NIU Students To Rally for Homeless Children and Youth; Launching HEAR US 10th Year

HEAR US founder Diane Nilan stands alongside
her new motorhome, which serves as her home,
office and vehicle.

[Naperville and DeKalb, IL, Nov. 15, 2014]  Nomadic activist Diane Nilan will enlist students at Northern Illinois University in a grass-roots campaign to increase awareness of homeless families and youth as she screens her latest documentary, Worn Out Welcome Mat, on Nov. 18 for National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week. 

Nilan launches her 10th year on the road with this NIU event. On Nov. 18, 2005, this former shelter director set out on a quest to chronicle the invisible issue of family and youth homelessness nationwide. She sold her townhouse and purchased a small motorhome which she's lived in since then. Nilan started her nonprofit HEAR US Inc. to give voice and visibility to millions of babies, toddlers, children and youth. NIU professor Laura Vazquez has partnered with Nilan to create several award-winning documentaries. 

Worn Out Welcome Mat features families and youth living in doubled up situations, the most common and most misunderstood manifestation of homelessness. This 20-min film exposes the myths commonly attributed to those with nowhere to go who bounce around in tentative arrangements to avoid sleeping on the streets. Several homeless teens shared their stories.

HEAR US Inc. has actively solicited support for the Homeless Children and Youth Act, a measure being considered in Congress to force HUD to expand their narrow definition of “homeless” to include those doubled up and in non-sheltered situations like motels and campgrounds. Participants at the film screening will be asked to petition their member of Congress to cosponsor this bipartisan legislation.

“Tragically, millions of invisible youth and families pay the price for HUD’s unwillingness to address the true scope of homelessness in America,” Nilan points out. Students can make a difference by their simple act of contacting their Representative, a task made easy on the Take Action page of the website www.helphomelesskidsnow.org. 

The National Coalition for the Homeless created National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week to encourage non-homeless persons to reflect on the inequities of food and shelter in the United States. Last year over 700 groups participated. NIU has several activities planned for the week. Nilan serves on the board of NCH.

The film and short discussion will take place from 3-4 pm in the Holmes Student Center, Room 305. This event is cosponsored by Poverty & Inequality Research-to-Action Collaborative, Center for NGO Leadership and Development, Department of Psychology, and Department of Public Administration. Admission is free. For information, call the NGOLD Center at 815-753-4410.

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‘Bring It On!’ Kick-off of Cross-Country Tour on Behalf of Homeless Kids and Families

Photo (c) Diane Nilan

[Naperville, IL, 1/17/13] Winter weather at its worst. Blinding dust storms. Scorn from unenlightened community members. Seemingly endless, stark drives wrapped around arduous events. “Bring it on!” two determined women (Pat LaMarche and Diane Nilan) dare Mother Nature. Traveling as the Babes of Wrath on behalf of homeless children, families and youth, these two women are about to embark on a grueling month-long, 5,000-mile awareness-raising tour of the southwest part of this country.

This tour, of their own free will under the banner of HEARUS Inc., Nilan’s Naperville-based nonprofit organization, begins Tuesday, 1/22 in Little Rock, AR. Beleaguered local service providers along the route are eager for the Babes to land in their cities and towns. “We’re so glad SOMEONE is doing advocacy,” one shelter director told Nilan. She bemoaned HUD’s ineffective “structure” supposedly addressing homelessness on a local level, known as the “continuum of care,” local agency representatives charged with translating inadequate U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) resources into services for homeless persons.

One critical issue in discussions with concerned local leaders is a dreadful one—how families with babies and toddlers are ignored, part of the pattern of abuse and neglect perpetuated at the federal level. The consensus: families have never been a priority. In fact, they are very low on HUD's homeless subpopulations served (and funded).

HUD says they’re allowing the local community to set priorities as they point out that there's enough federal money to go around. In this imperfect world, the “Littles” lose.

When the Littlest Nomads (babies and toddlers, with parents) are ignored, it creates a feeder program of homeless adults. Little kids, in their prime growth stage, miss out on nurturing, nutrition, developmental opportunities, and they absorb the toxic influences—emotional and environmental. They’re ill-prepared for school and they often struggle and fail. Chances are their family’s housing situation remains precarious. Poverty follows them everywhere.

When these kids end up as homeless adults, no one should be surprised. But everyone with the power to do something should be ashamed. The feds get left off the hook when local communities try to do things on their own. For every local community able to step up to the daunting challenge of providing housing and other essential services to impoverished families, hundreds—or thousands—cannot, or will not, do the job.

Pat (L) and Diane
on their 2011
Southern Discomfort tour

Pat and Diane, Babes of Wrath, will listen, learn and challenge communities large and small to bolster their local efforts and to let their elected officials know that this is very much like the Great Depression, with millions of people—babies, toddlers, kids, parents, and single adults—in need of life-saving shelter, food, heath care and other vital services. LaMarche will blog on Huffington Post, Nilan on Alternet.

Their message will make them as popular as the great dust clouds that continue to batter the southwestern part of the country. But, as history teaches, eventually Depression era officials caught on and implemented common sense dust-reduction strategies. With homeless people small and large rolling like tumbleweed across the land, this nation’s approach toward homelessness needs rethinking. Sooner rather than later, they hope.

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Stereotype-Buster Campaign: Final Push To Get “on the edge” Documentary On PBS Mother’s Day

[Naperville, IL, April 2, 2012] Women. Kids. Not stereotypical images of homeless persons, but a new release of a powerful documentary, “on the edge: Family Homelessness in America,” says otherwise. And if the film’s creators have their way, their award-winning creation will hit PBS affiliates’ airwaves, crumbling stereotypes about this growing national crisis on Mother’s Day.

“Until this nation recognizes this tragic, avoidable catastrophe has shattered countless women and kids’ lives,” asserts HEAR US Inc. president Diane Nilan and producer of the film, “we will continue to lose them to the streets, a lamentable and preventable outcome.” Nilan, national organizer of this grassroots effort,  considers this the most important campaign of her nonprofit’s history. She is counting on a strong reaction to this film to create a much-needed paradigm shift in this nation’s approach to homelessness.

Nilan teamed up with director Laura Vazquez, documentary maker and professor from Northern Illinois University, whose personal experience with homelessness as a young mom with a baby motivated her involvement. With 15 years running Chicago area shelters, 20 years of intense leadership to assure homeless kids can get into school, and 7 years traveling the nation’s backroads chronicling  homeless families and youth, Nilan’s seen stereotypes work against implementing viable solutions to homelessness.

The seven women’s compelling stories give viewers insights of homelessness as it affects women, teens and children. Thousands of viewers--from California to Congress to Columbia University and beyond--have been profoundly moved. But the most disappointing response has been HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “He saw it, but HUD’s policies continue to ignore this vulnerable, invisible population,” Nilan laments.

Nilan urges supporters to visit the HEAR US home page which will lead them through the simple steps to contact their PBS affiliate, which needs to happen before Friday, April 6th. The film will also be available on DVD through HEAR US for $30 (plus shipping).

The few moments to petition their PBS affiliate could cause a cumulative positive effect, finally drawing public interest to an issue that is claiming many more victims. Nothing would be a better tribute to the courageous women who shared their stories than to know their stories caused a ripple of change on Mother’s Day.   

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Homeless Kids Offer Reality Check to Congress

Photo (C) Pat Van Doren, HEAR US

[Naperville, IL 12/13/11] Domestic violence. Poverty. Poor housing conditions. Disaster. These and other critical issues will be front and center on Thursday to members of the U.S. House of Representative's Financial Services Subcommittee, chaired by Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-13,IL) as members consider barriers for homeless families and youth seeking help.

Children and youth who have experienced homelessness will be the key testifiers as the committee considers the implementation of new HUD regulations that many advocates feel will cause even more hardship for homeless families and youth. HEAR US Inc., a national Naperville-based nonprofit, will participate in the event. Diane Nilan, HEAR US president, invited an 11-year-old boy to share the story of his family's nomadic existence.

Mrs. Biggert has championed the cause of homeless children and youth since being elected to Congress in 1998, leading the way for passage of comprehensive legislation, based on the IL Education for Homeless Children Act, that removes barriers commonly encountered by homeless kids trying to get an education. She's introduced HR 32 to change the way HUD defines homelessness. She and Nilan have worked together on this issue for over a dozen years.

Since November 2005, Nilan, under the banner of her nonprofit HEAR US, has been on the road chronicling homelessness, concentrating on non-urban families and youth. She and Professor Laura Vazquez, NIU School of Communication, have made several documentaries on this issue. Nilan will again set off, stopping in DC on Thursday, then heading south for her 7th cross-country journey. Nilan lives in, works out of and travels solo in her road-weary motorhome.

An uncharacteristic amount of attention is being focused on the soaring growth of homelessness and poverty. The National Center on Family Homelessness released their report homeless families indicating at least 1.6 million children now experience homelessness. 

And Thursday, 12/15, the U. S. Conference of Mayors issues their assessment of homelessness and hunger. Nilan led a campaign to strengthen this highly-cited report, which according to her, relies on abysmally inaccurate data that complies with the very narrow HUD definition of homelessness. "It will be the same old, same old report," she fears.

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June 2009 HEAR US E-Blast

HEAR US E-Blast June 2009
view as a web page

(I'm stuck with this UGLY format--at least for this time around--for our monthly newsletter. If I get the hang of a program that I'm supposed to use, well, this newsletter might look different/better next month! Diane)

Summer--Here's Hoping... Most people welcome the end of the school year. This year, with budget crises abounding, job loss, cutbacks, and greater uncertainties face school and human service personnel just about everywhere. Families are falling into homelessness at an unprecedented rate. It may all seem bad, but it's not. Here's a story to make your day...and more from the HEAR US media collection.

Need something to celebrate in these bleak times? It's the 15th anniversary of "Charlie's Bill." If you're a McKinney-Vento liaison asking what is Charlie's Bill, well, buckaroo, here's a story for you...(excerpt from my book, Crossing the Line: Taking Steps to End Homelessness) The boy in our logo is Charlie...

Year-end Close-out SALE!! HEAR US has some overstock--and we're clearing our shelves! SAVE BIG! Stretch those grant dollars! Limit one FREE offer per order. Sale ends July 31 or as supplies last. FAX, EMAIL or SNAIL MAIL orders. Credit Cards Accepted. ORDER FORM

• MOFW '08 DVD --reg. $40, now $10 @ with $100+ order
  

FREE STUFF:

• Original My Own Four Walls DVD -- FREE with every order over $100! or
  
• REACH DVD--reg. $20, FREE with $200+ orders

Make MOFW work for you! The hardest working tool in your box should be My Own Four Walls. The documentaries and REACH training video (view free) on the MOFW 09 DVD can remover barriers and enlighten all kinds of audiences on McKinney-Vento homeless ed and just homelessness in general. Download (PDF) the Viewers' Guides. Besides the obvious--training educators--here's a plethora of other possible uses:

Youth groups, homeless experience events, police/fire/EMT trainings, community meetings, higher education classes, scout meetings, religious services or education classes, and more...

Sad, but we're not quitting! The May vote on the definition of homeless in the HEARTH Act didn't go well, to say the least. NAEHCY's tenacious Barbara Duffield and her intrepid team of advocates worked with a growing number of enlightened legislators, but it wasn't enough--this time.


So, to further educate lawmakers, HEAR US is planning the most ambitious cross-country tour ever, for now called the Learning Curve Express. We will need help from people across the country who believe kids without a place to call home should get the most help possible, even if they're living outside HUD's current inadequate definition of "homeless."

To keep doing what we're doing, and to do even more, we need your support. Buying our stuff helps a lot! Or join the growing number of HEAR US donors who chip in small amounts each month (or big amounts!). Please help!

More details in our next newsletter. See you soon!

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EVENTS Illinois friends--join me at the July 11th Community Restoration Economics forum in Elgin