200 in 100

Today marks one month until I finish my year in AmeriCorps. So surreal! This year has led me to so many crazy adventures, but I will save that post for August 23rd. Right now I want to tell you all about a campaign that we have going on at UNITY.

During a conference that some of my co-workers attended in the spring, they were challenged to set an ambitious goal. With that challenge, they set out to house 200 chronically homeless individuals in 100 days. And let me tell you, this is definitely an ambitious goal! To put this number in perspective, let me tell you our normal numbers. On average, we house about 42 people a month. In order to meet this goal, we would have to house about 65 people per month, and then some.

The campaign began May 24th, and today we have reached our halfway point of 100 people housed. For those doing the math, yes, we are behind schedule. We only have a month and a week left to house 100 more people, which according to our past numbers, seems impossible. However with the outreach team, housings specialists, and supporting agencies that we have, it somehow seems reachable. The work ethic and compassion these people have is unlike anything I've seen before.

Let me tell you a story of one of our housing specialist's who went above and beyond last week. First of all, a housing specialist is someone who helps a client find an apartment to move into after they've been approved for a specific program. Each client is referred to a program depending on their eligibility (this mostly has to do with length of homeless, type of health insurance, and type of disabilities). Once they are approved, their file is given to a housing specialist who will assist them in finding an apartment that they would move into. Last week, one of our clients had been approved for a program, but had lost all hope for housing. He had been living on the streets for quite a long time, and sometimes clients on the streets have a hard time holding onto hope. The housing specialist, realizing that the client had lost all hope for housing, went out at night with our Abandoned Buildings Outreach Team with two keys in her hand. She showed the client the tangible evidence that he could be housed--he had two options of apartments. The next day, the client was housed.

Our staff goes above and beyond. The housing specialist didn't have to do that--her work day ended at 5. She could have called it a day, but instead she went out late at night to the streets of New Orleans to track down someone who's life she was about to change.

It's people like this who make me think that reaching 200 housings in 100 days is plausible. It's a lot of work, and the stress in the office has been at an all-time high, but the number of clients housed has also been at an all-time high, and because of that, the stress level is worth it (sometimes).

Each night we go home to our warm beds, and each night we know that another client gets to enjoy his/her new warm bed instead of the cold, hard concrete. Hopefully, by August 31st, 200 chronically homeless people will be off of the streets of New Orleans, away from the danger, and locked safely behind their own front door.

Happy belated, America

I know this post is extremely late, as it is July 19th, and not July 4th, BUT better late than never I guess. This year I spent my first fourth of July in about 10 years away from the beach, and although I missed home, it was a holiday well spent. We did exactly what we did for New Years Eve, except with more friends, more fireworks, and warmer weather! We went to Algiers Point, which overlooks the New Orleans skyline--just a beautiful view. There, we set up a tent, brought a grill, some drinks, a lot of fireworks, and some friends and Steve's family. To our surprise, there was a fair going on with live music, crawfish, and snow balls! I also adapted some cutesy Pinterest recipes (sangria and fruit kabobs) to add a bit of flare. Hope you enjoy some of the photos!

P.s-- Thanks to all my readers for helping me get to 5,000 views on the last post. I actually exceeded my projected number of views and reached about 5,200 views with that post, so you all are awesome!

Heartbreaking Homicides

I know I write a lot about crime in New Orleans, but that's because it's such a prevalent issue. Recently, I watched a documentary called "Shell-Shocked." It opened my eyes more to crime around New Orleans, and brought me to tears several times. For such a beautiful city, I can't put into words how much it saddens me that the violence and crime rates are so high.

On average, the homicide rate in NOLA is usually 7-12 times higher than the national average. That is physically sickening being that in 1960, New Orleans had one of the lowest murder rates in the country.

I learned in the documentary that since 2005, more people have lost their lives to gun violence than when the levees broke in Hurricane Katrina. Normally, a natural disaster unites an area, such as the current situations in Oklahoma and New Jersey. However, in NOLA it seems that things have gotten worse.

There was one quote from the documentary that really stuck out in my mind: "Someone had that much power that they woke up that day and decided another human being would not walk the earth another day." It's amazing how cowardly people can be--just last week someone was killed in northern Louisiana over a dispute in a video game. A video game. Someone will never live again BECAUSE OF A VIDEO GAME.

2/3 of assaults reported to the NOPD involve a gun. That means simple muggings on the street are getting worse. People in the documentary stated that in order to protect yourself now, you need a gun: "Fists aren't going to protect you because you can't punch a bullet." What's even more depressing than that is that one man stated that guns are easier to obtain than a textbook. The power of knowledge is getting lost in translation because more and more people are concerned about their power on the street rather than their power in the classroom. New Orleans is leading the nation in incarcerations, however it is next to last in education.

Now, I am someone who firmly believes that owning a gun should be allowed for self protection. However, people are abusing this power. Self protection does not mean killing someone over a video game. It also doesn't mean shooting innocent children--this past weekend a 14-year-old boy was found shot dead in Central City, New Orleans.

After the documentary, a panel was available to answer questions we had. One of the panelists was a monk from India. His words really struck me: "In India we think the USA is like Heaven; everyone wants to come here. I feel different. In India we have a lot of poor people, but not so much violence. We have more spirituality, more thinking inside instead of outside. America needs more thinking inside. A small fire sparks and can burn your whole house. After it starts to burn it's hard to control, but if you can catch it at it's spark, you can stop it. We are born here to be happy, not to suffer. We are already suffering--we are sick and we grow old and we die. We don't have to make each other suffer more."

The problem is, people answer violence with violence. When someone shoots someone, the victim's family wants revenge. And the cycle continues. I was inspired by one of the panelists, her name was Cynthia. She lost her child at age 14 to gun violence. She stated that she could have easily gotten revenge, but she knew that if she lived the right way and took the right path, she would get to see her son again. At the time of her son's murder, she had 20 people outside ready to go after who killed her son, but she told them to go away. 

I'm just astonished by some of the stories. A lot of them seem like they should be saved for the movies, but instead they are acted out in real life. This city and the people in it have so much potential, but I think there needs to be more direction. People need role models at a young age, and a lot of them aren't getting the role models they need. I hope some day soon the city wakes up, but I know it won't happen this year. The homicide rate is going to continue to rise, and it's going to continue to break my heart.