Get Involved

Our Poster and Other Tips for Taking Action

With links to key activities and organizations

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Above is our poster designed by Mandy Rusch, Digital Design Project Assistant. You’re welcome to download it. For more information, please contact us at: hinrichc@seattleu.edu

Read on for links to all the actions listed in the poster.

1. Speak Up! 

Talk to your friends, family, colleagues and other community members about homelessness and how your perceptions may have shifted. You can be a powerful voice for change in your community.

2. Spend Time

Volunteer for, or donate to, an organization that helps families who are living in poverty. Here’s a partial list of some of our service provider partners dedicated to serving homeless families:

3. Advocate with Elected Officials and Media

Write letters to your elected officials and newspaper editors about the kind of change you want to see. Use the power of the Internet to advocate for affordable housing and an end to poverty and homelessness. Get on the list for Action Alerts on social service policy and budget issues with our advocacy partners:

4. Learn About the Causes and Impacts of Homelessness

Watch

  • American Refugees Four short animated films created by Seattle U’s Film and Family Homelessness Project
  • American Winter HBO Documentary following American families struggling in tough economic times
  • Inocente Academy Award-winning documentary about an inspiring young homeless artist
  • The Florida Project  2017’s acclaimed film about life through the eyes of children, with an Oscar-nominated performance by Willem Dafoe, as a motel manager trying to prevent six-year-old Moonee and her mom from becoming homeless.

Listen

  • Finding Our Way StoryCorps conversations between people who’ve experienced homelessness and those who care about them.
  • Home: Lost and Found Personal stories of homelessness told live on The Moth.

5. Register to Vote!

Find out how from the League of Women Voters. Then vote for candidates who support affordable housing and an end to homelessness.

6. Use Social Media

Find and follow advocates on Twitter, Facebook and more to get up-to-date information, news, and ideas on how to help. Here are some of our favorites on Twitter: Building Changes, Columbia Legal Services, David Wertheimer, Firesteel, Housing Development Consortium, Poverty Action, Schoolhouse Washington, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, and our account, Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness.

7. Check Your Local Schools

Make sure your school has an appointed Homeless Education Liaison who can help connect children to the services they’re entitled to. Contact the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for more information. Read this helpful brochure on the rights of students who are homeless, created by Seattle-King County Coalition on Homelessness. 

8. Host a Supply or Clothing Drive

Organizations always need new socks, men’s boxers and underwear, hygiene supplies (especially deodorant, razors, sunscreen, African-American hair care products, tampons), and new or gently used clothes in all sizes, and shoes. Organizations like Seattle-King County Coalition on Homelessness and YWCA Seattle ǀ King ǀ Snohomish collect school supplies for children and teens living in poverty.

9. Learn About What’s Being Done Locally

Read the All Home Strategic Plan to make homelessness rare, brief, and a one-time occurrence for families and individuals in King County.

10. Rent or Hire

People who have experienced homelessness face unique challenges in finding housing, and jobs. Consider employing people who have experienced homelessness. Offer affordable rent, and accept housing vouchers. If you’re a landlord or property owner, join the One Home Campaign to become part of the solution by renting to people moving out of homelessness.