All Welcome.

Women & Children

Maryhouse: 1321 No. C St. suite 32:Breakfast for Women and children 8am-9am. Day shelter 8am-3pm weekdays forwomen and families.

Wellspring 3414 4th St.: T&Th fullbreakfast: M-W-F continental breakfastfor women and children. 454-9688

see Wind in Youth Services foryoung adults

Free Clothing

Sacramento Food Bank: 3333 3rd Ave.(at Broadway) 10am-2pm Mon - Fr i.456-1980

Union Gospel Mission: 400 BannonSt. Men: M-Sat 9-11am or 1-2:45pm:Women and Children: Wed. only. Call forappointment to go in at 11am, 1 or 1:30pm,or attend Bible study at 9:15am and getclothing at 10am 447-3268

MedicalMercy Clinic: Adults, children: Nurse’s

office in Fr iendship park 7:30am &12:30pm. 446-3345

Capital Health Clinic: 1500 C St. (near15th) Adults 8-5 M-F: 874-5302.

Sacramento Dental Clinic: 1500 C St.(near 15th) Adults- Emergency Dental Callfor Appt. M-F 7:40am-5pm. Walk-insscreened for eligibility. 552-8300

Mental HealthGuest House, 1400 N. A St.: Homeless

Mental Health Clinic, M,W,Th,Fri., 8-11:30am Tues 8-11:30am only. MentalHealth evaluation, medication if needed.Housing referrals for mentally ill, GA refs,SSI aps, refs to A & D counseling:443-6972

TLCS Intake Offices: 1400 N.’A’ St.Blding. A; Adults 18 yrs & up; Refferralsto transitional living programs, indepen-dant living, mental health support services;SSI/SSDI applicat ion assista nce;Walk-ins 8-11am M-F 440-1500

Consumer Self-Help (South): 3031Franklin Blvd. or 4972 Date Ave. A daytimemental health self-help program withactivities and groups for mental health con-sumers. Referrals to mental health andother services available. 737-7100

Genesis: Professional Counseling forlif e prob lems. Referrels. Next toFriendship Park gate. 699-1536

Youth ServicesDiogenes: youth 16-21 yrs old. Hot

Line call 1-800-339-7177

Wind Youth Center: 701 DixieanneAve. Serves youth ages 12-20. Breakfastand Lunch ; Clothing; Laun dry andS h o w e r s ; Case Management. Drop-inHours: M – F from 8:00am to 4:30pm andSat 10am to 2pm. 443-8333

Crisis InterventionWEAVE: Services for victims of domes-

tic violence and sexual assault and theirchildren. Referrals to court mandatedbattery intervention pro grams, Safehouse, 24 hr. crisis line: 920-2952

S a c r amento Mental Health Center(County): 2150 Stockton Blvd (at T St.)24hr. Will evaluate anyone for voluntartyor involuntary psychiatric care due todanger to self or others. In-patient carefacility, drop-in. 732-3637

AIDS / HIVAIDS Housing Alliance provides res-

idential care, transitional housing & per-manent housing services to homelesspersons living with aids. 979-0897 week-days.

CARES (Center for AIDS Research,Education and Service): 1500 21st ST.Serves people with HIV and AIDS. Medicalcare, mental health, case mgmt, health edand regional prevention /ed cla sses.443-3299

Breaki ng Barriers: H o m e l e s sOutreach Program provides direct servicesto people living with AIDS and HIV.Transportation to social services, medicalappointments, job interviews, and housingassistance. 447-2437

Alternative Test Site: Free anonymoustesting, Wed /Thurs. Call for appt .874-7720.

Legal AidProtection & Advocacy Inc: Free legal

services for people with disabilities. Callfor appt. toll free: TTY:( 8 0 0 ) 7 7 6 - 5 7 4 6

Legal Services of NorthernCalifornia, Inc: 515 12th St. (at E ST.)M-F 8:30am-12pm, 1pm-5pm. Problemswith public benefits, landlord / tenant,divorce clinic. Call for appt. 551-2150

Welfare Rights: 1901 Alhambra Blvd.(2nd floor) M-F 9am-5pm: AFDC, FoodStamps, Workfare and Medical rep at hear-ings. 736-0616

MiscellaneousFrancis House: 1422 C st. 9:30-11:30

am M-W & 1-3 pm M-F: walk-in or refer-ral providing resource counseling, advo-cacy, vouchers for IDs, Dvr Licenses, BirthCertificates, gas for any who qualify, plusmotel vouchers for qualified f a m i l i e s .443-2646

Social Services: 28th & R ST. M-F7:30am-5pm. Call for asst. 8 7 4 - 2 0 7 2

Employment DevelopmentDepartment (EDD): 2901 50th St. (atBroadway) M-F8am-5pm. Unemployment,job services. 227-0300

Medi-Cal: 1-800-773-6467,1-888-747-1222. Or see DHA eligibility workers 172528th St. 916-874-2256

Social Security Office: 8351 FolsomBlvd (College Greens Lite-rail stop) M-F9am-4:30pm 381-9410: Natl line 1-800-772-1213

Infoline: Tele-info & referral service:

498-1000

Califorina Youth CrisisLine:

1-800-843-5200

Health Rights Hotline:551-2100

VA Outreach:1-800-827-1000

Homeless VA Coordinator:(916) 364-6547

HO M E L E S S RE S O U R C E S

Homeward StreetJournal has b eenp u b l ishing since1997 as a non-profitproject of t he

Sacramento HomelessOrganizing Committe e,

which is a member of the SacramentoHousing Alliance. The paper's missionis to alleviate miscommunication betweencommunities by educating the publicabout housing and poverty issues, andby giving homeless people a voice in thepublic forum. Homeward also informshomeless persons of shelter and occu-pational assistance, and acts as a cre-ative self-help opportunity for those indi-viduals who wish to participate.

The opinions expressed in Homewardare those of the authors, and not nec-essarily the Sacramento Housing Allianceor SHOC or Homeward.

Submissions and Editorial Policy

We welcome any participation or con-tributions: Articles, poems and otherwriting can be submitted at our office inFriendship Park, or mailed to the addressbelow.

All writing submitted for publicationwill be edited as necessary, with duerespect for the authors’ intent. Theeditors will attempt to consult with anauthor if changes are necessary,however, the paper will go to print withthe story as edited if the author is unavail-able.

All Letters to the Editor must be signedto be published. If the writer wishes toremain anonymous s/he should so state,but the letter must still be signed .

Poetry and graphics will not be edited,either the paper will publish the submis-sion or not.

In submitting articles to the paper,authors give their permission to printtheir submissions in accordance with theabove stipulations, as well as possiblereprinting in NASNA member papers, withdue byline. Any requests for storiesoutside the above three will be referredto the author.

Subscriptions are available with a$15 contribution. Make checks out toSHOC (Sacrame nto HomelessOrganizing Committee).

Loaves & Fishes is not affil-iated with the HomewardStreet Journal in any way.Participants with the paperare not allowed to solicit fordonations, nor make any ref-erence regarding the relation-ship between Loaves &Fishes and this newspaperwhatsoever.

All correspondence can be sent toHomeward Street Journal, PO Box 952,Sacramento, CA 95812

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