Episode 76: Coalition on Homelessness & Street Sheet

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Coalition on Homelessness & Street Sheet Programs

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For folks out on the streets, those who were not lucky enough to get a Shelter In Place hotel room. It's been very, very brutal, not having access to water. A lot of the food sources were cut off not being able to use bathrooms in cafes, et cetera.- Jennifer

Our featured voices in this episode are the Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness, Jennifer Friedenbach and Street Sheet Editor, Quiver Watts.

In this episode we continue with our theme in featuring voices of nonprofit community leaders who are working on solutions for our thousands of un-housed neighbors, how the pandemic has impacted their work and what solutions they see coming out of the pandemic to support their work and the un-housed community members they work with.

Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director (she/her)

Jennifer is currently the Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco. She has worked for the Coalition for 25 years, as Executive Director, as organizing director, substance abuse and mental health workgroup coordinator, and fundraiser. Previous to coming to San Francisco, Jennifer was Director of the Hunger and Homeless Action Coalition of San Mateo County. Ms. Friedenbach has a long history of community organizing and has worked on a range of poverty-related issues including welfare rights, housing, homeless prevention, health care, disability, and human and civil rights. During her tenure, she has achieved significant victories alongside homeless people including crafting alongside community members, Prop C Our City Our Home a tax on corporations that pays for homeless housing and will double San Francisco’s efforts to address homelessness, the creation of a local housing subsidy serving hundreds of homeless families, the major expansion of prevention efforts resulting in the halting of displacement of more than a 1,000 households, expansion of substance abuse treatment resulting in decreased overdoses and shorter waits, spearheaded numerous legislative reforms protecting the rights of homeless people, and garnered public investments in programs that have saved countless lives.

Quiver Watts, Street Sheet Editor (they/he)

Quiver Watts currently works in the background as the editor of the Street Sheet newspaper, designing the layout, assigning stories, and workshopping articles with the homeless and formerly homeless writers who make this newspaper so unique. In their time with the paper Quiver has started a cashless payments program to support the hundred regular vendors whose livelihoods depend on paper sales and also launched the podcast "Street Speak" to help answer your questions about poverty and homelessness. Before working at the Coalition on Homelessness, Quiver studied the privatization of cities and the impacts of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs, CBDs) on homeless folks and also organized to try to stop the eviction of longtime homeless residents at the Albany Bulb in the East Bay. Quiver also fronts the folk punk band Wayfairy and has a growing passion for learning about native plants.

The Coalition on Homelessness & Street Sheet

The Coalition on Homelessness (COH) organizes homeless people and front-line service providers to create permanent solutions to homelessness while working to protect the human rights of those forced to remain on the streets. COH was formed in 1987 to foster the active participation of homeless and low-income San Francisco residents and front-line staff in the struggle for economic and social justice. Through an integrated approach that combines outreach, peer support, leadership development, public education, advocacy, and community organizing, the COH works to defend homeless and low-income people from attacks on their rights and their persons, while advocating for permanent solutions to homelessness that take into account not only poverty’s devastating effects but also its root causes.

The STREET SHEET is a publication of the Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco. The paper was first published in 1989 and is now the longest continuously published street newspaper in the world. Twice a month, the STREET SHEET reaches 10,000 readers through more than 100 homeless or low-income vendors, who pick up papers for free at our office, and who keep all money they earn through STREET SHEET distribution. The paper itself amplifies the perspectives and stories of San Franciscans with lived experiences of homelessness who create the artwork, poetry, comics, articles, and stories that make the publication so unique. Listen to the STREET SHEET Podcast Street Speak or subscribe and download Street Speak anywhere you get podcasts

Donation/Volunteer

Every dollar you give creates real change! Coalition on Homelessness initiates program and policy changes led by poor and homeless San Franciscans that result in the creation of exits from poverty. The lack of safe, affordable housing will not be solved by criminalizing poor and homeless people! Get involved in helping our un-housed neighbors as a Housed Ally by volunteering and giving creatively. To volunteer email qwatts@cohsf.org

Buy Tickets and Art for the Art Auction 21 to support the Coalition on Homelessness and Artists. You can buy tickets here to the SF Coalition on Homelessness’s biggest fundraiser Art Auction21 which transforms art into action and reconnecting in resilience. Thank you for joining the struggle to end homelessness!

Videos

To find out more about Coalition on Homelessness check out our videos:

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“I think that too often stories about poverty and homelessness in San Francisco leave out the perspectives of those who are the true experts, which are homeless people themselves. So we really attempt to elevate voices that are left out of the conversation because we think that’s where the real solutions come from”

— Quiver Watts, Editor,STREET SHEET,Street Speak Podcast

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