The Baltimore Area Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau is proud to announce:

Everyone has a story.
Everyone deserves a home.

The Danger of a Single Story: A Night of Monologues
On Thursday, July 12, 2012 from 6-8 pm the Cork Gallery will host a set of performances by people who have experienced homelessness aimed at sharing a piece of that individual's story through poetry, spoken word and heartfelt anecdotes.
Media and popular culture often depict people experiencing homelessness as one face, with one story, when they acknowledge this community at all. The truth is that people experiencing homelessness are not such a diminutive part of society; these experiences are growing and so is the diversity of people who have these encounters.

The title of this event: “Danger of a Single Story,” is borrowed from a talk by novelist Chimamanda Adichie, presented on TEDTalks. Adichie states, “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” The “Faces of Homelessness” Speakers’ Bureau is asking for a suggested donation of $10 per person to provide an honorarium for the presenters, and to raise funds for Speakers’ Bureau activities and local affiliated organizations: Beans & Bread Center, Project PLASE and Health Care for the Homeless.

The event will be held at the Cork Gallery, located at 302 East Federal Street in the Greenmount West Community. Tickets will be sold at the door or online through WePay. You can reserve your ticket here.

We want to thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing you at the event!

Questions can be directed to the comment section or to Jesse McDermeit.

The Maryland chapter of BBYO, a Jewish youth and teen community, held a conference of 650 teens from different states in the area this weekend and invited the “Faces of Homelessness” Speakers’ Bureau to present two sessions.  The Speakers’ Bureau presented to about 120-150 youth and received an overwhelmingly positive response.  Issues touched upon include the causes of homelessness, the large number of veterans experiencing homelessness, substance abuse, health care, and LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness.

Congratulations to Rita Williams from Project PLASE & James Crawford Jr. from B’More Housing for All & Healthcare for the Homeless, on a great presentation!

(Photos to follow)

On Friday, March 23^rd, St. Francis of Assisi School & the Better World Club held a coffeehouse to raise awareness of social issues in Baltimore and around the world.  The program included information from service providers from the community, musical entertainment from local performers, and Damien presenting for the “Faces of Homelessness” Speakers’ Bureau.  The event had great turnout and Damien received a very positive response from the audience.  Great job Damien! Stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages to hear about upcoming public events like this one!

Big "Thanks!" to the students of the University of Rochester and their Newman Center for hosting two speakers on Friday, March 16. The group was in Baltimore for an Alternative Spring Break working in local schools and food pantries while learning about life in Baltimore City.
Mark and Garry shared their experiences with homelessness and battling poverty growing up to confronting the same issues in adulthood while raising a family.
"What can university students do?" was one of the big questions. What our speakers decided was to volunteer, get to know people that are different from yourself. Share your ideas and talk about issues in our society! People become marginalized because they become ignored. Ignoring problems does not make them go away. This group has already taken such large strides toward change simply by spending their spring break in Baltimore working to create change.
Thank you for your service, and thank you for your wonderful questions! We hope you had a wonderful time in Baltimore! Come back and visit!

The Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau is growing rapidly! We are very excited to see such interest in ending homelessness in Baltimore. To better work with our speakers, Vanessa from Healthcare for the Homeless and Joanna from Beans & Bread Center have organized large group Speaker Trainings to help individuals learn to share their stories.

Joanna from Beans & Bread Center files the following report about those trainings:

On January 18^th & February 8^th Scott Gottbreht, a Johns Hopkins Instructor came to the Speakers’ Bureau and conducted public speaking training “the Zen of Speaking” with us.  Scott gave us a ton of great tips from how to go about the beginning stages of writing your speech to the delivery, and handling Q&As.  Scott also facilitated a great practice session with a public speaking exercise.    

On February 15^th we discussed handling Question & Answer sessions and read a little about how to handle some of the more difficult questions.  The group dynamic and our very helpful visitors from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health were a great addition to this discussion. 

In the future we’re looking at putting on mock debates, conflict resolution trainings, and fear/anxiety of public speaking trainings.

Any ideas for trainers or topics? 

Please feel free to share with us!

Hip Hop to Stop Homelessness Concert Report

Bonnie Lane, an advocate for the Speakers Bureau submits the following:

The first Hip Hop For Homelessness concert was held November 12, 2011 at the 2640 Space. Proceeds helped fund Word on the Street. Three hot acts performed: Axiom, The 5^th L plus J POPE and Funk Friday.  I spoke with Axiom before the show. Axiom said, “It’s the least we can do. So many are less fortunate. We get to eat daily and have roofs. We take nothing for granted.” The 5^th L said they like giving back.

It was great to see people from Healthcare for the Homeless, Project PLASE, St. Vincent de Paul Beans & Bread Center, Project Jump Start, students and the Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau join forces for this cause. Over 135 people attended. It was a smashing success.

And the winner is....
"A Bench Is Not A Bed" Wins Best Podcast
at the 2011 Student Production Awards!

An episode of our WLOY radio show Both Feet In: Conversations with People Experiencing Homelessness took home the award for Best Podcast from the National Student Media Convention in Orlando, Florida this past weekend!The winning episode, "A Bench is Not a Bed," was based on reflections from last years' Sleep-Out during National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Click here to listen!

Congratulations to Lindsay Vanderheiden, Speakers, Loyola students, and everyone else involved in the production! 

Join the 2nd Annual A Bench Is Not A Bed Sleep-Out on Nov 19th in front of City Hall!

The Sleep-Out is the culminating event of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (NHHAW) Nov 12th-19th. Find out more 

Hip-Hop to Stop Homelessness Nov 12th-7pm at 3640 Space 

         Featuring Axiom, J Pope & Funk Friday, and The 5th L
Trivia Night Nov 17th-8pm at Pickles Pub
Sleep-Out Nov 19th-6pm at City Hall War Memorial Plaza

Recent Events: Stevenson University "Living on the Streets"

Last Friday some of us here at the Faces of Homelessness Speakers' Bureau went to Stevenson University and got a warm welcome from their students at an event called "Living on the Streets."  Purman and Carroll spoke about their individual experiences and Laura from Project PLASE and myself (Joanna from Beans & Bread Center) spoke a bit about our organizations.  It was a fun event and the students presented us with donations for our respective organizations after we spoke.  Beans & Bread got about 125 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches which were handed out on Saturday at the meal program.  Project PLASE got loads of hygiene kits which were distributed by Laura and Carroll.  I'm posting some pictures from the event.  Again, a big THANKS to Stevenson!

(Pictures courtesy of Stevenson University Photography Club)



~Joanna Gervais