Our Neighbors On The Streets: A Social Justice Perspective

 Let Us Be Peacemakers In tackling Santa Barbara's controversial issues, utilizing restraint and understanding over violence can open the door to reconciliation By Wayne Mellinger |  Published on 08.03.2012 12:42 p.m. Share on google (4) 5 “Be not simply good; be good for something.”  — Henry David Thoreau Evil does not stop by doing evil in return; for it is only by doing acts of loving kindness that evil comes to an end. Winning a contest can lead to animosity, for those who lose often fester in sorrow and resent those who win. If we release any desire for victory, we can create peace. Let us be peacemakers, overcoming violence by gentleness, overcoming evil by kindness. Violence is not just acts of physical harm or destructive force. Educator  Parker Palmer  states that violence exists whenever we violate the integrity of another — “when we demean, marginalize, dismiss, rendering other people irrelevant to o...

Baltimore Center Brings Hope to Homeless Struggling With Mental Illness August 3, 2012 at 3:11 AM  by  AHN  ·  Leave a Comment    Baltimore, MD, United States (KaiserHealth) – Catering to mentally ill homeless individuals and staffed by workers who have struggled with the same problems, the HOPE Wellness and Recovery Center is providing a critical safety net in Baltimore. The center, which opened in February 2001, is the only facility of its kind in the state, says its executive director, Thomas Hicks. HOPE’s singular mission has helped it avoid the budget cuts that have plagued other programs in the state mental health system. The mission is clear from its name: Helping Other People through Empowerment. Hicks, 58, said the nine staff members at HOPE are not interested in forcing clients to get care. “Our purpose here is to try to get you to understand, to empower you to get a better quality of life if that’s what you want to do,” Hicks...

July 14, 2012,  10:29 PM 33 Comments Economic Inequality and the  Changing Family By  JASON DEPARLE As my article this weekend  about two families in Ann Arbor, Mich., points out, the widening in many measures of inequality can be traced in part to changes in marriage patterns, rather than just changes in individual earnings. A number of scholars have looked at the varied dimensions of this thesis — growing inequality, changes in family structure, and the connection between the two. Here is a look at some of their findings. On inequality: An interesting pattern over the last four decades is that inequality has grown much faster for households with children than it has for households over all — an indication that changes in family structure (as opposed to wages and employment alone) have increased inequality. Bruce Western and Tracey Shollenberger of the Harvard sociology department compared households at the 90th percentile and the 10th percenti...

South SLO county addresses homeless  population at forum Posted: Jul 31, 2012 11:03 PM by  Hope Hanselman, KSBY News   Updated: Aug 1, 2012 8:05 AM Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 (0 votes) Community leaders in South San Luis Obispo County are asking for help in addressing the needs of the homeless population. Tuesday night, the 5Cities Homeless Coalition hosted a forum. It's the last of three discussions held around the county. The previous two were held in Atascadero and San Luis Obispo. Tuesday night was South County's turn to figure out how the issue affects them. Council members from the Five Cities area attended the meeting. Representatives say law enforcement is also part of the discussion, but it was community members who were asking the questions at the forum. "We're trying to bring awareness and actually hear concerns from the public about what they would like to see done, or what their solutions are, or if they would like to get ...

Craig Allen Craig Allen: Transition House Succeeding in Fight to End Family Homelessness Despite persistent misperceptions, organization quietly nurtures families on path back to community By Craig Allen, Noozhawk Business Columnist | @MPAMCraig  |  Published on 07.22.2012 7:12 p.m. Share on google (1) 2 Transition House  has been operating in Santa Barbara for more than 28 years — since local churches, looking for a way to offer services to the homeless, started setting up cots in their parish halls in the early 1980s. On March 1, 1985,  Trinity Episcopal Church  was the first to open its doors.  First United Methodist  and  First Presbyterian churches were the second and third shelter locations, providing food, shelter and volunteers to staff the program. The response was overwhelming: 177 people came to find shelter during the first month of operations, and Transition House was soon born. Throughout...