Executive Director, Gateway 180 :: Homelessness Reversed
by Rev. Dr. Martin Rafanan
Media literacy is a required tool in the efforts to make our community a better place. We need to learn how to analyze and interpret the messages that we hear, see, and experience in the media while at the same time learning to create messages that promote democratic principles, inclusion, and constructive opportunities for people to engage in community-building.
Recently, I received a call from one of our local papers. The reporter wanted to know what was happening in the homelessness sector that was controversial. He was looking for a way to pitch a major story on homelessness, and needed conflict as an angle. My response was that the real controversy was the paucity of any real reporting on the good work that is being done in St. Louis to end homelessness. I suggested an article that focused on collaboration, partnership and significant progress made in the last five years. As you might expect, that suggestion didn’t go far.
As the director of Gateway180 :: Homelessness Reversed, one of my jobs is to hold up the vision of a community where homelessness has been eradicated. What I mean by this is NOT that there will be an end to people and families and children becoming homeless for a variety of reasons. We know that this will occur through natural or man-made disaster or because people will continue to struggle with job loss, serious health problems, a bad economy or the outcomes of their own choices. Ending homelessness means that those who become homeless return to a home quickly and with the help of a caring community. It means that our community has the housing stock and services to rapidly re- house homeless families so that they don’t have to stay in cars, live in uninhabitable places, or remain in emergency shelters for long periods of time. When we house families who are homeless, it is better for children, better for families, better for our neighborhoods, and better for our community – in the short and long-term.
Many think this is dream. It is not. There are currently 2900 beds that are supported in the St. Louis community to address the needs of the homeless. These beds, and the services that support the families who use them, take families from homelessness to stable housing. Over 60 organizations create the system that keeps these beds functional and successful. Gateway180 is the first stop for many homeless families. Gateway180 is on the frontlines of addressing the needs of homeless families and establishing the empowering environment in which these families become their own, best advocates for changing their lives and returning to a home. Working with our many partners, we seek to build a robust system of support where emergency shelters will no longer be needed. They will become a very temporary way-station on the road toward stable housing. At 4000 supported beds in this community (and remember, I said that 2900 are already operational), we will achieve this goal. We are almost there and we are working very hard to get to the finish line.
St. Louis has a legitimate chance to be the first major metropolitan area to end homelessness as it has been known, and we can do this because we have already achieved significant collaborative success and are poised to do more.
This is not a message that has been broadcast with any success to the St. Louis community. Outside of the homeless services sector, it is almost completely unknown. There are several reasons for this. Our local media have more interest in highlighting a controversy with Larry Rice, a local service provider who is not a very strong collaborative partner, than focusing on what 60 community organizations working in concert are doing right to end homelessness. People in our sector who have a laser-beam emphasis on providing care to homeless people and not many resources to do so cannot spend the time and energy to craft strong messages for the media or work to get their story told. What is an incredible story of achievement over decades is not “news” in an environment where the media continues to emphasize violence, gender and racial stereotypes, a bias toward one presentation of homelessness that misses the broader context, and whatever other sensational story lines keep ratings high.
So, how do we turn the tide in a more favorable and constructive direction? A “self-interest” approach can be both subversive and successful. Gateway180 looks for ways to engage the media in stories they like to present to get our message out. Recently, a young homeless woman demonstrated that she was an incredibly gifted artist. The human interest appeal of her story allowed our organization to talk about the ways in which young women and their children need to be placed in housing as quickly as possible. Advocacy projects can generate the heat that is attractive to the media. Gateway180 will work with other organizations to challenge the City of St. Louis to restore funding to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, emphasizing how successful our community has been in creating housing that supports homeless families. Gateway180 worked with Coolfire Media to produce an Emmy-nominated video that uses the iconic image of a cardboard sign held by a homeless person, except that in this case, it’s held by children with a different message: Did you know that 10% of St. Louis Public School children are homeless? Do you know that the average age of a homeless person in St. Louis is 13?
We must constantly reach out to educate the community and provide a stronger context for understanding media messaging around the issues that are important to us. Gateway180 holds monthly community meetings to talk about our work and collaborative efforts with our partners. We share our strategic efforts to end homelessness, not manage it. We want leaders to be able to tell this story so that it has a broad perspective and touches every sector of our community.
Our message needs to be clear, research-based, accurate, strategic and engaging. When we tell our story in this way, a caring and compassionate community responds. Organizations partner and collaborate. Consumers of homeless services learn to make their voice heard. And the media becomes a partner in our efforts. The goal is ending homelessness, and media literacy becomes a critical tool in our work.
