On Saturday, October 21, 2017, a conference was held at St. John’s University, entitled A Focus on the Common Good: Homelessness and the Need for Systemic Change.  Organized by the Vincentian Center for Church and Society, it was the tenth biennial Vincentian Chair of Social Justice Conference.

Three speakers were invited to participate in the program.  Lee Stringer, author, homeless for eleven years and crack-addicted, spoke powerfully of his life and transformation. Telling us that he found a pencil to run through his crack pipe, one day, he realized he could use it to write.  In the days that followed, he carried it with him wherever he went, scribbling with frenzy. Eventually his passion for writing overcame his drug cravings and he checked himself into a Project Renewal, Inc. homeless shelter and treatment center where, with their help, he ended his addiction.  His first book, Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Streets (Seven Stories Press, 1997) chronicles his years on the street and made the top 10 recommended book lists of both USA Today and the New York Times and has been published in 18 languages.  His second memoir, Sleepaway School: Stories from a Boy’s Life is the #1 Borders best seller in its category and has been translated into 18 languages on four continents. He is a former editor and columnist of Street News. His essays and articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including The Nation the New York Times and Newsday.  He was a keynote speaker at the United Nations and in 2005 was awarded a Lannan Foundation Fellowship.  He presently works for Project Renewal, Inc., the homeless services agency that helped him to recover from addiction and find housing.  He conducts a weekly therapeutic writing group with children at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls, a foster care residential treatment facility where he once stayed in his youth. He spoke without bitterness, with humor and kindness, of the people on the streets, of the complex issues street people must face.  The audience gave him a standing ovation as he concluded.

Roseanne Haggerty is president and chief executive officer of Community Solutions. She is an internationally recognized leader in developing innovative strategies to end homelessness and strengthen communities. Through Community Solutions she has helped communities across the country combat chronic homelessness through the use of data analytics, quality –improvement strategies and design thinking.  Their current campaign, Built for Zero (formerly Zero: 2016) is a rigorous national change effort working to help a core group of committed communities end veteran and chronic homelessness. Coordinated by Community Solutions, the national effort supports participants in developing real time data on homelessness, optimizing local housing resources, tracking progress against monthly goals, and accelerating the spread of proven strategies. Building on the momentum of the 100,000 Homes Campaign, a national movement that helped communities find homes for 105,580 homeless Americans in four years, they are helping a committed group of U.S. communities do whatever it takes to end veteran and chronic homelessness by creating a national tipping point to prove that success is possible, ultimately motivating all communities to end chronic and veteran homelessness. Through a national campaign-style strategy, they are helping communities adopt proven best practices, deploy existing resources more efficiently, and use real-time data to improve performance. Implementing transparent data and performance management for real-time improvement, they are engaging leadership from the government, private and philanthropic sectors in securing new resources for communities and removing policy roadblocks. They are connecting communities to one another through an online platform for innovation, knowledge capture and group problem solving. Since January 2015, more than 75,000 people have been housed by participating communities, including more than 40,000 veterans. Seven communities have measurably and sustainably ended veteran homelessness. Three communities have measurably and sustainably ended chronic homelessness. More than 50 participating communities have now achieved real time, by-name data on their local homeless populations. More than 25 participating communities are driving measurable reductions in homelessness, month over month

Jim White, Executive Director, Covenant House New Jersey, grew up in Flushing, New York with his parents, four sisters and brother. He attended Saint Francis Preparatory High School, where he was introduced to Franciscan Spirituality and the responsibility to serve the poor. Before starting his business career, Jim decided to “give back” so he came to Covenant House in 1982 as a full-time volunteer.  In early 1987, Jim began working in the Fixed Income Department of Bear Stearns. After his first year, Jim became the Odd Lot Trader and moved one year later to the position of Bill Trader. In 1991, Jim returned to Covenant House New York and in 1994, Jim was hired as Executive Director of Covenant House New Jersey (CHNJ). He conducted two successful capital campaigns and developed a strong organization filled with caring and competent professionals. During his 12 years at CHNJ, Jim grew the budget ten times to close to $8,000,000, expanded residential services to 120 young people each night and added a comprehensive array of services through Crisis, ROP and Mothers and Babies programs. Additionally, he recruited an active and prestigious board. In 2006 Jim became chief operating officer for Covenant International, providing oversight to programs in six countries, serving more than 50,000 homeless youths each year. In September 2014, Jim returned ‘home’ to serve again as Executive Director of Covenant House New Jersey and recently coauthored the largest –ever study of trafficked youth in the country “Recognizing Human Trafficking Among Homeless Youth,” with Mount Sinai Hospital.

Close to three-hundred people attended this very fine conference and it was encouraging that half of those participating were undergraduate students.  Congratulations to the planning committee.

Natalie Boone is the AIC NGO Representative to UN-NY