Room in The Inn after Flooding in Nashville

I teach a class on Fridays at Room In the Inn. Today no one showed up for class.

After major flooding in Nashville, things aren’t back to normal for Nashville’s homeless—whatever that means.

I was hoping to ask folks to share stories about how the flood has impacted them so their viewpoints aren’t lost in the shuffle. We may have to wait on that.

All I have is one: According to someone I spoke with, a resident of Tent City shared that during the storms, the individual woke up inside of their sleeping bag, which was floating in water.

Thankfully there’s a homeless newspaper in Nashville. I’m sure their April issue will fill in some gaps for us and tell the stories that may otherwise be lost.

By the way, when you see one, buy a Contributor. A vendor told me since the flooding, there are less pedestrians and less sales.

During the time I usually spend teaching, I’m going to give an update on the state of homelessness in Nashville, at least from the angle of Room in The Inn, where I stopped by today.

Now about the empty classroom: This will happen from time to time, especially if the weather is extra nice or if something else of interest is going on at the same time.

The great room seemed a little more sparse than your average “It’s sunny and more people are outside” kind of days though.

After talking with some staff members, here may be some the largest contributing factors to my empty classroom.

1. Folks are volunteering with the relief efforts or are taking advantage of the influx in temporary work. (Someone passed out flyers at or near Room in The Inn. The flyers gave information for immediate temporary work.)
2. Folks are at different shelters. For instance, some residents from Tent City will stop by Room in The Inn for classes or to collect mail. Since the flooding, less Tent City residents have picked up mail. Staff believe it may be because bus routes have not been consistent. I’m told many Tent City residents are staying at the Lipscomb University temporary shelter.
3. It’s sunny. Why would you want to be inside?

A few updates on Room in The Inn:

1. Overall the Campus for Human Development building looks good. There was flooding upstairs and they lost some things. I don’t know the details.
2. Construction on the expanded building is largely unaffected. Construction crews were at work today. It’s great to see rebuilding continue in the literal sense.

Hopefully the students I teach are safe. I look forward to a full classroom again. Maybe next week. Maybe later.

Here are ways you can help residents of Tent City. Be sure to support Room in The Inn in this time as well. They are rooted and they are doing great work.

Teaching Homeless the Internet (A Lesson Plan)

Classes for Nashville’s Homeless are offered at Room In The Inn’s Campus for Human Development. Credit for attendance can be exchanged for things like bus passes at the campus.

I started teaching a weekly class on Internet education to Nashville homeless a year ago.

At the end of my first class I asked a man, “Will we see you next week?” He said, “Hopefully not.”

Exactly.

I was hooked

• Teach a man how to use satellite view on google maps, and he can show you where he fished as a boy and then where his home used to be.
  
  
• Teach a man how to search, and he can write down a number on scrap paper and hustle for a job.
  
  
• Teach a man how to create an email address, and can email his son or daughter how he has been.

There are specific challenges to teaching a class for homeless: (1) your students aren’t necessarily the same every week, (2) your students are at different skill levels, (3) your students often don’t have consistent rest at night; but, the rewards are great.

This is your reconnaissance briefing.

If you are inspired, use it as a launching point to teach a class in your neighborhood (or to join me in mine).

Read More

Lessons from 3 Nashville Homeless Advocates

Steady success for Click Homeless framework

Two things to report:

1. Clickhomeless.com is no longer a redirect to the ideablob campain. It now has relevent links. We hope to post more links to homeless bloggers soon with the hopes this space will one day be a useful hub for homeless bloggers and those seeking their voice.

2. It looks like Molly, Kevin and I will be meeting with The Campus for Human Development to maximize efforts this Thursday. CHD is considering a computer literacy program for the homeless. This matches our goal for giving tools to homeless that want to blog and we want help as a first step on a local level. And we hope to use their lab for the 2nd Click Homeless meeting. Here’s what the first meeting’s agenda looked like or click the photo for more. We’ll post information when details are available about this meeting, but it will be less about votes and more about building a network which is the ultimate goal!

Bonus Track:

We’re featured on the Nashtechnica Podcast about Nashville tech news. Good stuff.

Thanks for Clicking Homeless. Feel free to contact us directly.

Click Homeless: Other lame good ideas got more votes ;)

We were in a race to become a finalist for $10,000 at ideablob. We did not make the cut—but the idea and our goals remain. Campaigning for clicks has put us in contact with more and more people who want to get involved.

Now we have the time to contact the people we really need to, like organizations on the ground that are looking at issues of homelessness daily. Being on a frenzy timeline for votes hasn’t allowed us to lay some of the ground work that will make this a success. So thoughtful clickers, I hope you stick around!

NEXT MEETING

Look for a planning meeting in Nashville to take place in November. We’ll figure out a way to connect people outside of Nashville.

By supporting homeless bloggers, we can offer a much need perspective on issues of homelessness and empower some people with some wicked computer literacy along the way.

THANK YOU

Much thanks for all the support so far! Namely Kevin B, Matt B, Molly P, Matt K, Cameron P, Paul C, Joseph L, Caleb H, and countless others that have been the oxygen to this blaze.

OH LOOK! IT’S GETTER BIGGER!

Kevin (http://thehomelessguy.blogspot.com) gave Click Homeless a gift at the laptop rally. It was a book, “Footprints” by Margaret Powers.

I asked him to sign it for us. His note to Click Homeless:
“One step at a time my friends! Click once and for all.”

HOW TO FOLLOW US

Twitter | Facebook group | New site at http://clickhomeless.com coming soon

Why Click Homeless exists, in three acts

Why Click Homeless exists, in three acts

Skim online reading in 2 seconds? Print now ;)

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Act One

I WISHED I HADN’T HAVE GIVEN HIM MONEY

But why the experience helped me see the
need for knowing in what contexts I should.

*************************************************

In high school, a man walked up to my car, while I waited in a McDonald’s drive-thru. This was the first time someone approached my car at any drive-thru and I was alone. I was jolted. He would ask for money. He tapped on my window and my heart pounded because I tried desperately to figure out what I believed—I didn’t know.

I rolled the window down. Yup, he wanted money. I came up with a thought. I decided I believed it was good for me to give to those less fortunate than me, of course. That was actionable; why not now? I hadn’t processed much about homelessness, so my action was based on these fleeting thoughts.

I nervously got some change and gave it to the man. The man didn’t go away. He asked for more, even while I drove to the next window. His aggressiveness unnerved me. I felt out of control. I rolled the window up and looked away. I drove away with my heart still pounding and my mind spinning, trying to connect random thoughts about what I believed and what I should have done.

If I could do it again, what would I do? I now think it wasn’t wise that I give to the man at the time. I didn’t spend time speaking with him to see what his needs may be. But that experience helped me realized I needed to be better educated, and that education led me to go further in other situations. This education has made me less afraid of eye contact with strangers.

I want to make it clear that Click Homeless is not about supporting homeless bloggers because it makes us feel better, or because it will help us all write the manual that will be some definitive truth. It’s not about blindly supporting all homeless advocacy programs, because that’s our thing—a bumper sticker we can slap on our laptop that shows we are changing the world.

I want “our thing” to be about learning about homelessness, and making sure we are reading the research that often gets pushed to the back of the shelf.

In the limited time I’ve spend learning about homelessness, the sources that have had the greatest impact on me, and the sources I trust most deeply come from homeless speakers and writers, the most accessible of which have been online.

I want Click Homeless to exist because these voices enrich our lives and help us all wrestle with what we believe. Our conclusions will not all be the same, but if we can decide a few things about what we believe, it sure does make us bolder in trying to alleviate some of the issues homelessness can produce.

*************************************************

Act Two

THE TONE OF OUR SUPPORT

How grandma makes the Internet like home

*************************************************

I want Click Homeless to support homeless bloggers in the way I try to support my grandmother’s use of the Internet.

My grandmother, who currently uses a slow dial-up Internet connection, says she plays solitaire between waiting for pages to load.

She has great patience and spends time online connecting with family and friends.

I’ve helped her experiment with blogging. It has been great to see her posts shots of her husband tending to goats, and to see posts on here history, Recently she accepted my request to join facebook. She is the best cook in the world, so when she asked when I was visiting next, we scheduled a visit.

Because I send so much time online with my profession and because grandma doesn’t live in the same city as me, the greater her presence online, the more connected I am am with her and the more I learn from her.

This is the online relationship I want to mimic. The more we can support homeless bloggers, the greater we all will be enriched. Through the building of relationships, we can better educate each other, and better move forward with seeking ways we can converge and create nuggets of change.

*************************************************

Act Three

CLICK HOMELESS IS MADE UP OF PEOPLE

What you can do to help.

*************************************************

I am not the only voice in this network. I hope to set the tone, but I know there will be disagreements about the best way this all will work. With or without funding from ideablob.com, I hope we will band together and support homeless bloggers in the ways we can.

We may not be web designers, or grant writers, or specialists in blogging, but we all can Click Homeless and make sure our education of homeless issues includes this key source.

We have slipped to number two in the sprint rankings. Please encourage others to vote and learn about our efforts. If we have enough votes by Tuesday at midnight, we will be a finalist and have the opportunity compete against a shortlist of ideas for $10,000 in funding to help support homeless bloggers.

http://clickhomeless.com

facebook group | twitter | digg

Help me support homeless bloggers in Nashville

I want to develop a council of homeless and non-homeless that supports the blogging efforts of the homeless and chronically homeless, starting in Nashville.

Friday I pitched an idea about a network to support homeless blogging at the Nashville Startup Weekend, an event in which entrepreneurs converge for a weekend to develop businesses in teams. Friday, we went through the process of sifting through all our ideas and picking the few we wanted to work on. Thanks Andy for inviting me!

Here’s Jackons’s recap of the first day. My idea (which ok, really wasn’t an idea with a money-making model) got three votes in the first round, but soon was pushed out for the current project list. It’s a great list by the way. I’m working on an application that would help mothers plan play dates…

BUT, this doesn’t mean I’ve lost any passion for my idea. Friday was the first time I presented my thoughts to a public forum—those pitching ideas were allotted one minute, and I was more nervous than I thought I would be in front of the crowd of business, tech, and marketing folks.

Luckily I got a lot out of it, because sharing the idea felt like the spark I needed to pursue it further.

I want feedback and support. Please let me know your reactions and thoughts…

The Idea:

I want to develop a council of homeless and non-homeless that supports the blogging efforts of the homeless and chronically homeless, starting in Nashville.

What the council would do:

• Help develop and maintain the structure of blogs for homeless writers
• Advise on best practises for blogging
  (story-telling, linking, social media)
• Help advocate for policy and a culture that encourages homeless blogging
  (build a network for homeless bloggers, confront the issue of anonymous and unconstructive comments, look at policies at libraries and wifi zones)
• Award scholarships to homeless bloggers
  ( Gift cards to wifi-enabled food places such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Panera would be given to homeless bloggers. Sponsored bloggers would be encouraged to write and help other bloggers in return.)
• Seek fundraising and partnerships to fund scholarships. All work of the consul would be donated.

Expected Outcomes:

• The homeless are empowered, because their voice is cultivated
• The public is informed on issues of homelessness from a need perspective
• We have a more diverse and robust online community experience
• The homeless are supported with food/a place to be inside
• Community is strengthened and bridges are built between the homeless and non-homeless

Next Steps:

I need help refining these ideas. Do you see any red flags? I’m not suggesting this will solve anything. I’m suggesting this will help, and we should try to make our world better. I would love your thoughts.

I strongly believe in the changing power of story; in the way it changes those that write and those that read. I started following Kevin’s blog when I was in high school, and I feel blessed to have learned so much from him.

I have limited time, and really need a few people to jump on board with me so we can maximize efforts. I was really encouraged Friday, when a gentlemen at an advertising and marketing firm gave me his card and said they would help.

I’d love anyone to offer thoughts and suggestions below, especially homeless bloggers. If you think this idea sucks, it probably does, and I want to know why…

If you see a way you want to get involved, please email me: nathantbaker AT gmail DOT com.

Also, I started an IdeaBlob. Please vote for the idea! They give money to the best idea every month.