“Please remember that our unhoused community members are humans. They’re part of our community and they’re our neighbors. They deserve compassion. They deserve safety. They deserve advocacy, and they deserve housing,” shared Portland City Councilor Victoria Pelletier at the 2023 Longest Day of Homelessness Sit-in organized by Homeless Voices for Justice. “They deserve resources. They … Read more
Detailed description of Preble Street legislative priorities for the 131st session of the Maine Legislature. Hunger and homelessness are on the rise in our state this winter, leaving thousands of our fellow Mainers without enough food and without shelter or housing. As unsheltered homelessness grows, so does the rise of police interactions as these neighbors … Read more
A vigil to remember friends from the Greater Portland homeless community who have died will take place December 21 at 4:30pm. A crowd will gather in front of the MMC-Preble Street Learning Collaborative at 20 Portland Street and proceed by candlelight to Monument Square. Every year on the Winter Solstice — the longest night of homelessness … Read more
Homelessness and poverty disproportionately affect BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities. In Maine, Black and African American individuals are ten times more likely to experience homelessness than their White peers. To help counteract these negative effects of white supremacist systems, a generous donor contributed $150,000 for a Client Assistance Fund (CAF) to address … Read more
Advocacy is a key component of social work. Social workers advocate for clients every day as they help them access healthcare, housing, and social services. While this approach is necessary, valuable, and positively impacts individuals, it does not address the systemic issues that lead to hunger, homelessness, and poverty. To truly address these problems, we … Read more
(Image from Wabanaki Alliance) Oppressive state and federal regulation of Native tribes, as well as a lack of sovereignty for those tribes, has resulted in worse health and economic outcomes for Indigenous communities in Maine. Exercising control over Indigenous people and land while simultaneously not investing in equitable resources for those communities is the sordid … Read more
People experiencing homelessness describe experiencing discrimination from landlords, employers, and in their daily routines. LD 1871 helps them document those discriminatory acts with the Maine Human Rights Commission to formally lodge discrimination complaints. This bill extends the original Dignity Pilot, a program to document discrimination against people who are unhoused, by two years. The hearing … Read more
