Event to offer homeless services
The region’s low-income residents have been counted, surveyed and interviewed in recent years as part of a focused effort to reduce homelessness.
Later this month, they’re invited to the Buffalo Convention Center to do some shopping — shopping for helpful services and programs, that is.
More than two-dozen area human service agencies will be under one roof for a whole day to assist homeless people and anyone in danger of becoming homeless. The event on July 17 is called Project Homeless Connect Buffalo and is designed to rally Western New Yorkers around the cause to end homelessness, organizers said.
“This is the best way to get the entire community involved and wrapped around this issue,” said Penny Selmonsky, a lawyer with Neighborhood Legal Services, a sponsoring agency.
Housing specialists, mental health professionals, social workers, employment agencies and medical staff will be on hand. Organizers anticipate as many as 1,000 visitors, who will get access to dental screenings, chiropractic services and other health care at the event.
“Health care will be a huge draw I would imagine,” said Kathleen T. Heim, a student in the University at Buffalo’s School of Social Work who is helping to organize the event.
Advocates for the homeless have long pointed out that many instances of homelessness could have been averted if those at risk of losing their homes had been linked to the state and federal benefits to which they’re entitled.
Staff from the county’s Department of Social Services will be available to lead people through the application process for public benefits, as will Social Security Administration staff.
Volunteers also will be on hand to help people fill out paperwork.
More than 40 percent of Buffalo children live below the poverty line, along with a third of the city’s adult population — making Buffalo the nation’s third-poorest largest city, according to U. S. census data.
An estimated 2,000 people are believed to be homeless on any given night in Erie County.
Organizers of Project Homeless Connect Buffalo will be blanketing area shelters, soup kitchens and pantries over the next few weeks to let people know about the event, which is open to anyone.
“You do not need to be the individual living under the bridge, or whatever the stereotype might be, to receive services,” said Heim.
The event is based upon a “best practices” model that originated six years ago in San Francisco and is now held yearly in 330 cities worldwide.
“We hope to make this an annual project,” Heim said.
Volunteers and sponsors for the event are still needed. For more information, visit www.projecthomelessconnectbuffalo.org .
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