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Our Sponsors | |
Visit Our Sponsor
 | | Loaves & Fishes |
Visit Our Sponsor
 | | Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee |
Visit Our Sponsor
 | | Francis House |
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Recent Articles.... |
Placer County's Gathering Inn may close
Sac Bee 7/26/12
Rhode Island passes
Homeless Bill of Rights
Mother Jones, 6/20/12
here is the new law -
nearly 900 homeless file claims against city
Sac Bee, 6/8/12
Illegal-camping crackdown, Tasers, U.N. reports: Sacramento homeless community under attack?By Nick Miller, SN&R, 2/9/12
California Homeless Crisis Grows As State Is Reluctant To Use Powerful Law, Huffington Post, 2/9/12
Arrested for not Having a HOME!!!!, Huffington post, 1/10/12
Number of homeless students in Sacramento County schools jumps 50% plus, Sac Bee, 7/14/11
Would you support a homeless shelter near your home? Online forum about Safe Ground on Facebook
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300 Sleeping Bags Needed
for a Moveable Sleep | |
If you would like to donate , sleeping bags, tents, or any other equipment, even office equipment (old but working PCs needed), please contact us at 916-448-2448 and/or come by our office, located across from Maryhouse.
Safe Ground Office
1400 North C. St.
Sacramento, CA 95811
(across from Maryhouse)
7:00AM-2:45PM
Donations of any of these items are always appreciated:
Sleeping Bags
Backpacks
Warm Coats
Rain Coats
Rain Boots
Scarves
Gloves
Long Johns (thermal underwear)
Hand Warmers (like hunters use)
Insect repellent
Donations are tax deductible. |
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If you would like to regularly receive this newsletter, and don't already, please let us know at
safegroundsacinfo@gmail.com
And please feel free to forward our newletter to anyone you think might be interested in what we do. |
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Safe Ground Sacramento's
Community Bulletin
July/August 2012
Ninth issue
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Hello and Welcome to Safe Ground's newsletter
 | | Steve Watters Executive Director |
It has been a few months since we issued a Safe Ground CB. It is good to be back, and we have some exciting news to share about Safe Ground activities. This issue is longer than most, so let me remind you that you can use the links under "In this issue" to the left to go directly to any article below. Enjoy the articles this month. We look forward to publishing more frequently, and hope to hear your ideas and concerns.
Safe Ground continues to focus its energies on the development of the Safe Ground Community, a village of 80-100 individuals committed to taking the "first step" out of homelessness and taking a pledge of "no drugs, no alcohol and no violence" in
their community. Our community will provide individualized services directed by caseworkers and designed to prepare our residents for success in permanent housing and other long-term programs. Safe Ground is currently reviewing the best practices in intake, security and governance procedures across the country, as well as which service possibilities will have the most immediate impact. Safe Ground is dedicated to being a positive asset in our community.
We continue to make progress in our search for a site. We have a current list of properties we are looking at across the city and county of Sacramento and are meeting during the month of August with several owners, as well as neighborhood and business groups, to speak about a potential site. Meanwhile, we continue to look for a 2 to 5 acre parcel that will allow us to build between 60 and 100 cabins, a community center, and space for a dog run and kennels, a donations station and community gardens. Our current first choice is approximately 2.5 acres and could support 64 sleeping cabins in addition to the other planned facilities listed above. This site would allow us to support approximately 60-80 residents at a time.
In September we will build the first prototype of the sleeping cabins we propose
It will be on public display and you can sign-up to bring your employee or church group
for a presentation of the cabin and full community concept. Read about the prototype and public presentations in See the Safe Ground Cabin Prototype Sleeping Cabin and
Community Design article below.
I would also like to make a public request for donations to support the purchase of
300 sleeping bags to support our Moveable Sleep program with local congregations. This
program now runs all year long and is hoping to expand to more churches enabling the
program to cover more nights each month. A Moveable Sleep offers participants a meal,
shelter from the elements, and a respite from life on the streets. Read more about this
program in A Moveable Sleep in Midtown Sacramento below.
That's it for this issue, more next month about the upcoming prototype unveiling...
Steve Watters
Executive Director
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 | | Bob Erlenbusch Board President |
Safe Ground Board of Directors Elections
New Safe Ground board officers were elected at the June 10th monthly meeting. Our new President and Board Chairman is Bob Erlenbusch, Anthony (Amani) Gallardo is our new Vice President, and Daniel Kaufman is our new Treasurer. Paula Lomazzi continues as Secretary. In recognition of all his service to Safe Ground, out-going President John Kraintz will hold the honorary emeritus title of Founding Elder. Newly elected Board members are Bill Kennedy, managing attorney at Legal Services of Northern CA, and Anne Kemp of Litigation Management Technologies. Congratulations to all! |
Amani - Safe Ground Volunteer
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Amani
Board Vice President |
My name is Amani, I have been with Safe Ground for 2yr 4mo. It has been nothing but opportunity after opportunity. Safe Ground for me was a place that offered a real shot at life a second time around for me. Being released from CDCR on to the streets of Sacramento, It was a new world for me. I showed up on the front steps outside the Safe Ground office in Loaves & Fishes Friendship Park, I walked in and here I stand today, a full-time student at Consumnes River College. I'm majoring in Architecture Drafting & Design and minor in Political Philosophy. Being active with Safe Ground allowed me to venture off and explore a life beyond Prison. Clean Sober and a Long Life ahead of me means the world to me. Participating in events knowing that I'm making a difference not just for me but for others as well. I believe if I can do it anyone can. Being the Longest active homeless person I know Life isn't about worldly possessions. I work the office and manage it, when I have people come in and ask can you help me and I can say "YES" I can see most of the stress be relieved. That's why I do what I do. Life gave me a choice a plan and I know working along side Safe Ground is where I stand for the Long haul, The Fight for Land the Fight for a SAFE PLACE with out fear of arrest. How ever long it takes I know I'll be along for the ride. |
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Safe Ground Prototype Cabin
September Premier Showing
View the Safe Ground Prototype
Sleeping Cabin & Community Designs
in Cesar Chavez Park
Read below for details and scheduling of group presentations
Safe Ground will be presenting a full scale prototype of the sleeping cabins planned for the Safe Ground Community. The following tentative dates will be affirmed to all newsletter recipients in the near future.
The cabin will be assembled in a public demonstration in Caesar Chavez Park (9th and I Streets) on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 19th.
This will be followed by ongoing public presentations Thursday and Friday September 20th and 21st, and Saturday morning, September 22nd.
Safe Ground will provide scheduled group presentations for interested public, corporate, private and faith-based groups between 9:00am and 7:00pm Thursday and Friday and again on Saturday morning 9:00am to Noon.
Groups interested in scheduling a presentation are asked to call and schedule by calling Steve Watters at 916-769-8877 or emailing Steve at swwatters@sbcglobal.net.
The Safe Ground 10 x 12 foot sleeping cabin design has been developed by a Safe Ground Volunteer Cabin Design Team consisting of Kerrin West of Studio 81 in Folsom, Michael O'Brien of Pressey and Associates and Kyle Wicky of Mogavero Notestine Associates, both of Sacramento. Their unique design utilizes factory built, insulated panels as the major structural components. Each panel is manufactured to include predesigned electrical components, as well as windows and doors. The exterior is covered with durable hardi-trim siding and long lasting paint. The Cabin Design Team has consulted with local engineering and construction expert Dan Wilson, the Construction Director at Sacramento Habitat for Humanity. Dan has been consulting with local colleagues on the design, and in the effort to locate local suppliers of the panels and other required materials and components, including solar panels for the roof. The end product reflects the expertise of these local construction experts and suppliers.
Safe Ground volunteer professionals reviewed many potential designs from a structural, permitting and cost perspective. These designs included pre-manufactured cabins, wood framed cabins, domes, and small trailers similar to camping trailers. Our experts selected a structural modular panel construction that is both locally designed and built. These cabins will be made to our custom design specifications and manufactured as component panels that can be assembled in the field and disassembled for moving in the future. Safe Ground's look at the many alternatives on the market was highly influenced by our requirements including local standards for acceptable temporary habitats, extreme wet winter weather, our long, hot summers and our strong desire to create the type of community environment that addresses the particular needs of the homeless individuals taking a first step out of homelessness.
We look forward to having you visit the debut of our Safe Ground sleeping cabin at Caesar Chavez Park in mid-September. Stop by on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 19th and watch the assembly of our prototype cabin or on Thursday the 20th or Friday the 21st (9 am to 7 pm) or Saturday the 22nd (9am to Noon) to see a presentation of the cabin and community designs. Call ahead to schedule a group presentation and meet some of the Safe Ground members and supporters by calling Steve Watters at 916-769-8877 or emailing Steve at swwatters@sbcglobal.net.
Note: September 19th through 22nd are still tentative dates. We will notify you as soon as the official dates are confirmed.
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Colin Bailey |
UN Report
The United Nations' Spotlight on Sacramento
Homeless Access to Water and Sanitation
by Colin Bailey
Sacramento-based social justice attorney
and homeless advocate
In a public statement issued in Berlin on May 2011, the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque,
said, "We all want the same thing. We want a world where everyone has access to sanitation and water. We want a world where people do not get sick from the water they drink or make other people sick because they are forced to defecate in
the open. The good news is that we can do this."
The solution to realizing the human right to health and access to water and sanitation for homeless people is quite simple: the United States government, which is responsible for adhering to international legal norms, should, through its subdivisions, the City and County of Sacramento, make toilets and clean drinking and bathing water available to homeless people living in and around Sacramento on an ongoing and adequate basis. At a minimum, the City and County should allow private parties to provide for adequate water and sanitation services, as they have sought to do.
However, several policies and practices carried out by the City and County of Sacramento frustrate the Sacramento-area homeless population's access to adequate sanitation services and clean water, most especially the criminalization and stigmatization of homelessness. In this way, the City and County of Sacramento have contributed to the creation and perpetuation of the unhealthy living conditions that are all-too-common to and work an ongoing indignity and injustice against Sacramento's homeless residents.
In her book, "On the Right Track: Good Practices in Realising the Human Right to Water and Sanitation," the United Nations' Ms. Albuquerque outlines various policies and practices that have been adopted by other governments to create the legal and policy framework for incorporating the right to water and sanitation.
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Water/BookonGoodPractices_en.pdf
The city of Paris, for example, has made a commitment to maintain safe, hygienic toilets that are freely available to the public and accessible to people with disabilities, including those who are homeless.
In an open letter to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson in February 2012, Ms. Albuquerque noted that the fact that homeless people in the Sacramento area are denied adequate sanitary facilities or potable water is unacceptable, an affront to human dignity, and a violation of human rights that, in some instances, could constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. The Sacramento Bee covered this story in a Monday morning, frontpage article.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/04/v-wireless/4238427/un-investigator-urges-sacramento.html
Additional press coverage, including video of the Safe Ground press conference, can be found here:
http://homelessnesslaw.org/2012/02/sacramentos-homeless-people-being-heard-loud-and-clear
The human right to water and sanitation entitles everyone, without discrimination, to water and sanitation that is available, accessible, affordable, acceptable, and safe, such that all people may meet their basic biological needs with dignity. Let's encourage Sacramento, as the livable city that it seeks to be, to take concrete steps to realizes the right to water and sanitation for everyone. At a minimum, it should get out of the way of those who would provide these services lawfully and adequate, but for the City and County's denials of their requests to do so. People living homeless in Sacramento have an ally in the United Nations.
For more information about the United Nations Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation, Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque, and the human right to water and sanitation, you can visit the following website:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/SRWaterIndex.aspx
A 2-minute video summarizing Ms. Albuquerque's fact-finding mission to the United States, in which she makes special mention of her dismay at Sacramento's treatment of its homeless population at 1:34 into the video, can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3P893QyeRM&feature=youtu.be
Lastly, Ms. Albuquerque's report to the General Assembly's Human Rights Council, included mention of Sacramento at pages 13-4, paragraphs 58-60, can be found here:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/SRWaterIndex.aspx
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A Moveable Sleep - Midtown Sacramento
Safe Ground would like to recruit churches, synagogues, congregations, union halls and business owners in the midtown area to permit Safe Ground sponsored homeless to stay overnight on their property, from 6pm to 7am the next day. This provides the homeless with a sanctuary from arrest, and also, during much of the year, gives them a life-saving night free from the cold and the rain. Moveable Sleep provides its own staffing and cleanup. Many hosts also provide a dinner and/or breakfast, but this is not required. Those who sleep with us promise to be alcohol free, drug free and nonviolent.
We need your help with the following:
Volunteers All Ages:
* Fellowship hosts - Safe Ground sponsored homeless provide check-in. Volunteer hosts welcome people and provide information.
* Coffee host - Brew and serve
* Food supplies, paper cups and napkins - Food and paper supplies are provided by volunteers - bulk items always welcome
* Food preparation and cooking - we have great kitchen captains that would love your assistance
* Food serving - Fill those empty bellies!
* Kitchen & Great Hall cleaning
* Dishwashing
Volunteers 18 Years and older:
* Overnight/breakfast hosts - men and women
The Moveable Sleep participating churches and upcoming calendar
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2nd and 4th Wednesdays
July 11, 2012
July 25, 2012
August 8, 2012
August 22, 2012
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Trinity Episcopal Cathedral 2620 Capitol Avenue Sacramento, California 95816
Contact: Cheri Meadows
cnrmeadows@yahoo.com
(916) 601-6441
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August 17, 2012 |
Trinity Lutheran
1500 27th Street Sacramento, CA 95816
Contact: Church Secretary
(916) 456-8701
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2nd and 4th Fridays
July 13, 2012
July 27, 2012
August 10, 2012
August 31, 2012 |
Pioneer Congregational UCC
2700 L ST
Sacramento, CA 95816
Contact: Pam Tureen
pamelat2@sbcglobal.net
(916) 442-0814
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July 30, 2012
August TBD |
St. John's Lutheran Church
1701 L Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
Contact: Steve Ruder
scruder@gmail.com
(916) 412-0075
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for a printable flyer with this information, click here
All we need is a large room and someone to open the doors. We provide the rest. Please contact Dave Coburn at 916-337-7733 or coburn180@gmail.com or Amani at 916-893-0736 or amani.sfg@gmail.com for more information if you can help. |
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Contact Safe Ground
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Location: 1400 North C. St. Sacramento, CA 95811 (across from Maryhouse)Mailing Address: PO Box 1644 Sacramento, CA 95812 Website: safegroundsac.comLetters, Questions, Comments
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About Us
Safe Ground was founded in December 2008 by homeless leaders of Sacramento's 2008-2009 Tent City encampment along the American River near downtown Sacramento. We have been incorporated as a 501(c) 3 since January 2010. We support and assist an underserved population of unsheltered homeless adults who sign a covenant to be
alcohol, drug and violence free, and who are committed to using every opportunity to reintegrate into mainstream society. We help those who are among the neediest and the most overlooked.
Safe Ground advocates for the rights of homeless adults. Our goal is to create cost effective, model communities where homeless people can live in safety and dignity, without threat of violence, addiction or arrest. We envision communities that, rather
than treating homelessness as a crime, embrace the dignity of each person, and provide supportive housing with a full range of social services. |
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