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Star-Ledger highlights plan!

On Sunday August 3, 2008, The Star-Ledger published an article by Diane C. Walsh [Email address: dwalsh #AT# starledger.com - replace #AT# with @ ] entitled “Agency to combat homeless problem: Nonprofit requests $50K from county“. This is an issue we posted about on July 29th. To review that link click here. To view the Power Point used at the Freeholder meeting click here.

The article noted that “the chairs of a blue-ribbon committee that has been developing strategies to eliminate homelessness asked the freeholders for $50,000 in seed money to help establish Coming Home of Middlesex County Inc. The nonprofit would also rely on support from foundations and the private sector.”

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On July 24, 2008, Robert E. Mulcahy III and Liz Hance, pictured on the right, the co-chairs of the ten year plan steering committee in Middlesex County presented an overview of the Middlesex County 10 Year Plan to End Chronic and Family Homelessness. To view the Power Point click here.

The timing of the presentation was one year after the kickoff of the ten year planning process.

The 10 Year Plan Areas of Focus are:

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On February 20, 2008, the Salem County Board of Chosen freeholders adopted a draft plan to end homelessness in ten years.

“Homelessness is a serious problem that requires serious and thoughtful action to address it,” said Freeholder Jeffrey J. Hogan, (pictured on the right) chair of the county Health and Social Services Committee and a member of the task force. “This plan will help guide all of our efforts to address this problem and make sure that we are not leaving anyone behind.” To read all of Freeholder Hogan’s comments click here.

“It’s a sizable project, but there is a return. With people working, they are able to put back into the community,” Rebecca Purchase of the United Way said. The United Way chaired the planning process “It is a lot cheaper in the long run than the Band-Aid solutions … Renter’s assistance, food assistance, trips to the emergency room because they are sick. Those are Band-Aid solutions. Rather than a price tag, I would call this an investment.”

To read the story in the Today’s Sunbeam click here.

This article was referred to us by our friend Pam Ponder. It is abut the homeless crisis in Middlesex County.

Homeless in path of Rt. 18 project
Home News Tribune Online 08/20/07

By RICHARD KHAVKINE [Email address: rkhavkine #AT# thnt.com - replace #AT# with @ ], STAFF WRITER

NEW BRUNSWICK — The heavy machinery carving Route 18’s reconstruction through the city reaches closer to the Raritan River each day.

For the men who have lived for months, maybe years, in a pair of abandoned truck trailers anchored near the George Street offramp, that means just one thing: They must soon leave.

A state Department of Transportation edict recently posted on the trailers spells out as much. On 8 1/2-by-11 sheets of paper, typed black script reads: “Construction Zone: Demolition to start August 14 — Please vacate the area.” A Spanish translation follows.

Other than contractors prepping an additional lane on Route 18 Friday, no one else was in the vicinity of the retaining wall that for now serves as a partition between the state road and the river below.

That concrete wall’s days are numbered, though. Demolition of the George Street off-ramp leading to the Douglass College campus is imminent, according to the DOT.

At least one person is still living in the abandoned trailers, one of which once belonged to a Wall Township firm, according to faded signs on its front end.

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One of the most dramatic moments of the July 24, 2007, Middlesex County Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness Kickoff was the poem written for the event and read for the first time by poet Kenneth Lambert, pictured on the right. The poem is being published on this Blog for the first time. In addition you can listen to Mr. Lambert read the poem by clicking here. To download an Adobe version of the poem click here.

For more information on the Middlesex County Kickoff click here.

Being There

I am who I am and what I was
Yet, I am still me
Yes, I’m not the success I wanted to be
But, Please understand
I did not plan to be a homeless woman or man
Things happened along lifes ways
Things that made a drastic change
There’s been crime against my life and heart
That were devastating and tore my life apart

Under pure white clouds, and
Thousands of sparkling eyes
Peeking in between at me
Trying to sleep on a cardboard box
Layed over vents blowing heat
I try to sleep on cold winter eves…

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