Service Program Clients on Program Board

It is a sound principle, virtually a mandatory one for any program involving the transformation of individual behavior to actually have long-term credibility, and it is what this group of homeless are asking for, as reported by the Winston Salem Journal.

An excerpt.

“Decisions about the homeless have, for years in Forsyth County, been made mostly by well-meaning people who have never spent a night on the street.

“Today, a group of homeless and formerly homeless people will try to change that.

“The Homeless Caucus, a group formed by the community-organizing group CHANGE, called a public meeting tonight to ask for two voting seats on the executive board of the Homeless Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

“The council is a coalition of nonprofit and government representatives who do an annual count of homeless people in Forsyth and help distribute federal grant money to agencies that deal with the homeless.

“David Harold, executive director of the Homeless Council, could not be reached Monday.

“The caucus wants the homeless representatives to be paid, said Ryan Eller, lead organizer of CHANGE.

"Everyone else on the executive council is being paid by their respective employer to be at those meetings," Eller said. "The caucus, it was really humbling. They said, 'We don't care about the amount. We don't really care if it's five bucks. We just want to not be treated differently from everyone else.'"

“The caucus also will ask Mayor Allen Joines to commit to having homeless or formerly homeless people serve on boards and committees that deal with the issue.

“Joines said he will listen to what the caucus has to say. "I can certainly see the merits of having someone with those experiences on the council," Joines said Monday.

“Richard Cassidy, a Davidson County native who spent several years homeless in California, said those who have lived without a home have a perspective that others don't.”