|
|
|
|
|
If you would like to make a donation, please click here -
DONATE
Our Sponsors
Visit Our Sponsor
| |
Visit Our Sponsor
 | | Loaves & Fishes |
Visit Our Sponsor
 | | Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee |
Visit Our Sponsor
Visit our Sponsor
 |
|
Sleeping Bags needed for
Overnight Shelter program | |
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. |
|
Join Our Mailing List!
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. |
|
|
|
Safe Ground Sacramento's
Community Bulletin
January/February 2013
Twelfth issue
|
|
|
Hello and Welcome to Safe Ground's newsletter
 | | Steve Watters Executive Director |
Hello and Welcome to our newsletter for January/February 2013. As we start to see signs of spring, it is a good time to reflect on the winter season that will soon be winding down and allowing the spring weather to warm up and dry out the Sacramento Region and the unsheltered homeless that live here. The bitter cold temperatures this winter, combined with the increased law enforcement efforts to stop illegal camping, have resulted in an increase in the number of homeless individuals participating in our Pilgrimage Program, an overnight shelter program in six local churches. This year we have regularly seen over 100 people on the colder nights, and the number has reached as high as 150-180 on given nights. Additionally, we are finding an increased number of unsheltered homeless individuals living outdoors, on the streets of the downtown and midtown, because they are not allowed to setup a tent or lay down a sleeping bag, without threat of harassment, along the American River Parkway.
I strongly support the idea of preserving the ecology of our American River Parkway. However, I think that we must put an equal effort into preserving the health and dignity of our homeless citizens by providing access to shelter and appropriate sanitation facilities. Forcing people to give up the warm, dry shelter of tents and pushing them onto the streets does the opposite. I am struck by the irony of using our scarce law enforcement resources to threaten our most vulnerable citizens, forcing them to move from one place to another, but offering no solutions. The shelters are full, winter sanctuary programs are full and affordable housing resources are insufficient to meet demand, so we are saying "you must go," but not offering anyplace to go.
Police in areas of the city that are now experiencing an increased concentration in the homeless population are complaining of increased homeless activity. Nothing is accomplished beyond making the lives of these unsheltered homeless members of society even more chaotic and more uncertain. The use of law enforcement is no solution, or, as my friend and Safe Ground founder John Kraintz often states, "you can't arrest your way out of homelessness." It does not help the unsheltered homeless living in Sacramento to find warm, dry shelter or proper sanitation. Nor does it help restore personal dignity or self-confidence to be continually harassed by those with authority. Instead, it is further criminalization of the most vulnerable within our city, and serves only to supplement the false narrative that we are doing something about homelessness. What we need are solutions, what we need are elected officials who can help create solutions that do no further harm.
Safe Ground is proposing a solution, part of an integrated regional solution, and a path out of homelessness. It is our first step community and individualized services. We ask all who care about their fellow citizens, all our supporters and friends, for your continued support in our effort to locate a parcel of land and create a model community for our region. Let your elected officials know that you think Safe Ground is a viable program, a needed solution and that the time is now. Let's become the leaders in our state and stop falling back on the tired narrative and practice of the criminalization of homelessness.
Don't forget the Kings game this coming Saturday, February 9th at 7:00pm. Check the article below to buy tickets. |
|
|
Help Safe Ground and, see the Kings while you still can!
A timely reminder - Safe Ground is partnering with the Sacramento Kings in offering discounted tickets to the Kings vs. Jazz home game on Saturday February 9th at 7 PM at Sleep Train Arena!
Upper level tickets are available for $22, lower level for $60. This is a discount of well over 50% of normal ticket prices! A portion of each ticket purchase goes to Safe Ground. You can purchase tickets via Ticketmasters at this secure site -
You will need to give a password, which is "kings", and supply some registration information to the Kings. Your purchased ticket(s) will be emailed to you.
If you prefer not to buy tickets online, you can print this form -
and mail it with your payment to the Kings address provided on the form.
Please join us at Sleep Train Arena on February 9th, enjoy the basketball game, and help us spread awareness of the capitol region's homeless problem. Safe Ground will have a booth set up to provide information on our activities. We hope to see you there!
|
|
Safe Ground Community site search update
SGS Steps up Site Search for Public Parcel
After a December meeting with City Manager John Shirey, Safe Ground has stepped up its efforts to locate an acceptable parcel of land. Steve Watters, Executive Director, and board member Sister Libby Fernandez met with City Director of Economic Development Jim Rinehart in January and expect to start working with city officials in February to review potential city owned sites. Rinehart has been supportive of the effort to review city parcels and will help assemble a team to move the effort forward.
Our site objective remains a two to five acre parcel that is close to public transportation and located in a commercial or light industrial zone as opposed to a residential neighborhood. We prefer not to be next to a park or school to avoid possible security issues in the neighborhood. We will consider a site with a building that has the potential to be repurposed as a community center. Our preliminary designs are flexible in terms of cabin placement and community design.
If you have knowledge of a site that meets these requirements, public or private, please contact Steve Watters at 916-769-8877 or email at SafeGroundDirector@gmail.com. |
|
Book event at Time Tested Books February 12th
Safe Ground is a sponsor of this upcoming event: Virginia Eubanks will read and discuss her book Digital Dead End at Time Tested Books, 1114 21st Street, on February 12th at 7 p.m. This book, in the words of the author, "deals with digital justice, the high-tech economy, women's poverty, public assistance, community organizing and postindustrial cities in the US". More information is available at - |
|
Safe Ground participates in Biennial Census of unsheltered homeless
Several members of Safe Ground participated in the HUD mandated biennial census of the unsheltered homeless on the evening of Thursday January 24th. Sacramento Steps Forward, Mayor Kevin Johnson's "public-private" non-profit, which in 2011 took over many functions previously performed by the County Department of Human Assistance, including the application for and dispersal of 15 million HUD dollars intended to promote low income housing and combat homelessness, planned and organized the census. SSF says the census cost about $150,000.
Training was provided to approximately 350 volunteers in the weeks leading up to the event. Everyone met at 8 p.m. at the staging site, the county DHA building at 28th and Q Sts. Roughly 50 teams were assembled and given maps of critical areas likely to contain homeless people, interview forms and McDonald's gift cards for those willing to be interviewed, and a tally form for those who could only be counted. Helicopters with heat detecting equipment flew near wooded areas along the American River in an attempt to count individuals who would otherwise be overlooked. Interestingly, the police agreed to not disperse the homeless on the night of the 24th, but, instead, provided competent and polite assistance to the census effort.
One of the teams consisted of three people from Safe Ground, a young woman living with her son at Serna Village, and a friendly police officer. This team was assigned a midtown area designated as "SAC 68" and bounded by 28th, 18th, Capitol, and the alley between K and J streets, an area of 20.5 square blocks. Due to a bit of confusion in the staging process, the team did not begin walking until 9:10. It was not possible to cover more than about 75% of the assigned area before the midnight conclusion.
A dozen sleeping people were tallied, and fifteen others were interviewed. The counts from all the teams will be assembled and statistically analyzed in order to produce an official SSF report in May. Among those interviewed by the SAC 68 team were a 72 year old man in a wheelchair inside a bus stop, a 55 year old woman bedded down at the top of a staircase on the back side of a church, and a 51 year old man curled up in a sleeping bag behind a dumpster in an alley. The ages of the homeless ranged from 20s to 72, but most were over 45. The large majority of those encountered were men. All interviewees were polite and patient, some acknowledged problems with alcohol and drug use,depression, and mental illness. Many have been on the streets for over a year. The entire census process was interesting and sobering, and Safe Ground sincerely hopes it helps to bring some much needed help and attention to the unsheltered homeless. |
|
Cell phones for the homeless
The California Public Utilities Commission has administered the California LifeLine program for many years. CA LifeLine provides financial assistance enabling the poor to have landline telephones. The homeless, lacking a fixed address, cannot have landline phones. However, the CPUC is expected to soon change the CA Lifeline program to include cell phones. This will help the homeless in job searches, medical appointments, contact with family and friends, etc.
This is part of a long term federal effort, despite the use by some of the disparaging term "Obama phones", to spread telecommunications access to as many citizens as possible. Critics should note that a universal service fund has long supported extending land line service to low income households. The CPUC is talking with Assurance Wireless, which already runs a low income wireless telephone program in 36 states. More information at these links -
|
|
How many are homeless in Sacramento?
No one knows for certain. As mentioned in the article about the homeless census above, Sacramento Steps Forward plays a major role in interacting with HUD during the application for and dispersal of federal dollars intended to combat regional homelessness. In this capacity, SSF provides estimates of the number of area homeless to HUD. In a broad sense, the homeless are categorized as either "sheltered" or "unsheltered".
The sheltered homeless are counted in an ongoing fashion when they interact with social service agencies that provide long term and/or transitional housing. Many of these agencies are identified as part of the Continuum of Care by SSF. CoC is a federal term, defined by HUD as "The Continuum of Care (CoC) is a set of three competitively-awarded programs created to address the problems of homelessness in a comprehensive manner with other federal agencies." The three program areas are the Supportive Housing Program (SHP), Shelter Plus Care (S + C), and Single Room Occupancy (SRO).
SSF is the federally recognized coordinator of CoC grant applications in Sacramento. Area CoC providers maintain client data within a common computer application know as the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).
So, the sheltered homeless in Sacramento are counted on an ongoing basis within the HMIS system used by CoC providers, under the management umbrella of SSF. And the unsheltered homeless are only counted at a single "point in time" every odd numbered year during a late January census conducted by SSF. Sheltered homeless numbers are also assembled by SSF on the day of the January point in time census, via physical visits to shelters, phone calls, and reference to the HMIS database.
The HUD site
can be used to locate homeless reports for Sacramento from 2005 through 2012. These reports contain the following counts, shown here in the format
year/unsheltered/sheltered/total
2005/0645/1584/2229
2006/0645/1584/2229
2007/1005/1447/2452
2008/1266/1349/2615
2009/1194/1606/2800
2010/1194/1540/2734
2011/0955/1421/2376
2012/0955/1857/2812
These "total" values are the basis for this graph from the Sacramento Bee -
It is unclear why the SSF website only shows this data for the years 2008, 2009, and 2011.
The very definition of the word "homeless" is not consistent among those counting the homeless. The Sacramento County Office of Education program Project Teach,
was established in 1990 and engages in a year round effort to count homeless children according to guidelines established by the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. For the 2011-2012 school year, Project Teach identified 11,772
children in homeless situations, in these five categories:
758 = shelter
840 = transitional housing
487 = motel
9393 = staying with others
294 = unsheltered
Taking into account that SSF does not count people in motels or staying with others as homeless (and SCOE found 9,880 such children in 2011-2012 !), that still leaves 1,892 SCOE detected children that meet the SSF definition of homelessness.
It is not easy to precisely reconcile this figure with the SSF/HUD figures given above. The HUD reports do give a partial glimpse into the number of homeless children via the categories "persons in households with at least one adult and one child" and "persons in households with only children". For example, for the year 2012, HUD gives these two values as 827 and 25. Project Teach identified well over 1,000 more homeless children than SSF/HUD in a recent one year period.
Given this discrepancy, and SSF's acknowledgement of the need to do a better job in counting homeless youth between 18 and 24, it seems clear that official estimates of the number of homeless in Sacramento are low. Whatever the actual count, it is shameful we live in a society that struggles so to provide housing for so many. Regardless of the actual homeless numbers, it is important that estimates be as accurate as possible, without any hint of possible political pressure to inflate them ("we need more money") or deflate them ("we are making progress"). Sacramento can and should do a better job with these important homeless population estimates. |
Safe Ground visits Hangtown Haven
On December 20th, two members of Safe Ground visited the Hangtown Haven homeless community in Placerville. Art Edwards, the president, CEO, and driving force behind Hangtown Haven, along with a volunteer couple, graciously provided a tour. Located at the base of a steep hill on a small plot of privately owned and freely donated land, HH has political approval from the City of Placerville to operate until November 2013.
The encampment is very clean and well organized. Donated labor and supplies have resulted in an excellent fresh water supply and available electricity. A local bulldozer operator donated his efforts by expertly removing undergrowth, creating a drainage system, and terracing steep land. The encampment can now provide shelter to about 40 to 50 individuals. All tents are placed on elevated wooden platforms to promote dryness. There are separate men's and women's porta potties, sinks, a shared tool supply, and a communal area with an open pit fireplace.
Just up the road from HH is the Community Resource Center of El Dorado County ( http://www.edcrc.org ). Marie Cook, the director of CRC, explained the many resources available to the poor and homeless at CRC, including emergency shelter and food, showers, help with transportation, job search and resume assistance, computer access, and life skills training.
And just up the road from CRC is the Upper Room Dining Hall, a Catholic charities based entity that serves daily free meals from 4 to 5:30. Marie said many CRC clients and residents of HH take meals at the Upper Room, where they are seated and served, no questions asked.
Safe Ground thanks Art and Marie for their hospitality. This trio of resources, Hangtown Haven, Community Resource Center, and Upper Room Dining Hall, is a testament to what caring individuals and institutions can accomplish. Sacramento area politicians and social service providers would do well to pay a visit. |
|
Safe Ground Pilgrimage Overnight Shelter Program
Awarded grants and 2012 highlights
As mentioned in the last newsletter, we won a $10,000 grant from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation for expanding and strengthening the Safe Ground Pilgrimage Overnight Shelter Program. We have also recently won two smaller grants for this program: one for $5,500 from the Ann Land Bertha Henschel Memorial Fund administered by the City of Sacramento, and one for $1,500 from the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministeries Neighbors in Need fund.
All three grants are for one year and all will be used for sleeping bags, pads and cots, transportation of people, food, and water, and basic health care supplies. Our sincere thanks to these three grantors for helping us to help those in need.
Six downtown churches participated in the Safe Ground Pilgrimage Overnight Shelter Program in 2012 - Trinity Cathedral, Trinity Lutheran, St. John's Lutheran, Pioneer Congregational UCC, First United Methodist, and The House Church. These six churches provided 74 shelter nights with 4,648 individual adult sleepovers, and 11,472 meals including both dinner and breakfast. The value of this generosity to the community, based on an estimate of $40 per shelter night and $5 per meal, was over $243,000.
Our main goals in 2013 are to increase the number of participating faith-based organizations, to improve the sleeping accommodations available to the homeless, and to improve our food, transportation, and homeless leadership programs.
Many thanks to the participating churches, the Homeless Leadership Team, and all the volunteers for their consistent generosity and hard work. This made the Pilgrimage Overnight Shelter program a great success in 2012, and will help us meet our goals in 2013. |
Safe Ground Pilgrimage Overnight Shelter Program in Midtown Sacramento
Safe Ground wants to recruit churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, 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. The SG Shelter Program 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
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.
Pilgrimage Overnight Shelter Program upcoming calendar
First United Methodist Church
2100 J Street
Sacramento CA 95816
Contact: Glenn Tilton
tilton2@comcast.net
916-446-5025
January 08, 2013
January 20, 2013 *
January 27, 2013 *
February 05, 2013
February 17, 2013 *
February 24 2103 *
* = breakfast 8:30 - 9:30
Pioneer Congregational United Church of Christ
2700 L ST
Sacramento, CA 95816
Contact: Pam Tureen
pamelat2@sbcglobal.net
(916) 442-0814
January 11, 2013
January 25, 2013
February 08, 2013
February 22, 2013
St. John's Lutheran Church
1701 L Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
Contact: Steve Ruder
scruder@gmail.com
(916) 412-0075
January 14, 2013
January 28, 2013
February 26,2013
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
2620 Capitol Avenue Sacramento, California 95816
Contact: Cheri Meadows
cheri.meadows123@gmail.com
(916) 601-6441
January 02, 2013*
January 09, 2013
January 16, 2013*
January 23, 2013
January 30,2013*
February 06, 2013*
February 13, 2013
February 20, 2013*
February 27, 2013
* = dinner at 6
|
|
|
|
|
Contact Safe Ground
|
Location: 1400 North C. St. Sacramento, CA 95811 (across from Maryhouse)Mailing Address: PO Box 1644 Sacramento, CA 95812 Website: safegroundsac.orgLetters, Questions, Comments
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
