2. New Members?
RCOHH
Welcome New Faces… (and old)!
Introduce yourselves!
• Name…
• What you do…
• How you heard about RCoHH
• Why you’re here.
3. Group Mission…
RCOHH
“So… what’s RCoHH?”
“The Rice Coalition on Hunger and Homelessness is a
student-led service and advocacy group focused on
tackling systemic poverty and homelessness in
Houston.”
4. Group Mission…
RCOHH
Put simply…
We’re looking for ways to help the folks in need:
• Stay well-fed.
• Be uplifted out of poverty.
• And have others be made aware of their existence.
12. Begin… Owls Consulting
Owls Consulting
Seeks to partner volunteers
directly with homeless
individuals looking for help.
13. The Story of a Sad Sandwich…
And so…
Our young idealistic
protagonist ventures off to
hear stories of injustice,
abuse, poverty, and
suffering.
14. The Story of a Sad Sandwich…
Only to hear the refrains:
“Nope. I don’t need anything”
“I’d say 90-95% of the people out
here just want to be homeless.”
“I just want weed”
18. Client #1: T.
RCOHH
• Photo hidden for privacy.
• Client #1 is the perfect example of a homeless man who
genuinely needs help…
19. Client #1: T.
RCOHH
• 42 year old from New Mexico.
• Moved to Houston 3 months ago. Has been homeless
since.
• Likely suffering from low-level schizophrenia
• Requests:
• Recently, robbed at the Beacon. ID stolen. Unable to
obtain recurring benefits.
• Likely needs help with mental issues.
20. Client #2: P.
RCOHH
• Elderly Ethiopian man. Previously worked for Methodist.
• Using disability ($800) to pay for apartment. Landlords
abusive. Cost is too high. Likely to end up in shelter.
• Requests:
o Looking for help identifying low-cost housing (~$300)
21. Client #3/4:J&E.
RCOHH
• Former Veteran. Real chatty.
• Had been homeless for many months. Recently found
homeowner willing to spare a room for cost.
• Requests:
• Looking for way to secure benefits
o Food Stamps
o Medicare
o Social Security
• Looking to recover fiancé's ID after stolen at SEARCH
22. **** Client #5: L.
RCOHH
• Elderly Hispanic lady. Mother of three.
• Unemployed after recent operation. Currently staying with
daughter-in-law. Likely to be kicked out in next few
weeks.
• Requests:
• Looking for help applying for jobs
o Need help making resume
o Need help identifying places that are hiring
o Need help applying online (no internet access)
• Looking for low-cost housing or other benefits.
23. Lessons thus far…
RCOHH
Big lessons from our recent attempt to identify clients…
• Better to create conversations with people at
sites directly.
• Cards travel much further than expected.
• Homeless community is incredibly varied.
24. Next Step:
RCOHH
Applications for Consultants
• Client Interfacing:
• This type of consultant will be responsible for directly
contacting and maintaining connection with the client. Will
provide status reports and may end up meeting with client.
• Rice Researcher:
• This type of consultant will be responsible for researching
opportunities, performing assistance from Rice. (No travel
required).
38. One Voice Texas (OVT)
A network of public, private, and nonprofit organizations in the greater Houston
area using collaboration, capacity-building, and advocacy to ensure the health
and human services needs of all Texans are addressed.
OVT Homeless Initiatives
1. Increase Awareness
2. Expand the number of providers
3. Expand the opportunities for targeted populations to receive services
OVT has youth and adult-specific initiatives
39. Collaboration with RCoHH
•Speaker series featuring Dr Katherine Barillas, OVT Director of Child Welfare
Policy (and others)
•Workshops on legislative process and public health work
•Student involvement in Texas legislative process
•Potential for new partnerships, opportunities, and connections
40. “Everybody has a birthday. Help kids in
homeless shelters celebrate theirs”-
Dosomething.org
41. Over 1 million children experience
homelessness every year. Many kids’
birthdays fall while they are in a shelter,
making it hard to celebrate.
Creating and Sending a homemade birthday
card to a shelter will help ensure that
everyone is celebrated on their special day
42. Create on homemade birthday card
Take a picture of you and the card
We can take pictures for you and email them to
you if you don’t have a camera or smart phone
with you
Submit the picture online to have your name
entered once for a chance to win a $4,000
scholarship
Create 2 more cards to enter your name
again… and your name can be entered an
infinite # of times
Due by October 11th
43. Laura will mail all of the cards made in this
meeting in a manilla folder to the shelter
We will be sending our cards to either the
Star of Hope Mission
or
Covenant House Texas
Feel free to make more on your own!
The website is DoSomething.org for more
information
44. Gender neutral
Age neutral
Blank on the inside
The shelter will write in a personal note
to the kid or teen.
Please don’t write your own name on
the card
Get creative!
Drawing of well known cartoon
characters, such as despicable me
minions, seem to be thoroughly enjoyed
Hinweis der Redaktion
speakers, partners with national policy experts to hold forum with Mayor Annise ParkerPolicy recommendations- success: SB 717 (West) which now allows youth who are homeless, without support, and 16 or 17 years old to consent on their own to housing and services from a transitional living program.
Ahmed and Marina met with OVT Director of Child Welfare Policy to discuss. Barillas is interested in holding a meeting of OVT members to talk about our upcoming projects and bring RCoHH to the community’s attentionWe can also set up workshops and speaker events with OVT members to talk about how to get involved (careers) in legislation and public health if that is something students are interested in. OVT has a huge network of over 100 members that could participate.OVT makes suggestions to the Texas House, and RCoHH could be involved either via letter writing and calling, or potentially in a more substantial way