Concerned about the street people? Here are some things you can do from informing our local and state officials to volunteering your time and money. The problem is not going be improved without lots more effort in many areas from increasing the number of police and social workers to supplying much more housing.

I have found that our City Councilor really wants to help reduce the number of people living on the street. But she cannot do it alone. Listen to her, tell her your opinions and observations, and help her to convince the other Council members to provide the resources for programs that work.

Councilor Nichole L. Rogers' next "Meet and Greet" Session is
Aug 01, 4 to 6 PM at
Frontier Restaurant
2400 Central AV

Also
Email Councilor Nichole Rogers: district6@cabq.gov
or her assistant Policy Analyst Paloma Garcia:
district6@cabq.gov
505-768-3152

The same goes for bothering our state representatives and executives and our county officials.

If you look into what other cities have done for this issue you'll find that some are really making progress while others barely tip the scale. Newark, New Jersey, has reduced the street-living population by 50 percent in recent years by getting organized and coordinating with the state and private non-profits to increase resources in every area of help including a lot of housing and 24 hour-a-day intervention. You can find a bunch of articles on Newark's attempts and about other cities that have successful and unsuccessful programs.

https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2024/06/op-ed-newark-mayor-ras-baraka-discusses-newark-strategies-helping-homeless-people/

I volunteered a little with one of the private groups that is trying to reduce homelessness, Family Promise. It is a tiny program that accepts homeless families and provides shelter, food, and transportation while working with the adults to get them a job and an apartment. They give each family about three months to do this and have had a high success rate. But they can only help about three at a time. At least it works.

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