Changing the Conversation

It is 2014, not 1980. We know more about HIV and AIDS than ever before. We know what causes it, we know how to prevent it, and we know how to help those living with this illness lead longer, fuller, more meaningful lives.

Here is the gist of what I came across as I was sifting through the news these past few days:

December 2014. This is the time of year when newspapers and television programs pay attention to homelessness again. Unfortunately, homelessness doesn’t begin at Thanksgiving and end at New Years. For all too many men, women, children, and youth, homelessness is a painful, traumatic daily reality. America’s Youngest Outcasts, a state report card on child homelessness from the National Center on Family Homelessness, recently reported that 2.5 million children in America experienced homelessness over the past year. That shocking number, 2.5 million, means that 1 out of every 30 American children have been homeless in the last year. 2.5 million is roughly the size of the greater Kansas City metro area, or the population of Birmingham, Cleveland, Portland, and Albuquerque…combined. Imagine that: a city of 2.5 million people filled with children experiencing homelessness. It is hard to comprehend.

When Dignity and Compassion Trumps Oppression