Minyan Tzedek Educated Activist Series

This month’s Educated Activist Session will discuss When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America by Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes.

Think about the last time that you saw or interacted with an unhoused person. What did you do? What did you say? Did you offer money or a smile, or did you avert your gaze?

When We Walk By takes an urgent look at homelessness in America, showing us what we lose-in ourselves and as a society- when we choose to walk past and ignore our neighbors in shelters, insecure housing, or on the streets- and, it illuminates what we stand to gain when we embrace our humanity and move towards evidence-based, people-first, community-driven solutions. The authors recast chronic homelessness in the U.S. as a byproduct of twin crises: Our social systems are failing and so is our humanity.

We will learn the social and political forces that shape myths about those who are homeless; and that for many Americans, housing insecurity is just one paycheck away.