Hope And Help For The Homeless
Thanks to the Internet, hope and help are just a click away for the two million homeless people in our country. Through the Internet, homeless people can find food, medicine, shelter, clothes and even the chance to mend fences with people they care about.
Broken ties with family and friends can push people into homelessness and keep them trapped there. The Internet affords people a chance to take that first tentative stop toward repairing broken relationships and helps promote healing of the wounds that caused the separation.
As one homeless man put it: “The internet is my only connection to the people I love. A homeless man can’t afford to make phone calls, but I can send email for free.”
The relief in the hearts and minds of the people who finally get a message from a friend or relative who is homeless is immeasurable. “At least I know he is alive and that he hasn’t starved to death or hasn’t been killed. When someone in your family is homeless and rejects your efforts to reach out, it can be heartbreaking. Where there is communication, there is hope. That is what the Internet provides.”
Whether the situation is temporary or semi-permanent, the internet can help level the demographic playing field by giving a homeless person a voice as well as access to massive amounts of helpful information. Although an accurate account of homeless people is difficult to come by, those who work the homeless have noted a substantial increase in the number of hits to websites that are specifically designed to provide useful information to the homeless.
The reason for this is very clear. People don’t have to have a home computer, or even a home, to gain access to the Internet. It’s often available in public places like libraries and homeless advocacy centers, according to Rosyln Hannibal-Booker, director of development at the Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training in Baltimore. Her center offers housing help and skill development, including computer instructions, to the homeless veterans who account for one-fourth of the two million homeless people in America.
Service providers have embraced the trend, creating web pages that tell people how to get help and encourage homeless people to take advantage of free email accounts from providers like Yahoo and Hotmail. This makes it much easier for homeless people to apply for jobs, because potential employers can leave messages in their email and homeless people do not have to deal with the embarrassment of having potential employers know that they have no place to live.
In a recent article that appeared in Network World, Sandra Gittlen wrote about some of the agencies that are using the internet in their quest to help the homeless. “We’re reaching people that can’t otherwise be reached,” noted Vakil Kuner, IT director for San Francisco’s Department of Human Services (DHS).
San Francisco is one of several US cities using wireless and other network technologies to empower the homeless and low-income people and link them to critical services. In San Francisco, the DHA invites homeless people to a bi-monthly one-day event it calls “Project Homeless Connect.” The DHS sets up wireless LAN at the Billy Graham civic auditorium and helps people connect to the departments and services they need such as low-cost housing, substance abuse treatment and mental health counseling as well as legal aid and food stamps.
Homeless people in Seattle benefit from a new service center called “Connections” according to a recent article in the Seattle Times. At the center, people get showers, toilets and lunch as well as access to the internet, free phone calls and case managers. The center has 16 computers that can be used by homeless people to search for jobs and social services.
Homeless people throughout the country can use free email accounts as a way to correspond with potential employers, family members and service providers. There are even chat groups of homeless people on the internet who encourage each other and steer each other toward the services they need.
Related Article: How Service Providers Use the Internet
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