After That Passionate Tweet You Sent About Homelessness, Here Is Something More You Can Do

Snowmageddon 2010

When I became homeless in December 2010, I was given (what would become) a great gift by my ex-wife — she kept paying my cell phone bill. In doing so she inadvertently gave me the opportunity to change my life and the lives of others. That phone and a Twitter account allowed me to tweet about my situation. I started to chronicle the chaos of life on the street and my followers responded in amazing ways. We banded together to help my friends who were homeless get badly needed items to help ease their plight, such as a Bionicle toy for an autistic boy, which helped him feel more relaxed in a shelter filled with adults. After that young boy and his family were housed, they slept on beds provided by someone who heard about their situation on Twitter. We were even able to get a new pair of glasses for a man who had lost his job and home because his previous pair broke. Paying for those glasses, a few small donations at a time, ultimately got him his job back( see “Steve and His New Glasses”).

I was able to tweet and make something happen long before crowdsourcing was in fashion. A year later, I started working with a talented group of people who created a powerful set of tools to bring justice to all kinds of marginalized people and communities. At Become, we have honed and contributed to an emerging field called “Culturally Responsive Practice.” Our white paper explains how we built upon the social justice movement in program evaluation called Culturally Responsive Evaluation (CRE) to create a unique and powerful antidote to injustice. For a history of CRE, take a look at “Contemporary Developments in Culturally Responsive Evaluation: 1998 to the Present” by Dr. Stafford Hood at CREA.

For over a century, philanthropy has in good faith tried to make a difference in marginalized communities. “Helping the homeless” has been around for centuries, and like a lot of philanthropic endeavors, progress has been painfully slow. Every few years, a new and hopeful strategy is rolled out and yet the issues don’t go away. The same can be said for gun violence, racial justice, poverty, and the list can go on and on… The Housing First movement has made some great strides, but we are a long way from solving the problem of homelessness.

My understanding of this crisis is informed by my experience having been homeless. From that experience, I have insights that people who have never experienced it; no matter how passionate or scholarly, those who have not cannot fully understand. From most peoples’ point of view it would make sense to listen to homeless people, and this does happen, but often it is, like a lot of data, put on a shelf and the funders, agencies, and directors all educated and empowered to solve problems go about their work the way they think things should be.

If you are passionate about homelessness, I have the answer to my original question for you. Please take a look at the work we have done at Become, get to know the possibilities and power that culturally responsive practices can have for making a difference in homelessness. We have created a comic book that explains our Community Engagement Initiative. Become Issue #1 shows a beginning in how a local neighborhood community can create the change they want to see. My hope is we can use these same tools, the philosophy and practice, we created to make a difference in the homeless crisis.

My tweets about the hell I lived on the streets while homeless made a difference, so please keep tweeting about injustice. If what Become offers makes sense to you, and with your help, maybe together we can make an impact that resonates far beyond the power of just one tweet?

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Written by

Revolution MacInnes advocates on issues of homelessness and social change. He is an original team member of Become, Inc. and founder of REV MAC ME.

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