GREENFIELD — Looking out on a sea of faces Friday morning, Clare Higgins, the executive director of Community Action Pioneer Valley, addressed what brought everyone together:
Homelessness, Higgins said, is “fundamentally destabilizing. We’re here to correct that injustice.”
Friday’s meeting at Greenfield Community College brought together more than 80 people representing 36 partner organizations. It was the annual meeting for a Community Action Pioneer Valley program called Three County Continuum of Care, which focuses on eradicating homelessness in Franklin, Hampshire and Berkshire counties by engaging community organizations.
A large focus of the annual meeting was how youth and young adults can be better served in the community and how they can have a louder voice in decision making.
Higgins acknowledged the duality of the roles held by many in the room: they’re a piece of an organization that has its own role in local homelessness, yet their organization fits into a larger puzzle to end homelessness regionally.
“Yes, bureaucratically, we’re responsible,” Higgins said, for distributing funds and other tasks. “But we’re really responsible to find a way out of a horrible situation, a horrible situation for people without a home.”
Earlier this year, Three County Continuum of Care changed hands from the Hilltown Community Development Corporation to Community Action Pioneer Valley. Organizationally, this means that Community Action Pioneer Valley will apply for national grants, like those from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and distribute money to local organizations.
“This is momentous for Community Action in the region,” said state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton.
Comerford was excited by the increasing role youth will play in Three County Continuum of Care going forward, particularly because as “the center of their own experience,” youth can be a “bright spark” for needed change to help homeless youth and young adults, she said.
Likewise, Higgins’ remarks touched on the interconnectedness of injustices that impact homelessness and the hope that a newly-strengthened youth voice will guide the regional conversation going forward.
Lisa Goldsmith, homeless youth services manager for Community Action Pioneer Valley, received applause when she announced that Franklin County has been designated a Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program community and will receive a $1.96 million grant for youth and young adult programs over a two-year period.
Youth and young adults who have experienced or are experiencing homelessness also shared their experiences.
Timothy Rivers, who was voted to represent the Youth Action Board, organized under Community Action Pioneer Valley, led an activity where meeting-goers read statements written by homeless youth. Many of the statements touched on feelings of powerlessness, shame, anger, depression, feeling scared or lost or stuck, or being hungry or cold.
“I’d like us to continue to think about these as we interact with the homeless going forward,” Rivers said to the room.
During a breakout session, Heather Catlin, 17, and Felisha Rosa, 19, who are Youth Action Board members, shared their feelings and experiences with homelessness.
Both spoke to the interconnectedness of factors that create a vicious cycle of homelessness for youth: not having a credit history to secure housing, lacking a substantial employment history to secure a job, lacking access to regular showers that can prevent getting hired and a general lack of trust from adults.
“It’s hard because the factors that helped me to be homeless are preventing me from (leaving homelessness),” Catlin said.
Going forward, the two want to see the inclusion of young voices at the tables of large organizations.
“I hope to see people’s perceptions change” of homeless youth, Catlin said, adding that she hopes that the immediate needs, like hunger and physical security, can be addressed.
Reach Maureen O’Reilly at 413-772-0261, ext. 280 or moreilly@recorder.com.