my care2
make a difference

community & fun

groups

get together & make a difference

 
 
 Spreading Word On Care2! December 30, 2005 5:18 AM

This thread is for discussing ways to spread the word on Care2 about Homeless Advocacy.

Harmony discussed this on another thread and since it is so very important to make a presence felt on Care2 on behalf of the Homeless, I`m giving it high priority here with a Red Flag. I wish Care2 had a function where we could make some Red Flagged threads blink or flash.

For example, The new SHARES.....

Unfortunately some of us are not familiar with just how the SHARES work. We`re used to the old network messaging where we could send out to thousands at one pop if we had a truly important message.

Say we wanted to start a SHARE, how do we send it? Just put it in Care2 groups? It just doesn`t seem like SHARES reach many people, I could be wrong. Please enlighten me and others here who would like to know exactly how they work ?

 [ send green star]
 
bump December 30, 2005 8:04 AM


 [ send green star]
 
Hi Donna, Falcon, all- one way to spread the word are Polls December 30, 2005 10:12 AM

Perhaps one way to start with the general Care2 population might be through sharing a Poll. For example, it could be something like "How well do you know homeless people?" I found a page "Dispelling Myths About the Homeles" http://www.olywa.net/wip/Feb2002/Homeless.html which could then be incorporated in a poll, and at the end of the Poll have links to the various homeless groups on Care2: "Dispelling Myths About the Homeless It is a tragic aspect of our culture that homeless people, in addition to suffering from the hardship of their condition, are subjected to alienation and discrimination by mainstream society. It is even more tragic that alienation and discrimination often spring from incorrect myths and stereotypes which surround homelessness. The following examines some of the myths and the realities about homelessness. Arrest Records of Homeless People Myth: Homeless people commit more violent crimes than housed people. Fact: Homeless people actually commit less violent crimes than housed people. Dr. Pamela Fischer, of Johns Hopkins University, studied the 1983 arrest records in Baltimore and found that although homeless people were more likely to commit non-violent and non-destructive crimes, they were actually less likely to commit crimes against person or property.1 The report findings are summarized in the following table. The Magnet Theory Myth: Setting up services for homeless people will cause homeless people from all around migrate to a city. Fact: Studies have shown that homeless people do not migrate for services. To the extent they do move to new areas, it is because they are searching for work, have family in the area, or other reasons not related to services. A recent study found that 75% of homeless people are still living in the city in which they became homeless.2 Length of Homelessness Myth: Homeless people are a fixed population who are usually homeless for long periods of time. Fact: The homeless population is quite diverse in terms of their length of homelessness and the number of times they cycle in and out of homelessness. Research on the length of homelessness states that 40% of homeless people have been homeless less than six months, and that 70% of homeless people have been homeless less than two years.3 Other research on the length of homelessness has identified three primary categories of homeless people: transitionally homeless who have a single episode of homelessness lasting an average of 58 days, episodically homeless who have four to five episodes of homelessness lasting a total of 265 days, chronically homeless who have an average of two episodes, lasting a total of 650 days.4 Homeless Population Demographics Myth: Homeless people are mostly single men. Fact: Families constitute a large and growing percentage of the homeless population. A recent study found that families comprise 38% of the urban homeless population.5 Other research finds that homeless families comprise the majority of homeless people in rural areas.6 Employment Myth: Homeless people don't work and get most of their money from public assistance programs. Fact: Homeless people do work, and a relatively small percentage of them receive government assistance. A nationwide study by the Urban Institute in 1987 found that only 20% of 1,704 homeless people received AFDC, GA, or SSI.7 A study done in Chicago found that 39% of homeless people interviewed had worked for some time during the previous month.8 Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Myth: All homeless people are mentally ill or substance abusers. Fact: Around a quarter of homeless people are mentally ill, and about 40% are alcohol or substance abusers, with around 15% suffering both disabilities. Koegel has researched the prevalence of mental illness among the homeless population and found "between 20% and 25% of those homeless people studied have at some time experienced severe and often extremely disabling mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and the major affective disorders (clinical depression or bipolar disorder)."9 James Wright, of Tulane University, has studied the prevalence of alcohol and other drug abuse among the homeless population. He finds that 38% of homeless people are alcohol abusers, as opposed to 10% of the general population. He furthermore finds that 13% of homeless people are drug abusers.10 The Center for Mental Health Services states that betweeen10 and 20% of homeless people suffer "co-occurring severe mental and substance use disorders."11 Over the past year, over 2 million men, women, and children were homeless. Just in 1995 the demand for shelter increased by 11%. And even more Americans are at risk of homelessness. A recent HUD report found that 3 million poor Americans had worst case housing needs, paying more than 50% of their income on rent, while HUD estimates that this figure should be no more than 30%. A missed paycheck, a health crisis, or an unpaid bill pushes poor families over the edge into homelessness. The homeless population is diverse: 25-40% are working 37% are families with children 25% are children 25-30% are mentally disabled 30% are veterans of war 40% are drug or alcohol dependent To end homelessness, new policies must be implemented to address its fundamental causes: Lack of Affordable Housing: Today, fewer than 30% of those eligible for low-income housing receive it. The private stock of extremely low-rent units fell by 478,000 units between 1985 and 1993, and federal housing programs have been slashed by over 75%. Lagging Incomes: Incomes for the poorest Americans have not kept pace with rising housing costs. Millions of workers are shut out of the private housing market. (more on URL given at top)  [ send green star]
 
Harmony December 30, 2005 10:18 AM

I think a Homeless Poll is a great idea, especially with all of our links on Care2!

I`m still in the dark how one gets SHARES to people on Care2. tho.

 [ send green star]
 
Shares December 30, 2005 1:18 PM

You can set your share visibility options to Friends, Friends of Friends or Public (everyone).
In order to tag a share for inclusion on group homepages, copy the " group tag" into the Tag section of the share. You can tag multiple groups, as long as there is a space between the tags. Some groups have the shares set to require host approval, so you may not see it right away. (This group has shares turned off completely BTW.)

I just did a "test share" with the Tampa Bay & San Antonio HCA groups and it seems to have worked fine. Let me know after you view it and I'll delete the share completely to make room for real stuff.
 [ send green star]
 
Deb December 30, 2005 1:29 PM

Yes I`ve seen the SHARES on groups. I had to set some of my groups so they wouldn`t accept them because they not only took up too much room but too many were way off topic of the group.

So they`re`s no other way to communicate with SHARES on Care2?

To me it`s like they`re very nice for creativity but if not many see them what good are they? Since SHARES started I`ve only seen a handful myself.

 [ send green star]

 
Hmmm.... December 30, 2005 1:35 PM

You could paste a link to the share into a personal message and send it that way.
 [ send green star]
 
Howdy, new member here September 08, 2007 3:52 AM

As for me I'll invite everyone here that I see has homeless in their list of causes on their profile.  [ send green star]
 
  New Topic              Back To Topics Read Code of Conduct

 

This group:
HOMELESS COMMUNITY AID (HCA)
298 Members

View All Topics
New Topic

Track Topic
Mail Preferences


Copyright © 2009 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved