The Share the Plate Recipient for Sunday, February 20, will be The Fund for Empowerment and their Houseless Leadership Project. This leadership-building advocacy nonprofit raises the voices of unsheltered people in civic spheres. The people who make most of the decisions at Fund for Empowerment, and who are materially compensated for their work, are or have been unhoused. Funds are used to organize street campers as opposed to the sheltered population, because they are the most stigmatized and face the most barriers.
Storytelling from directly impacted people to officials and the press is very effective in changing policy. The organization uses sharing of stories in many contexts: at demonstrations, in the media, in public meetings for and directly with the Phoenix City Council, with lawyers and law students, and now with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. They are devoted to decriminalizing poverty and altering predatory policing practices/constitutional rights violations that target the poor. For more information or to volunteer, please contact Elizabeth Venable at info@fundforempowerment.org.
In this brief video, client Michael Joseph Garcia describes his experience on the street’s major to the Phoenix City Council. Please offer your financial support during the service by sending a check, or using Realm.
