We are always looking for fresh and creative perspectives on the current state of housing, poverty and homelessness in the United States. By bringing together people from different regions and walks of life, we hope to help inspire innovative strategies to combat homelessness and poverty across the country.
Be a Blogger
Bloggers are the heart of inforUm, providing constant insight on issues and current events relating to homelessness. Bloggers can be social advocates, teachers, politicians, students, business managers, faith leaders or community members who have something important to say about homelessness.
Blog posts provide concise, up-to-date commentary. They can cover breaking news, policy issues, responses to other features and blogs, meaningful anecdotes or anything else that is relevant and useful to our readers. We appreciate our bloggers committing to at least one post per month, although more frequent posts are certainly encouraged.
If you are interested in becoming a blogger, please contact editor@inforumusa.org and submit the following:
- A statement of interest. Why are you interested in becoming a blogger, and what do you have to contribute to inforUm? Show us who you are and sell your passion on the issues. 300 words or less.
- A brief writing sample. Preferably, this should be in a blog style and discussing an issue related to housing, poverty and/or homelessness. Look over Joel's posts for some examples, but use them as a guideline rather than a requirement. We want to see your opinions and your personality; that's what makes a blog worth reading! 500 words or less.
- Links to any existing blogs, websites or publications to which you currently contribute. Don't worry, not having your own blog won't adversely affect your chances of becoming a blogger.
Write a Feature
Features are published weekly, and are highlighted on inforUm's front page. They are longer, more in-depth contributions on housing, homelessness and poverty than blog posts. Rather than committing to ongoing posts, feature writers submit a one-time story on a specific issue. Examples of featured topics are: child homelessness, gentrification, hospital dumping and 10 year plans to end homelessness.
Feature writers are experts in their field, or are experienced journalists interested in conducting research on a specific topic. CEOs of nationally-recognized advocacy groups, government officials and high-profile individuals with a vested interest in homelessness are excellent candidates for contributing featured stories.
We are also very interested in the opinions of experts outside of "traditional" advocacy groups: Police, doctors, educators, corporate CEOs and others who can offer highly-experienced insights on homelessness as it relates to their lines of work.
If you are interested in submitting a feature to inforUm, please contact editor@inforumusa.org and submit the following:
- A cover letter stating your proposed topic, your experience in the field and why you are interested in contributing to inforUm.
- Your resume, highlighting relevant experience.
- A writing sample, preferably related to housing, homelessness, poverty or another relevant social issue.
- A list of organizations, publications, websites or blogs with which you are affiliated.
We ask that you do not submit a complete feature story unsolicited.
inforUm is published by PATH Partners, a nonprofit organization working to address homelessness, housing and poverty. To ensure that all resources go towards these important issues, no payment is provided for blog posts or features.
A Third Wave Of Addressing Homelesness Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Civil Overestimation Friday, April 3, 2009
WWYD? Monday, November 13, 2006
705 Missing Homeless People: Where Did They Go? Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Body Found In A River Near Long Beach
Linda Rosenberg, MSW Juan was a delivery driver, but his health problems were putting him at risk of losing his job. His diabetes was poorly controlled and had caused foot ulcers that made it difficult for him to walk. He also had bipolar disorder, which was not being controlled. When he joined the Working Well program in Harris County, Texas, Juan worked with a case manager to get orthopedic shoes, to receive support in developing a diabetic diet and exercise plan, and to make an appointment with a psychiatrist to bring his mental health condition under control. As a result, Juan was able to continue working full time as a delivery driver and received a raise for exceptional performance (Bohman, Stoner, & Chimera, 2009). Working Well is part of the....
Homelessness Resource Center "I believe that people who are trained in Motivational Interviewing have a different perspective on building relationships. Many people are trained to view clients in a paternalistic manner, like they are children. This attitude says that providers always know what is best for a client. This attitude makes us think that we must convince clients that we know what is best for them. In this view, success is measured by the provider’s actions, not the client’s." In the spirit of Motivational Interviewing, Alan Pickett, a Mental Health Outreach Nurse at the Project Outreach Team (PORT) for Washtenaw County Community Mental Health in Ann Arbor, Michigan, does not define success this way. He believes his first task to is to make himse
David J. Jefferson “The prevalent fear of poverty among the educated classes is the worst moral disease from which our civilization suffers.” When William James, ostensible father of American Psychology, penned this line over a century ago, he had embedded the idea in a discussion on religious experience, in which he also extolled the virtues of voluntary poverty. Today, in a totally distinct context, James’ words are imbued with new meaning. Due to economic recession and what many economists have deemed a jobless recovery in contemporary America, people who never before feared poverty—the educated, or middle class—must now confront harsh new realities. The current conditions are like nothing we’ve ever seen. Conspiring myriad circumstances....
Jamie Van Leeuwen When Denver’s Road Home began over four years ago, we never could have anticipated a year like we just had. Who could ever imagine that our economy would shift into a global recession unlike anything the country has experienced since the Great Depression? And yet, in the midst of unparalleled economic shifts, there comes great opportunity. We believe there has never been a more important time for Denver to have a plan to end homelessness. During the past year, our homeless plan has been tested and we expect the coming year will continue to pose new challenges for us. Housing foreclosures, unemployment and funding cutbacks will continue to place new demands on our ten-year plan to end homelessness. As a result, we updated our plan so....
Linda Valverde & General Dogon The authors have lived and worked in Central City East—commonly known as Skid Row—for a combined thirty years. During all of our decades of living in Los Angeles, neither of us had ever heard of gentrification until about five years ago, when we became members of the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN). Now it seems that gentrification has become a common household word in cities throughout the United States, and nowhere more than downtown Los Angeles. When redevelopment really took off in downtown L.A. in 2002, LA CAN and our allies created five principles for fair redevelopment. We wanted to see our neighborhood revitalized, not gentrified. The principles were....
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