Estuary News

October 2021

Team Tackles Homelessness

“Homelessness is an experience, not an identity,” said Romie Nottage at the Summit’s afternoon session. Her organization seeks to “provide a path to recover from homelessness” rather than treating homelessness as an end-state of being. The “teams” of Downtown Streets Team are unhoused volunteers that work beautification shifts (cleaning streets and alleyways, for example) for a basic needs stipend (food or transportation assistance) and access to case management. Since 2005, when the program began, team members have on average spent about 6 months before finding housing and stable employment. By working towards community beautification and building a roadmap to stable, housed living, Downtown Streets Team is “changing the way the unhoused are perceived in the public eye,” says Nottage.

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About the author

Michael Hunter Adamson was born and partly raised in the Bay Area and spent his childhood balancing adventure with mischief. As an equally irresponsible adult he has worked for The Nature Conservancy, the arts and education nonprofit NaNoWriMo, taught English in Madrid-based High School equivalent, and volunteers with The Marine Mammal Center. As a writer for Estuary and the editor of the Bay Area Monitor, Michael employs his love for nature and his interest in people to help tell the unfolding story of the living Earth.

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