PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Nomad Alliance
Kseniya Kniazeva
801-688-3197
kseniya@nomadalliance.org
RELEASE DATE:
8-5-2022
NOMAD ALLIANCE ORGANIZES SPEED CHATS BETWEEN POLITICIANS, LEADERS, UNSHELTERED THIS SUNDAY, IN CONJUNCTION WITH NOMAD SUPPLY DRIVE
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, AUGUST — The Nomad Alliance, a nonprofit serving the unsheltered, is closing the communication chasm between the most divided parts of Utah this Sunday by organizing speed chats between agency leaders, politicians, and the unsheltered. This will be coupled with the 49th “nomad supply drive” gifting clothing, food, blankets, showers, haircuts, and hygiene products, in a festival-like atmosphere with a DJ, arts and crafts and more.
Representative Gay Lynn Bennion, Salt Lake City Councilman Alexandro Puy, and several others will be attending to converse with the unsheltered via ten-minute rotating conversations to hear the stories of the reality on the streets, and investigate whether the money leaders are spending on the unsheltered is really reaching the hands that need it, and what else our leaders can do to support our population.
Allison Dupler, the Homeless Strategies and Outreach Coordinator for Salt Lake City will be conducting a survey on the future placement of Human Resource Centers, as the City has been developing a new, more suitable and more fair zoning process for the siting of future shelters. Additionally, Bill Tibbitts of the Crossroads Urban Center will be conducting a survey on health among the unsheltered population. Adam Fordham of The Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness Digital Inclusion Initiative, will be working one on one with those on the streets to facilitate online and computer assisted applications for critical documentation like replacement social security cards and birth certificates. Kate Conyers, Nomad Alliance Board Treasurer and defense attorney with Conyers & Nix, who also sits on the Board of Clean Slate Utah, will be answering legal questions and offering expungements.
There is a divide between government and the unsheltered. The Nomad Alliances hopes to bridge this chasm and promote communication between these divided sections of Utah to evaluate whether current homeless strategy is reaching the hands that need it, as well as identifying other barriers to housing to better inform future policy decisions. Additionally, the sharing of story and lived experience is essential for healing and self esteem, and to have government leaders listen is sure to make those on the streets feel important, heard and valued. And self love is crucial to lift oneself up and off the streets.
The Nomad Alliance invites the media to this monumental occasion.
When: Sunday, August 7th, 3-6pm
What: Nomad Alliance Nomad Supply Drive and Speech Chat Event
Why: To promote communication between leaders and the unsheltered and create better homeless policies
Where: Across from the Greyhound, 300 S. 600 W.
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Further information on the city’s efforts to capture feedback on zoning and location of future homeless resource centers and shelters:
Name: Allison Dupler
Title: Homeless Strategies and Outreach Coordinator, SLC’s Homeless Engagement and Response Team
Description: The City has been exploring new ways to properly zone for homeless shelters and resource centers in Salt Lake City.Mayor Mendenhall put a moratorium on future permanent shelter uses in the City for six months. Subsequently, the City Council approved a text amendment removing the conditional use from all zones in the city with a sunset date, with the expectation that a new zoning ordinance would be completed prior to January 31, 2023. Our goal with this time has been to set up a plan and process to develop a new, more equitable, and more fair zoning process for the siting of any future shelters. Salt Lake City is very interested in being able to provide the needed resources to the community that is experiencing homelessness and we would like to improve how those land uses interact with and impact the community around them, including those who are unsheltered. The City would like to discuss the role zoning plays in siting future homeless resource centers and work with you to develop a preferred option so we can identify a better approval process. We are hoping to engage our unsheltered neighbors, to get some feedback to develop a draft. This is one of many small group meetings our City team will be having to gather targeted feedback.
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