A Practical Way to Help the Homeless Find Jobs and Safety By:Richard Berry
https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_j_berry_a_practical_way_to_help_the_homeless_find_work_and_safety Berry starts the talk by holding a sign that has the words “Need a Job” written on it and then asks the crowd who has seen someone holding a sign like that and if they actually believed the person wanted a job. He first began his path of helping the homeless where he is the mayor, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He placed 30 blue signs that said “Need food or shelter, call 311” at different intersections around the city and they received 11,000 calls but people were still holding signs. People still needed jobs so he started providing. Berry and his team created a project called “The Better Way Campaign” where they took an old dodge van, wrapped it with a logo, and invited the homeless onto the van if they wanted a day's work. Once the van was full they would drive to the worksite where they paid nine dollars an hour and fed the employees once during the work day. After the van would drive the workers to st.martins, where they were offered shelter and counseling. The workers help clean 170,000 pounds of trash, weeds, and litter through the program. 1,689 daily jobs and 216 long term employment jobs have been provided as well as 151 people connected to mental health and substance services and 20 permanently housed. Unsheltered homelessness has been reduced by 80%, chronic homelessness has been reduced by 40%, and veterans homelessness has ended in the city of Albuquerque all because of The Better Way Campaign. This video related to many discussions we had in class about poverty and homelessness. We discussed how there are homeless who don't want to work and who want to beg but we also discussed people who are stuck in poverty with no way out, but this video shows a way out. This video has many signs of the american dream, american values, and the global dream. Countries all around the world experience poverty and all dream of ways to help end it. Berry was one of the few who didn't just dream but actually accomplished them. One extremely shared american and global value is helping others and what Berry did was more than helping, it was life changing to those who really needed it. I did like the speech because it was very eye opening. He explained that giving money to a shelter or non-profit could go a lot further than $5 to a homeless person. He also explained ways to help the homeless earn money in simple ways that could be started in every city around the world. The video explained how the homeless really do want to work and how ordinary people like him can make a huge impact.