Denver Homeless Out Loud began in October around the time of the first report by the Denver Police Department and Denver’s Road Home to the Denver City Council about the impact of the new ‘Urban Camping’ Ban. Here is a brief update on our progress over the past three months.

Denver Homeless Out Loud has accomplished the following:

• Created a website that documents our projects, frames the injustice of the ‘Urban Camping’ Ban, provides resources and connects people with our work.
• Connected with at least 18 partners in justice including the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, the Denver Catholic Worker and the St. Francis Center.
• Announced our work with an article in The Washington Park Profile.
• Developed a survey to gather data from the homeless about the impact of the ‘Urban Camping’ Ban on their community.
• Developed a core team of 17 and wider team of at least 50 volunteers.
• Secured a $2,500 grant.
• Surveyed over 600 homeless people about the impact of the ‘Urban Camping’ Ban.

The team at Denver Homeless Out Loud is currently entering data from the surveys. The University of Colorado Denver Department of Political Science will then work with us to analyze the data and publish a report about the results. We hope this work will be completed by the end of February 2013.

If you would like to volunteer with Denver Homeless Out Loud, simply fill out this volunteer form. We will add you to our email list(s) where you will receive information about our meeting times and ongoing projects.

From the whole team at Denver Homeless Out Loud, we wish you a happy new year.

Shannon Hogan, left, and Katie Latrell shed tears during the singing of “Amazing Grace” as people gathered on the steps of the City and County Building during a Wednesday night vigil to pay their respect to the homeless men, women and children who have died on the streets. Mayor Michael Hancock read some of the 147 names of those who died so far in 2012. (John Leyba, The Denver Post).