Alumni advocate for change, search for solutions
By Kathy Andrews
“To give you an image,” says Christine Quinn ’88, “there are more children under the age of 18 living in shelter in New York City than there are seats in the Barclays Center where the Nets play in Brooklyn.”
Quinn, as president and CEO of Win, is among those working on behalf of the more than 326,000 individuals nationally—more than 80,000 of them children—who are homeless on a given night.*
The Trinity Reporter caught up with Quinn and four other alumni who are dedicated to working to prevent homelessness and to serving people who experience it. They share their thoughts on the challenges of this work, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the strategies and approaches they support for achieving progress toward ending homelessness.
PUSHING FOR REFORM
Quinn’s organization, formerly known as Women in Need, serves 5,000 people a night—10 percent of the 50,000 individuals in New York City’s shelter housing. “We’re the largest provider of shelter and permanent supportive housing to homeless families with children in the five boroughs,” says Quinn.
“[Homelessness] is a massive problem that, historically, mayors have taken on with the focus of managing it off of the cover of the newspaper, as opposed to having the goal of ending homelessness,” Quinn says. She understands the mayor’s role well from her years on the New York City Council, including having been elected twice as speaker—the first woman and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to hold the position.
Says Quinn, “Because we are housing 10 percent, we can see what factors lead to homelessness and repeat homelessness, and we can push for policy, legislative, and regulatory reform that will change that.”
As a Trinity student, Quinn majored in educational studies coordinated with urban studies and had several internships at the Connecticut State Capitol. “I learned a great deal in a real-time, real-world way about how government works, how advocacy works, how lobbying works, and how organizing works.
“We know from research that the most critical thing to somebody getting out of shelter and not returning is a job, a good job,” Quinn says. “If you don’t have wraparound services to deal with the trauma the children and the adults and moms have faced, if you don’t have job training and placement services, people are going to return to homelessness.”
Quinn cites Win’s annual analysis, showing that 81 percent of the families who moved out of shelter the prior year were still not living in shelter. Says Quinn, “I’d rather have 100 percent, but 81 is actually quite an impressive number.”
A QUESTION OF JUSTICE
As chief strategy officer at Funders Together to End Homelessness (FTEH), Stephanie Chan ’11, based in Washington, D.C., works with philanthropic organizations of all sizes. She says she believes that the key to solving homelessness is a systems-change approach. “It is not enough to move people who are experiencing homelessness into apartments. We need to go upstream and prevent the inflow into homelessness from the criminal legal system and child welfare and foster care systems, and from the lack of affordable housing and jobs that pay living wages,” Chan says. “Ending homelessness is not just about housing the person who is sleeping in a tent at the street corner. We have to think much more broadly,” she adds. “Everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to call home where there is equitable access to what one needs to live with dignity. What is paramount is giving people, especially those who have been historically marginalized by racist housing policies and those experiencing homelessness, agency in solutions that directly impact their lives.”
Chan, who earned a master’s in public administration from George Washington University and previously managed a day center for people experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C., says the pandemic has offered lessons. “For example, we saw how quickly communities mobilized to use hotels as a form of shelter. We can do things quickly when there are adequate resources and capacity and when red tape is removed,” Chan says.
At Trinity, Chan majored in English, with minors in philosophy and human rights. A memorable course was “The Question of Justice” with Donna-Dale Marcano, associate professor of philosophy. “I think about that class a lot,” says Chan. “Many of the questions we grappled with in Professor Marcano’s class are questions I find myself asking every day.”
CREATING RELATIONSHIPS
Anthropology major and human rights minor Kerry Hood Turner ’02 has worked with chronically homeless populations in Los Angeles County for 15-plus years. After earning a master’s in social work and public health at UCLA, she led a three-year pilot project as the clinical consultant for a Santa Monica nonprofit. Teamed with a physician, a psychiatrist, and a housing specialist, she did outreach every day, on foot or by bike, in parks, alleys, and on the street. “Our role was to build therapeutic, trusting relationships with homeless individuals, all of whom had decades of untreated mental health and chronic medical issues,” says Turner. “The ultimate goal was creating tailored interventions to help each one secure permanent housing and improve their overall well-being.”
Helping individuals get needed medical or mental health treatment is particularly satisfying, says Turner. “It’s often chronic health problems and a lack of access to health and mental health care that lead someone to homelessness. And being homeless can lead to many health problems.”
Turner, who has served since 2013 as a licensed clinical social worker with the Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.), is gratified to see more training and acceptance among community service providers for a Housing First and harm-reduction model. She first learned about harm reduction in a class with Jim Trostle, Scott M. Johnson ’97 Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. The premise, Turner says, is helping individuals without judgment. “We’re saying, ‘We know you need a safe environment and support, so we’ll give that to you now without requiring a list of things to accomplish first [such as achieving sobriety].’ ” Says Turner, “Once someone has a safe environment, they’re better able to address health concerns and participate in services they need.”
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
As founding president and executive director of Miami’s Lotus House, Constance Collins ’80 sees shelter as a place of empowerment. “Instead of being yet another layer of trauma in the lives of women and children, turn it into a window of opportunity, with resources and tools to heal and grow and thrive.”
After a career in commercial real estate, investment, finance, and law, Collins retired at age 46 to become a full-time volunteer. Among the nonprofits she founded and operates is Lotus Village, which combines state-of-the-art shelter facilities with supportive services such as a trauma-informed intake sanctuary, therapeutic child and family supports and interventions, educational programs, and job-readiness training, including with the on-site hydroponic farm.
Having served 1,000 women and children in 2019, Lotus House set records during the pandemic, serving more than 1,500 in 2021. Collins is appreciative of a Payback Protection Program (PPP) loan early in the pandemic but is frustrated that federal funds have not been available to help support shelter operations, which have necessitated thousands of extra meals and staff hours, as well as significant increases in supplies, including PPE (personal protective equipment). Collins recently launched the National Women’s Shelter Network, “as a means of bringing women’s shelters across the country together so we can collectively make our voices heard and talk about the importance of gender-specific solutions for women and children.”
A political science major at Trinity, Collins was a recipient of a full scholarship. She notes, “But for that financial support, I would not have the career I had, I would not have the resources that it took to start this shelter, nor the skills, experience, and expertise to shepherd it forward.”
IN AMERICA?
“Typically, people living in their vehicles are on the last rung of the ladder on their way down,” says Bill Sweeney ’69. In 2019, he helped found Colorado Safe Parking Initiative (CSPI), which operates 14 safe lots. In the past three years, the number of people living in their vehicles in the Denver area has more than tripled; statewide, CSPI estimates nearly 1,000 individuals and families sheltering in vehicles.
CSPI’s support services include an interview and intake process to help people develop plans. “Most people do not have a plan that says, ‘I want to get housed,’ ” says Sweeney. “We ask, ‘What is it that you want to do?’ They might answer, ‘I want to get my kids back.’ The next step is that Child Protective Services will require that you have a place to live. And now we know two things: your goal is to get your kids back, and to do that you need housing.”
As a Trinity economics major, Sweeney volunteered to visit mental health hospital patients with chronic illnesses. Today, he participates in several organizations serving people experiencing homelessness and hunger. He also has a law degree and does pro bono legal work. At the Boulder Bridge House shelter, his contributions draw on his expertise with computers and data management from having run a Colorado hospital’s 24/7 data center earlier in his career.
Sweeney recommends a book, Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America, by Conor Dougherty. “Here’s what Dougherty said: there’s no way to change housing policy without first changing ourselves. The deepest question, how can homelessness happen in America, has the simplest answer. Because we let it,” says Sweeney. “We cannot cure homelessness as long as we have a society that says it’s OK to have this happen to people.”
Trinity Homelessness Project
By taking action in partnership with Hartford nonprofits, students at Trinity College are learning about homelessness and helping individuals who are experiencing it. Colleen Quinn ’24, a current Trinity Homelessness Project leader, says, “Our biggest project fall semester was our Thanksgiving drive, where we partnered with Trinity’s dining service, Chartwells, to raise money for snack and hygiene kits to donate to Hands on Hartford. We raised over $300 and assembled 30 kits to donate.”
Other activities organized by the group during the 2021–22 academic year included:
- Hosting a “Faces of Homelessness” panel with Hands on Hartford, bringing speakers to campus to discuss their experiences of homelessness
- Helping Journey Home deliver furniture to newly housed individuals
- Cleaning and sanitizing the cooking and eating areas for the Church Street Eats program
- Assisting at the Foodshare truck in Pope Park every other week during the semester
To learn more, contact the student leaders of the Trinity Homelessness Project, colleen.quinn@trincoll.edu, gabrielle.desrochers@trincoll.edu, and carder.miller@trincoll.edu, or Joe Barber, director of community service and engagement, at joseph.barber@trincoll.edu.
How to help
Bill Sweeney ’69:
“If you go someplace to volunteer, don’t go there to do stuff to the coffee, go there to meet the people. It’s partly giving people the gift of no longer being invisible. I can’t tell you how many people have said, ‘I am so grateful when someone doesn’t look through me or around me but looks at me.’ Just that—just that gift alone.”
Christine Quinn ’88:
Trinity community members located in New York City who are interested in volunteering with Win may use the volunteer sign-up form on the Win website or contact Quinn directly.
A few examples of ways to help Win serve New York City’s homeless families: Come with preplanned activities for children, such as finger painting, or consider hosting a party for kids; mentor moms, teach computer classes, or do financial literacy work; consider board service opportunities, particularly with Win’s junior board, known as Win Partners.
Kerry Hood Turner ’02:
“Empathy changes everything,” says Turner. “It’s the first step that propels us to action, advocacy, and ultimately to improving outcomes for our communities.” She recommends visiting the website of Project Giving Kids, a nonprofit that teaches empathy and social responsibility to young people by connecting them to age-appropriate volunteer service activities. Turner is a Project Giving Kids advisory team member.
Stephanie Chan ’11:
“First, read up on homelessness,” says Chan. “Second, get involved in local and national policy and advocacy. Local and midterm elections matter, and one of the most impactful ways to be a part of the solution is to show up for local elections and support policies that will address root causes of homelessness, not just criminalize or punish it. That, more than anything else, is where there needs to be more organizing, more energy, and more interest.
“Also, I think people should give money without restrictions to both organizations and people. Organizations and people know best what their needs are.”
Constance Collins ’80:
“Women who have resources, women who are empowered, need to speak up for those who aren’t,” says Collins. In addition to visiting the Lotus House website, which features wish lists and a list of volunteer opportunities, Trinity community members interested in getting involved may email love@lotushouse.org.
“Our newest initiative, the National Women’s Shelter Network (NWSN), is a powerful national network of women’s homeless shelters from across America coming together for collaborative action and information-sharing to elevate the voices of women with lived homeless experience and those who serve them,” says Collins. Follow @nwsn_org for updates as the team visits women’s shelters across the country.
Suggested reading
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond
- Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America, by Conor Dougherty
- Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander
Links to websites of organizations and programs mentioned by alumni featured in this article:
www.nationalwomensshelternetwork.org
Additional online resources
“The 12 Biggest Myths About Homelessness in America”
Professor Deborah K. Padgett of New York University’s Silver School of Social Work addresses common assumptions about the causes of homelessness and how best to address it.
The website of the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH)
NAEH’s webpage about Housing First
“Every Family Housed: The First Steps for the Next Mayor”
Policy brief published in December 2021 by Win, provider of shelter and supportive housing for New York City’s homeless families
Putting Children First: Lotus House’s Service Driven Children’s Research Project
An executive summary published by Lotus House on research conducted in partnership with The Children’s Trust and Florida International University
The Children’s Defense Fund’s State of America’s Children 2021 Report
(Pages 18 and 19 focus on housing and homelessness)
The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes
A March 2020 report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition
*Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2021 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress (Analysis of data from the January 2021 nationwide Point-in-Time Count. See pg. ii, Key Findings, and pg. 7, Demographic Characteristics of Sheltered Population.)