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REPRINTED FROM THENEXTMAYOR.COMApril 25, 2007 press release, (submitted via e-mail) |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 25, 2007
CONTACT: Jennine Miller 215-990-5668 (cell) or Holly Westergren 215-870-2094 (cell)
[PHILADELPHIA] What will the next Mayor do about the fact that Philadelphia’s 25 percent poverty rate is the highest of any large city in America and that street homelessness has doubled since 2000?
Come find out at the Vote for Homes! Mayoral Candidates Forum on Thursday, April 26, 6:30-8:00 pm at Arch Street United Methodist Church (Broad & Arch Streets).
This Forum will be moderated by Elmer Smith of the Philadelphia Daily News and will include pre-determined questions, mostly picked from a hat and posed by advocates, homeless and formerly homeless individuals, and ex-offenders. Anticipated attendance could reach as many as 800 housing and service providers, shelter consumers, mental health and recovery program participants, advocates, and allies. All candidates polling more than five percent in their party were invited, and four are expected to attend.
Both the Vote for Homes! Candidates Forum and the newly-released Vote for Homes! Voter’s Guide are part of a strategy to ensure that candidates recognize that homelessness and the affordable housing shortage are critical to ensuring a better future for all Philadelphians. Vote for Homes! will hold the next Mayor accountable for implementing real solutions based on his responses in the Voter’s Guide and at the Forum.
While issues of homelessness and poverty have barely been raised in the election campaign, they are the focus of this printed Voter’s Guide, currently being distributed to 25,000 voters. The Voter’s Guide features responses by Mayoral candidates Queena Bass, Bob Brady, Dwight Evans, Chaka Fattah, Michael Nutter, Al Taubenberger, and Jesus White to a range of questions covering issues like affordable housing, homelessness, jobs, and meeting human needs.
There are approximately 900,000 potential voters in Philadelphia, almost 200,000 of whom live in poverty and are homeless or at the brink of homelessness, while this election will be decided by just a few thousand votes. The Vote for Homes! coalition has targeted 120 shelters, soup kitchens, health centers, jails, and probation offices in the City of Philadelphia to ensure that they are educated, addressed, and included in the electoral process. This collective voice will be key to moving the candidates to speak to the 25,000 homeless, the 150,000 uninsured, and the one in 12 unemployed Philadelphians who will be voting this May.
The Guide and Forum were produced by the Election 2007: Vote for Homes! coalition, a group of 60 organizations interested in issues of housing, jobs, and services for people living on low-incomes. The Coalition has registered nearly 1,200 people this election season, trained 100 volunteers, and will distribute 25,000 of the Voter’s Guides to the public at large.
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Vote for Homes! is a nonpartisan advocacy coalition that focuses on the issues of affordable housing, living wage jobs, and quality services in elections. Since 1999, the coalition has registered more than 10,500 homeless and low-income voters, convened several candidates’ forums, hosted over one hundred voter education events, and distributed over 25,000 Voters Guides annually. As many as 70 different organizations have participated in the Vote for Homes! coalition. For more information on Vote for Homes! contact Jennine Miller at 215-232-7272, ext. 3042 or jenninemiller@projecthome.org or visit our website at www.projecthome.org/vote
AchieveAbility • ACORN-Philadelphia • Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Zeta Omicron Lambda Chapter • American Friends Service Committee • Arch Street United Methodist Church • Bethesda Project • Catholic Social Services • Church of the Advocate • Civic House, University of Pennsylvania • Coalition Ingenu • Dignity Housing • Disabled in Action • Drueding Center Project Rainbow• Episcopal Community Services • Ex-Offenders Association of PA • Family Shelter Support Team (FaSST) • Homeless Advocacy Project • Horizon House • Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania • Impact Services Corporation • Institute for the Study of Civic Values • Interfaith Advocates • League of Women Voters-Philadelphia • Liberty Resources, Inc. • Lutheran Settlement House • Mental Health Association of Southeastern PA • Mercy Hospice • New Kensington CDC • Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network • PathWaysPA • Pennsylvania Prison Society • People's Emergency Center • Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations • Philadelphia Beauty Showcase National Historic Museum • Philadelphia Committee to End Homelessness • Philadelphia Health Management Corporation • Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND) • Philadelphia Senior Center • Project H.O.M.E. • Ready, Willing, and Able • Resources for Human Development • RHD-Ridge Center • SELF Inc. • SHARE • St. John's Hospice • Temple Center for Nonprofits • Tenant Union Representative Network • The Salvation Army • Travelers Aid Philadelphia • United Communities Southeast Philadelphia • United Way Southeastern Pennsylvania • Visitation Homes • Women of Hope-Lombard • Women of Hope-Vine • Women's Community Revitalization Project • Women's Law Project • WOMEN'S WAY • WomenVote PA • X-Offenders for Community Empowerment • Young Involved Philadelphia