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Law Center to Honor Emmy® Award-winning Food Network Star Sandra Lee

Posted on August 22, 2012
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The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty is proud to announce that it will honor Sandra Lee—multi-Emmy® Award-winning star of Food Network’s Semi-Homemade—for her work on homelessness at the 14th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards on November 15.

Lee is a highly active spokesperson and supporter of anti-hunger groups—including Share Our Strength, Feeding America, and UNICEF—appearing in numerous public service announcements and donating considerable time and funding to the cause.  She anchors Share Our Strength’s premiere fundraiser, “The Great American Bake Sale.”  Homelessness and hunger aren’t issues Lee takes lightly; she can quote you countless statistics, and is often seen touring food banks and vehemently negotiating for corporate donations.

“I’m honored to receive the 2012 Stewart B. McKinney Award.  I stand, united, with the dedicated members of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, who work tirelessly to prevent and end homelessness,” Lee said in a statement released today.  “The face of homelessness is diverse; its devastating reach includes over 3 million people, and 1.3 million children.  I look forward to a time when homelessness and hunger are completely eradicated.  Until that day, we must continue to be vigorous and passionate about fighting to end homelessness for the common good of our society.”

Lee’s dedication to philanthropy stems from a difficult childhood in which she experienced poverty and hunger first-hand.  At age six, after having been raised by her grandmother—with whom she shared a special bond—Lee rejoined her biological mother.  Due to her mother’s and stepfather’s negligence, Lee was tasked with raising her four siblings.  The family was dependent on welfare and food stamps just to survive.  In fact, the family was so starved that Lee would sometimes bring home part of her own school lunch to give to her brothers and sisters.

Those experiences have also influenced her work in television.  Semi-Homemade, a popular Food Network series where Lee cooks meals using 70 percent store-bought and 30 percent fresh ingredients, has earned her praise as “the real person’s Martha Stewart.”  Because her family often lacked the money to purchase fresh ingredients, Lee learned to make something as simple as a can of soup go a long way.

At this year’s McKinney-Vento Awards in Washington, D.C., the Law Center will also honor Rhode Island Senator John Tassoni, formerly homeless youth and Bell Fund President Danae Vachata, and law firm Covington & Burling LLP.

We are thrilled to stand with Sandra Lee and our other honorees in support of a common goal: ending homelessness in America.

For more information about the 14th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards, click here.

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Celebrating the 13th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards!

Posted on September 20, 2011
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Each year, the Law Center recognizes outstanding contributions by individuals and organizations to the movement to end homelessness at its 13th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards. This year’s event will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 21 at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C.

For Rob Robinson, homelessness isn’t an abstraction; he’s lived it.  For almost three years, Robinson survived on the streets and in shelters in Miami and New York.  And since resolving his homelessness in 2007, he’s become a powerful voice for all those still suffering its indignities.  Working with Take Back the Land, Picture the Homeless, and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, Robinson has been a fierce advocate for the human right to housing. He has also been a leader in the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights.  G.W. Rolle, a former honoree and Law Center board member,  will present Robinson with this year’s Personal Achievement Award.

Robinson’s work has been made possible, in part, by the U.S. Human Rights Fund (USHRF), this year’s Stewart B. McKinney Award winner.  Since its founding in 2005, USHRF has provided more than $20 million to nonprofits fighting for human rights here at home.  Making the Law Center one of its core grantees right from the start, USHRF has helped us change the way policymakers view homelessness.  In March 2011, following years of advocacy by the Law Center, Robinson, and others, the U.S. acknowledged for the first time that homelessness implicates its human rights obligations. Human Rights expert Dorothy Q. Thomas, who helped start the fund, will present the award.

Congressman Barney Frank, this year’s Bruce F. Vento Award winner, has fought time and again for legislation addressing and preventing homelessness.  In 1987, he helped pass the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.  And in recent years, his leadership has been critical to helping enact the Homelessness Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP), and Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA).  He was also a primary sponsor of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and the Dodd-Frank Act. Susan Vento, the Congressman’s widow, will present Rep. Frank with this award.

This year’s Pro Bono Counsel Award will go to DLA Piper, which has provided thousands of hours of pro bono support to the Law Center across a range of issues, most prominently access to education for homeless children.  DLA Piper is taking a national leadership role on the Law Center’s new Project LEARN (Lawyers’ Education Access Resource Network) initiative.  The firm will provide training and technical assistance on homeless children’s education rights to families and school officials across the country. Suzanne Turner, pro bono partner at Dechert LLP, who received this honor last year, will present the award.

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, originally scheduled to provide the evening’s keynote address, is unexpectedly unable to join us. In her stead, Assistant Secretary for Policy William Spriggs will join us to honor the efforts of those working to end homelessness in America.  Laura Evans, of Washington’s Fox 5 News, will also join us as the event’s mistress of ceremonies.

Thank you to all who have helped make this event possible. We’re so excited for what is certain to be an inspirational evening.

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Oh, what a night!

Posted on October 19, 2010
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People seem to be drawn to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty in many different ways. Some come to us because they are fighting to keep homeless children in school. Others come because they are interested in our work to prevent survivors of domestic violence from becoming homeless. And the list goes on. For me, it was an interest in (disgust with) the criminalization of homelessness. As a graduate student studying the rhetoric of homelessness in the United States, I was appalled by the growing trend toward punishing people for living their lives in public, especially when there’s no other option for them.

Since I’ve joined the Law Center’s staff, I have learned about countless ways it has influenced federal and local policies to both prevent and end homelessness. But on Thursday night, at our 12th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards for homeless advocates, I was most deeply impacted by the remarks of our guests on criminalization.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan delivered the evening’s keynote address, “Ending Homelessness in Our Time.” As he spoke about the need for continued advocacy and about the hope of the new federal plan to prevent and end homelessness, he said, “You and I both know that criminalizing those who are homeless is not only morally wrong — it also does nothing to stop homelessness or improve the circumstances of those without a home. It serves only to increase costs — both in taxpayer dollars and in human suffering.”

That’s right. Criminalization only increases costs.

Surely, this is a compelling reason to stop these kinds of policies. But if that’s not reason enough, Barbara Ehrenreich, best-selling author and journalist, and the evening’s Stewart B. McKinney honoree, did what she does best: she put a face on the issue. Recounting the story of a homeless gentleman who was ticketed for sleeping outside, then pulled from shelter to a jail cell while staying at shelter for this offense, she decried these practices:

“I’m very impatient when nice people, liberal people, wring their hands and say, ‘What can we do about poverty?  Isn’t it so intractable and deeply rooted and multi-causal and multi-generational?’  And I answer, ‘No, it’s very simple.  The first thing we have to do is just stop the meanness.  Stop the persecution.  Stop kicking people when they’re already down.’  That’s what I’ve learned from the National Law Center.”

 

All of the evening’s honorees, including Dechert LLP, the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, and the Elzer Family, have fought to help protect people experiencing homelessness. And I, after sharing this evening with them, am renewed and inspired in my commitment to being a part of finding solutions to end and prevent homelessness in our country. No one should be without a home, and no one should be punished for not having a home.

Special thanks go to Bruce & Lori Laitman Rosenblum, presenting sponsors, and the Leonsis Foundation, event sponsors. Click here to learn more about our sponsors.

Not able to join us? See more photos from the awards here.

-Whitney Gent, Development & Communications Director

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HUD Secretary Donovan to Speak Tomorrow Night

Posted on October 13, 2010
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With the McKinney-Vento Awards coming up tomorrow night, this is the final post in a series on our honorees and distinguished guests.

Shaun Donovan became the 15th United States Secretary for Housing and Urban Development on January 26, 2009. Believing that homes are the foundation for safe neighborhoods, successful schools, strong families and solid businesses, Donovan has dedicated his career to ensuring access to affordable, quality housing for all Americans.

As the HUD secretary, Donovan chairs the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness which, in June, released Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.

Donovan has served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). He also implemented HPD’s New Housing Marketplace Plan, the largest municipal affordable housing plan in this nation’s history, which planned to build and preserve 165,000 affordable homes. His work at HPD also included involvement with the New York City Acquisition Fund, an award-winning collaboration with banks and organizations to finance affordable housing, an innovative zoning program, a supportive housing plan, and creation of the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, an early response to the foreclosure crisis.

Prior to his service as commissioner of HPD, Donovan worked on financing affordable housing in the private sector and was a visiting scholar at New York University researching the preservation of federally-assisted housing. Donovan also worked as a consultant to the Millennial Housing Commission, strategizing ways to increase the production of multifamily housing. Created by the United States Congress, the commission sought to discover ways to expand housing opportunities nationally.

Donovan returns to HUD, where he previously served during the Clinton administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing. During that time he administered housing programs that helped 1.7 million families gain access to affordable housing. He also served as acting FHA Commissioner during the transition between the Clinton and Bush Administrations.

Prior to this first service at HUD, Donovan worked at the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) in New York City, a non-profit organization dedicated to lending and development for affordable housing. Donovan has also written on housing policy at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, as well as worked as an architect.

We hope you’ll join us when Secretary Donovan delivers his address on “Ending Homelessness in Our Time” at our 12th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards tomorrow, October 14, which begins at 6 p.m.  Barbara Ehrenreich, Dechert LLP, the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, and the formerly homeless Elzer family will be honored at the event.

Click here for more information. Contact Whitney Gent for more information.

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The Power of Pro Bono

Posted on October 8, 2010
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In the run-up to next Thursday’s McKinney-Vento Awards, we’ll be featuring a series of posts on our honorees and distinguished guests.  Make sure you keep checking back!

At the Law Center, we like to say we’re “changing laws and changing lives.”  And we are.  In 2009, we helped pass the HEARTH Act, which increased funding for anti-homelessness programs and directed the government to develop the first ever Federal Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.

But victories like that aren’t possible without the support of our pro bono law partners.  The Law Center employs a highly skilled, but small staff.  Pro bono assistance allows it to accomplish much more than it could on its own, supporting its work across every program area.

“Pro bono work has always been important, but since the economic crisis, it’s become more and more vital to individuals and organizations that couldn’t otherwise access services,” says Katharyn Christian, the Law Center’s new pro bono coordinator.  “It’s key to achieving our mission; we wouldn’t be able to assist or impact nearly as many homeless individuals without assistance from our pro bono partners.”

This past year, law firm Dechert LLP’s pro bono work was particularly strong.  Its attorneys addressed issues related to unaccompanied homeless youth, access to education for homeless children, and the human right to housing.  Their research and analysis will help fulcrum our advocacy in those areas.

We’ll use their work to fight for homeless children’s right to privacy and quality education, and for a recognition of housing as a human right in America.  These are big, complicated issues, but Dechert’s pro bono assistance helps us move forward in the fight to end and prevent homelessness for millions of people.

“Dechert’s been really phenomenal for us,” says Law Center Legal Director Karen Cunningham.  “They’re always looking to take on new work, and they’re willing to address urgent matters on very short notice.  It’s not just one office either.  They’ve engaged attorneys at all levels, across multiple offices.  We really couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

It should come as no surprise, then, that Dechert was ranked third in The American Lawyer’s annual pro bono rankings.  Collectively, its attorneys dedicate tens of thousands of hours to pro bono work each year.  It’s ingrained in the firm’s culture.  The Law Center looks forward to continued collaboration with Dechert toward the ultimate goal of ending American homelessness.

We hope you’ll join us when we honor Dechert LLP at our 12th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards on Thursday, October 14, at 6 pm.  Barbara Ehrenreich, the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, and the formerly homeless Elzer family will also be honored.  The evening’s keynote address will be delivered by U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan.

Click here for more information and to purchase your tickets.

- Andy Beres, Grant Writer & Communications Assistant

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The Path to Advocacy

Posted on October 7, 2010
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In the run-up to next Thursday’s McKinney-Vento Awards, we’ll be featuring a series of posts on our honorees and distinguished guests.  Make sure you keep checking back!

When you’re young, you have a pretty good idea of where you want to go, even if you don’t know how to get there.  But the path ahead is full of bends and switchbacks, and sometimes it’s for the better.

Barbara Ehrenreich studied chemistry, biology, and physics at Reed College, earning a PhD in cell biology in 1968.  But pursuing a scientific career didn’t quite feel right.  Barbara’s makeup had been permanently altered by her participation in the anti-Vietnam movement, and as a result, she ultimately became a social activist.

Writing wasn’t something she studied, or something she imagined doing when she was younger.  But it was a natural component of her activism, and she grew to love doing it.  Through the years, Barbara’s work has been published in Time Magazine, the New York Times, The Progressive, Mother Jones, and The Atlantic Monthly, among many others.

In 2001, Barbara published Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, which measured the traditional view that “a job will defeat poverty” against the realities she encountered during two years of investigative reporting.  From Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she took low-paying jobs as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson.  What she found was good people doing hard work – usually at more than one job, just to avoid living on the street.

The economic crisis has only worsened things, as more and more poor people slide into homelessness.  Barbara’s 2009 op-ed – titled “Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?” – drew attention to the disturbing trend of criminalizing homelessness.  Cities are making life-sustaining acts like eating or sleeping illegal.  In the op-ed, Barbara tells the story of a man charged with criminal trespassing for sleeping on a sidewalk.  When he didn’t show up for his court date, he was dragged out of the shelter where he was staying and put in jail.

Barbara’s ability to put a human face on social realities has helped establish her as one of the nation’s most powerful voices on poverty issues.  It’s a long way from cell biology, but the American dialogue is richer for it.

We hope you’ll join us when we honor Barbara at our 12th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards on Thursday, October 14, at 6 pm.  Dechert LLP, the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, and the formerly homeless Elzer family will also be honored.  The evening’s keynote address will be delivered by U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan.

Click here for more information and to purchase your tickets.

-Andy Beres, Grant Writer & Communications Assistant

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The Humanity of Policy

Posted on October 7, 2010
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In the run-up to next Thursday’s McKinney-Vento Awards, we’ll be featuring a series of posts on our honorees and distinguished guests.  Make sure you keep checking back!

As a national policy organization, we focus on the big picture, working to create new and enforce existing federal laws.  Thanks to the McKinney-Vento Act, homeless children have the right to remain in the same school, regardless of where they rest their head at night.  When schools and school districts fail to uphold that right, whether out of ignorance or through purposeful evasion, the National Law Center works to enforce the law.

But there’s more to it than that.

Imagine for a moment that you’re seven years old.  Your father tells you he’s lost his job, and that everything around you – the house, the family car, your bedroom full of posters and toys – is about to vanish.  You pack up what you can carry and move into a homeless shelter.  The people there are kind, and they do everything they can for you, but this still isn’t home.  It lacks the warmth and comforts of your old house.

Now imagine that your school says you don’t belong there anymore.  They say that because you lost your house, you can’t see your friends or your teachers.  If you want an education, you’ll have to find it elsewhere.  You didn’t do anything wrong, but inside of a month, all the things you called your own have been ripped from your grasp.

That was the reality facing the Elzer family.  That is why this work matters.

When the Carlynton School District unlawfully refused to enroll the Elzer children, the family fought the ruling, with the support of the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania and the National Law Center.  The Elzers ultimately won the fight, settling the case.  The district agreed to reenroll the children, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education issued new guidelines to prevent this from happening to the state’s 43,000 other homeless children.

We hope you’ll join us to honor the perseverance of the Elzers and the Education Law Center at our 12th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards on Thursday, October 14, at 6 pm.  The evening’s keynote address will be delivered by U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan.

Click here for more information and to purchase your tickets.

- Andy Beres, Grant Writer & Communications Assistant

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String of Small Moments

Posted on September 10, 2010
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Each day, as my computer shakes to life, I’m conscious that the work my colleagues do is vitally important.  But the enormity of homelessness and poverty can weigh on a person, and numb them to the good days.  I wonder when the day will come when homelessness is removed from the American picture, finding life only in personal and academic histories.

I remind myself, though, that history is but a string of small moments, bound by the fibers of perspective.

Each year, at our annual McKinney-Vento Awards, the Law Center pays tribute to those moments and to the people responsible for them.  This year, on October 14, at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C., we’re proud to welcome U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan as the keynote speaker at this evening dedicated to those working diligently to end homelessness.

That night, we’ll be proud to honor New York Times best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich, whose work has demonstrated a deep commitment to raising awareness and promoting understanding about poverty and homelessness in the U.S. We’re also excited to honor Dechert LLP, a firm which has displayed an exemplary commitment to pro bono legal work. Read more »

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