Homelessness is a nation-wide problem that impacts individuals, families, and communities. How can we end homelessness? Through education, effective programs, promoting good practices, and care.
Learn MoreVanEd has been a sponsor at Bridge House for the past few years. Bridge House is a non-profit organization that uses three programs to end homeless, including a 'Ready to Work' program to help employ the homeless.
Learn MoreEveryone can make a difference and work to help end homelessness through two important steps. The first step is to build a knowledge base through education, and the second is to support quality and effective programs.
Learn MoreAccording to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) report, a total of 552,830 people in the United States were experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2018. This number represents 17 out of every 10,000 people in the United States. HUD's Annual Point-in-Time Count, the only nation-wide survey of homeless people, provides this data and other useful statistics.
In 2018, 0.17% of the U.S. population experienced homeless on a single night.
From 2015 to 2018, overall homelessness dropped 13 percent (from 637,000 to 550,000)
80% of people who are experiencing homelessness are unemployed.
Various studies report that cities spend nearly three times more policing homeless people's nonviolent rule-breaking than getting each person a house and into a program to help them find employment. Housing and employing the homeless is both a financial and ethical approach to fixing the problem.
- Evaluation of Housing for Health Permanent Supportive Housing Program
Bridge House is a non-profit organization in Colorado that provides a range of programs and services to help adults experiencing homeless have access to the resources they need for a better future. VanEd is proud to have supported Bridge House through donations and volunteer efforts over the past few years.
Bridge House offers three unique programs that aim to end homelessness and support the local homeless community. These programs include Ready to Work, Community Table Kitchen, and Path to Home.
Ready to Work is a "work-first" approach to addressing homelessness. Ready to Work offers a full year of housing, employment, and support for adults experiencing homelessness.
This program provides nutritious meals to hungry, low-income individuals and families, and provide jobs and job training for participants in the Ready to Work program.
Path to Home supports adults experiencing homelessness with 24/7 access to basic needs, services such as meals, and safe shelter.
At VanEd, our mission is to provide the highest quality education and training for our students. We believe that the most important thing to do to end homelessness is to have an understanding of what causes homelessness and what works to help end homelessness. Get involved by doing local research, understanding the issues in your community, and discovering local outlets and programs that implement solutions that work to fix the problem.
Once you have discovered local outlets and programs within your community, identify how you can give back and support these programs. While donations help, spending one day out of each month volunteering can make a significant impact on the success of these programs.
Over the last few weeks, extreme winter storms devastated many southern states. The storms especially damaged areas in Texas where the infrastructure was underprepared for the extreme weather. Many buildings were left with no electricity or heat for several days and suffered plumbing damage due to frozen pipes.
Charitable organizations were among those most affected. They stepped up to offer resources and housing to those in need. Many organizations were depleted of their resources and are now in need of assistance.
In light of the tragic storms that devastated Texas, VanEd is directing our VanEd Cares initiative this month to Texas charities focused on helping the homeless during this crisis. On Friday, 2/26, we are donating 20% of all proceeds to charities dedicated to helping the homeless populations in Texas.
If you would like to learn more about how the south was affected by these devastating storms and to find more ways to help,
visit the Center For Disaster Philanthropy.
