By Johanna Kaiser, Communications & Development Associate

Every year the ACLU of Rhode Island celebrates the work of fellow civil liberties advocates by awarding an individual or organization our Raymond J. Pettine Civil Libertarian of the Year award.

This year, we are pleased to announce we will recognize the hard work of two honorees dedicated to protecting the rights of the homeless: the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless and homeless rights advocate Megan Smith.

Both the Coalition and Ms. Smith, an outreach worker and case manager with House of Hope CDC’s PATH program, provide invaluable support and resources to individuals experiencing homelessness and are unyielding advocates for their civil rights and liberties.

Ms. Smith took the time to answer a few questions about herself and her work. Check out what she had to say below and join us at our 2015 Annual Meeting Celebration on Thursday, October 22, to honor these advocates and ACLU allies.

You’ve worked with the homeless community for almost a decade and you are currently an outreach worker and case manager for House of Hope CDC. How did you get involved in this work?

I got involved in working with the homeless community as an undergraduate student. When I was a freshman at Brown, I got involved by serendipitous coincidence with a student group called Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE). Before that, I had never been exposed to homelessness issues.

One of my first actions was occupying the Welcome Arnold shelter together with people experiencing homelessness. While the shelter ended up getting torn down, it was an amazing introduction to how resourceful and resilient the homeless community is. I was hooked and have never stopped working with issues of homelessness since then.

Since graduating I’ve worked in a variety of roles (including case manager and shelter coordinator), and outreach has been a constant throughout. I am currently in my final year of the Master of Social Work program at Rhode Island College; I decided to go into social work as a way to be of better service to the homeless community.

You work primarily with individuals experiencing street homelessness. What is your day-to-day work like?

I love my job. I love the people I work with, and I love that every day is different and that every day I learn something new. Most days are a mix of street outreach, intensive case management, and policy and organizing work. This means that I either start or end my day walking in downtown or south Providence engaging with unsheltered folks, going with my clients to appointments, and attending community meetings. I feel like having this mix of experience makes me more effective in each role because I am able to apply what I learn in one setting to the others. For example, without doing street outreach, I could not be an informed policy advocate, because I try very hard to root my positions in what I hear and see of the lived experience of people who are homeless.

What are some successes you or other advocates have achieved recently and how have they helped the homeless community and individuals experiencing homelessness?

This work can be draining, so I try very hard to take time to acknowledge seemingly “small” successes: when an outreach worker is able to have a meaningful conversation with a person who has not had that kind of trusting relationship in their lives for a long time, when someone is housed. Equally on the systems side, it sometimes feels like you are up against a brick wall. The joint advocacy that got the City of Providence to hire a municipal public defender last year continues to feel like a win. Susannah Cotter, the municipal public defender, has made such a positive impact, and it has been wonderful to be able to continue to work with her in court.

The last year has seen a lot more engagement with issues of homelessness from students at the Warren Alpert Medical School: students there are now regularly doing street outreach with Dr. Kaufmann, the psychiatrist for the House of Hope, and me, and are working with patients experiencing homelessness in collaboration with nursing and social work students. Not only does this work improve patient care, but it also makes me very optimistic that our next generation of practitioners will be much more attuned to the social determinants of health.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing individuals experiencing homelessness? Are there new trends that concern you?

Folks who are homeless continue to face a toxic combination of resource scarcity and social stigma. Because of my job, I disproportionately work with people who are long-term homeless and struggle with behavioral health challenges. Housing resources have increased in recent years, and it has been excellent to see a good number of people get housing. However, it seems that those who have not been reached have an even more profound level of vulnerability. The current issues of opiate overdoses and increased synthetic drug use have been alarming to witness.

What accomplishments give you the most pride?

I am proud of my collaborations. I have the privilege of working with brilliant people every day, first and foremost folks experiencing homelessness. I am humbled to get this award, because my work pales in comparison with that of the wide range of people I spend my days with.

Looking forward, what are your goals for the next year? How do you hope Rhode Island will change over the next 10 years?

I hope that we continue to move the needle on the criminalization of homelessness. It enrages and saddens me that we live in a city and a state that continues to punish people for the act of existing in public. I am hopeful that the joint advocacy around the Homeless Bill of Rights can make meaningful change on this front. I also want to continue to involve our educational institutions in work in the homeless community.

As the smallest state, Rhode Island is in the perfect position to pilot innovative solutions to homelessness. I fully believe that homelessness is a solvable problem, and that with collective will, we can and will end it. I hope that in ten years, nobody will be homeless for any significant length of time. I hope that we have a right to housing, a right to freely use public space, and a safety net that fully protects all Rhode Islanders. I also hope that Rhode Island can boast graduating and retaining the most socially conscious social workers, doctors, nurses, and lawyers in the country!

What can Rhode Islanders do to help the homeless community?

Everyone can get involved somehow. The biggest thing you can do is listen to the voices of people who have experienced homelessness. Join outreach, advocate at the State House, volunteer at a soup kitchen, or donate (goods, money, or service). Tell your elected officials that you care about issues of homelessness. If you are a landlord, rent to someone who has experienced homelessness.