Care For the Homeless

Mark Woollett and Candace Clift are California natives – Mark hails from Orange, CA and Candace from the greater Sacramento area. But they met in Massachusetts, both acting in a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream . They moved to New York City in 2013, and as many artists who move here can attest, it can be hard to pay the bills while following your dreams. They keep their toes dipped firmly in the world of theatre by working at The Barrow Group Theatre Company and School, where Mark helps in finance and Candace works in school operations and teaches, in addition to several other jobs between them! Q.      How did you first learn about Care For the Homeless? A.      Mark heard an NPR story about a group in Boston that provides Medical care for the homeless and was inspired to see if a similar organization existed in New York City. A quick Google search brought him to Care For The Homeless, and he was impressed by its...

One night each January, in communities all across America, a count is conducted of people who are homeless, including those on the streets with no place to go for shelter and those housed in temporary shelters without stable housing of their own. This “point-in-time” (PIT) count for 2013 documented nearly a 4% decrease in homelessness in America. Unfortunately in New York City it estimated more than 64,000 homeless men, women and children – a 13% increase from the 2012 PIT count, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In New York City this annual PIT count is called the Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) and it’s conducted by volunteers working with the city Department of Homeless Services (DHS). This year’s count will be conducted on the evening of Monday, January 27. The City is looking for 3,000 volunteers to sign up and lend a hand. How to Help Volunteers must be 18-years-of-age or older and are trained and supervised by DHS. If you wa...

Jeff Foreman, Director of Policy There's reason for optimism about ending homelessness as we know it in New York City. Sure, the problem has never been worse. There are 57,000 homeless people daily in city homeless shelters or living on the streets, probably more. At least 22,000 of them are kids and, for them, brushes with homelessness may lead to a lifetime of consequences. But now a loosely knit network of community-based groups, calling themselves United to End Homelessness, have joined to author and promote a detailed plan. They fittingly called it "A Roadmap to Ending Homelessness." The timing isn't random. It comes just weeks before an election sure to shake up city policies for decades with a new mayor, all new citywide officials and several new City Council members, too. Nicole Branca, deputy executive director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York, is a steering committee member. She says the group’s hope "is that this briefi...

As you got on, or off, the subway today you may have seen it in the Metro New York : an article about the coalition of advocates Care for the Homeless helped organize and our efforts to make ending homelessness central issues in this year’s Mayoral campaign.  If you did you probably noticed the larger, bolder paragraph quoting Care for the Homeless' Executive Director:                 “Poor policy choices helped create modern-day homelessness,  and better public policy can end it."  -- Bobby Watts, Executive Director of Care for the Homeless Here’s a link to the whole Metro story: 2013 United to End Homelessness Rally http://www.metro.us/newyork/news/local/2013/10/07/homeless-coalition-homelessness-next-mayor-city-council/ And this is a link to the United to End Homelessness “Roadmap to End Homelessness” – a well-researched briefing book on the platform Care f...

  Jeff Foreman, Director of Policy One week after the much heralded 2013 New York City primary election and New Yorkers are still waiting for the “final” results. Did Bill deBlasio, who clearly got more votes than any other candidate on the Democratic ballot, garner enough votes to avoid an October 1 st run off election? Here are two facts we do know for sure: 1.       Only about 20% of the eligible registered voters cast a ballot. 2.       There is an October 1 run-off regardless of whether or not there’s one for Mayor. Fewer than half those eligible to vote have registered. If only 1 in 5 of the registered actually voted, that means only 10% of the people in New York City who could have participated cast a vote.  The run off already determined is for Public Advocate – ironically the position deBlasio now holds – and it’s between City Councilwoman Letitia James and State Senator Daniel Squadron on the Demo...

The rally brought together more than 200 supporters, advocating for the rights of homeless men, women & children in New York City. As one of the founding organizations, Care for the Homeless helped launch a new advocacy group Tuesday on the steps of New York City Hall. It’s called “United to End Homelessness” and the rally drew more than 200 supporters, according to UEH organizers, promoting solutions to the city’s homelessness crisis and asking that every Mayoral and City Council candidate in 2013 learn about homelessness and take a stand on what policies they’ll support to end it. The rally at City Hall represents thousands of advocates associated with 119 organizations that have now endorsed the United to End Homelessness platform. As a founder and coordinating committee member for the new, nonpartisan, advocacy coalition, Care for the Homeless was well represented at the rally. One of the 5 featured speakers at the rally was a Care for the Homeless client, Philip J. M...