The Medallion Scholarship program is the ASU Alumni Association’s signature scholarship initiative. The Medallion Scholarship is more than a financial award; it is a comprehensive scholarship program that incorporates components of leadership, scholarship and service.
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Thank you to Jonathan Yu, Print Journalism Major at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
The homeless population in downtown Phoenix is on the rise according to David Bridge, chief program officer for Central Arizona Shelter Services, Inc. (CASS), an organization in Phoenix that provides shelter and services to the city’s homeless.
Estimates said that there are around 1000 homeless people in the downtown Phoenix area. However, these estimates are misleading because they only take into account the homeless using services like shelters and dining halls.
“With what we’re doing with the outreach shelter and what we’re doing with the things on campus I would definitely say there’s an increase in population.”
Bridge explains that a fast growing Phoenix population has brought many homeless people into the city.
“The valley’s population has grown,” Bridge said. “It’s kind of a constant. If you have x number of people in the city, you’re going to have x percentage of homeless. Not everyone that’s coming to the valley is self-sufficient.
“We’ve heard a lot of stories about people who come here, not because they’re homeless when they come here, but they come here because they’ve heard the stories about the economy booming, lots of jobs, and a sunny environment. They come down here with a week or two of savings and realize that a lot of those jobs are fairly low income. Recently we’ve had a downturn in construction and some of those jobs that did pay pretty decently.”
George Overturm, a man who has been homeless in Phoenix for just a week, would agree.
Overturm traveled to Phoenix after losing his job as a machinist in Minnesota recently.
“I came down and didn’t have a lot of money and was out of work,” Overturm said. “I figured I’d come down here. There used to be a lot of work down here but they don’t have that anymore.”
CASS has recently had to create overflow shelters for its clients in light of the growing homeless population trying to use their services. Even with the coordinated efforts among shelters across the area, there are still homeless who are forced to spend nights on the street.
“Between all our efforts, we assume that we are serving somewhere between 800 to 1000 people a night.” Bridge said.
Bridge pointed out that homelessness is a merely a temporary situation rather than a permanent lifestyle.
“Homelessness is a transitional state,” Bridge said. “We know for a fact that 80 percent of our clients never come back to our shelter. So for those people its definitely just a phase.”
Bridge noted that although most of the homeless situations are temporary, there are some people that are homeless in the long-term.
“There is a small group of homeless that are a chronic homeless population,” Bridge said. “These are the ones that are using emergency rooms as their primary healthcare provider, these are the groups that are getting arrested on a multiple basis.”
Bridge cited a study done in Philadelphia which found that one mentally ill homeless person without social services coasts the community $40,000 a year. He said that the cost of helping the homeless outweighs the penalties if we don’t.
Fortunately, Phoenix has a number of social services programs and funds many homeless shelters to address the problem.
Additionally, law enforcement plays a big role in solving the homeless issue.
“The City of Phoenix Police I cannot speak highly enough about,” Bridge said. “The police attitudes in Phoenix used to be a lot like the police attitudes in other cities. The solution to homelessness was policing. You arrest them, tear down their camp, tell them to leave, or arrest them. About ten years ago the police restructured and changed into a more community-policing model. They took the police out of their cars in this neighborhood and made it into a walking beat. What the police realized that if you don’t deal with those underlying issues you cant solve this. They can’t solve these issues as policeman so they changed the focus and stared working with the partners in this area.”
Bridge believes that how we treat those disenfranchised people like the homeless is a direct reflection on the community as a whole. He quoted vice president Hubert Humphrey on what he believed to be the measure of a good society.
“The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped."
Education Meeting
August 5, 2008
Tuesday
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Speaker:
Ann Ronan
Arizona Center for Disability Law
]]>Anne Ronan has been practicing in the area of health law for the poor and uninsured since graduating from Arizona State University College of Law in 1979. Since 1991 she has been with the Arizona Center for Disability Law. Anne represents children and adults with disabilities in obtaining necessary and appropriate medical and mental health services. She is the attorney for the class of adults with serious mental illness in Arnold v. Sarn and the class of children entitled to Medicaid funded mental-health services in J.K. v. Eden.
Learn more at:
TEMPE, Ariz. - On Friday, July 25, 2008 local service providers and community volunteers will come together for Tempe Project Homeless Connect, a one-day event to match the homeless community with needed services.
The event is Tempe's seventh. Similar events have been offered quarterly since January 2007. At each previous event, an average of 55 volunteers served an average of 115 homeless individuals and families.
Started in San Francisco, the Project Homeless Connect model has been duplicated in many communities with successful results. The goal is to bring together diverse entities from the community for one day under one roof to provide services to homeless individuals and families. Services must be immediately available, so providers do not merely give appointments or referrals for the future. Homeless guests are treated with respect and hospitality; a volunteer is paired with each guest who can assist as they access available services.
WHERE: Tempe First United Methodist Church, Ross Hall, 215 E. University Dr. (between College and Forest)
]]>Yes, it is getting hot out. Imagine if you were on the streets without regular access to water. It would be hard to stay safe from the sweltering temps. If you live in Maricopa County - check out this link. Detailed maps indicate where you can drop off a bottled water donation or if you need access to water, hydration stations located throughout the Valley are listed too.
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