Annual Spring Forum: Systems Change, Regional Innovations, Voices of the Homeless - April 6, 2010

This third annual forum brought the university and regional community together to explore collaborative efforts to end homelessness. Our three themes coincided with the challenges we face and the success stories that inspire us. Those who joined us learned about the Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness, the Regional Innovations that are working to house families and individuals, and heard the voices of homeless people who shared their personal stories of struggle and transformation.

The event included welcoming words from BSU President, Dana Mohler-Faria and a keynote presentation from John J. O'Brien,

Following the keynote, the South Shore Regional Network Progress Report was presented.  Moderator: Stephen Pike, Senior Vice President and Chief Lending Officer, North Easton Savings Bank, Leadership Council Chair: South Shore Network.  Presenters: Joyce Tavon: South Shore Network Coordinator, United Way of Greater Plymouth County; Janet Long: Family Triage Coordinator, Father Bill's & MainSpring; Eileen Hayward: Family Triage Participant, Father Bill's & MainSpring; April Connolly: Individual Programs Manager, Father Bill's & MainSpring.  Dr. Jonathan White, Professor of Sociology; as well as BSU students and Social Justice League members, Jason Desrosier, Danielle Robidoux, and Brandon Reynolds, provided a lunch time presentation on student involvement.

National Coalition for the Homeless presented Faces of the Homeless Speaker's Bureau. NCH offered a unique opportunity for students and faculty to interact and with people who have been homeless.  In so doing it attempts to level the playing field by recognizing their expert knowledge and personal transformations.  Michael O'Neill (from NCH), Alan Banks, and John Harrison all shared their different experiences with homelessness.

The final session of the day, was the Women and Transformation Panel.  This panel is comprised of One Family Scholars who have turned their lives around for themselves and their children.  Erin Spaulding, Executive Director Family Services Branch– Old Colony YMCA, moderated while panelists Iraimi Mercado, Jaime Moriconi, Ruth Rowe, and Jennifer Bunting spoke about what it is like to be a single mother experiencing homelessness.  They discussed the issues that they and their children faced as well as how they have been able to overcome them and strive for a better life?

 

Presentations at the Spring Forum

Framework for the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness: FY 2010 - FY 2014 by John J. O'Brien, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness New England Regional Coordinator (view presentation in pdf format) South Shore Regional Network Progress Report (view presentation in pdf format) Media Coverage Voices of the Homeless (BSC Newslog)

The Franklin Group

Last Modified: June 26, 2012