Newsletter offers homeless people a voice
By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer
Kalihi resident Emma Wallace, homeless nearly a decade ago, wants others to understand the hardships those without shelter confront every day.
• Street Beat is free and available at about 30 social service agencies statewide, including the Institute for Human Services, Waikiki Health Center, Hawai'i Centers for Independent Living, Kalihi-Palama Health Center and 'Ohana Ola O Kahumana in Wai'anae. • Outreach workers will distribute the newsletter to homeless people at parks, churches and food distribution sites islandwide. • For information: 351-7759
"People need to have more compassion for the homeless," said Wallace, who is among nearly a dozen volunteers on the staff of Street Beat, a newsletter for and by homeless people in Hawai'i.
Street Beat
The eight-page publication debuted last Monday.
Writers, graphic designers and distributors include homeless people and formerly homeless people such as Wallace, 33, who is taking classes to become a human services worker.
Street Beat is the brainchild of Eileen Joyce, director of Networkers on Wheels. Networkers is a nonprofit organization that provides community connections and referral services for O'ahu's homeless and disabled people, with support from the Hawai'i Disability Rights Center.
"We want to basically give homeless people a vehicle for communication," said Joyce. She said the paper is also meant to build self-esteem and a sense of community among people without shelter.
Street Beat will be a monthly publication with news dealing with homelessness, a listing of social service agencies and free activities, and stories about homelessness by those who have been through it or who live it daily.
"This offers them a voice," said Wallace, a staff writer. "It gives them hope."
While reaching O'ahu's homeless people is the primary goal of Street Beat, educating the public about homelessness is another, said editor Linda Day.
"Many of these (homeless) people really haven't become houseless due to their own mistakes or laziness," said Day, who is also the communications coordinator for University of Hawai'i's Office of Sustainability. "People have a lot of ideas about why people become homeless and often those are not the case."
Reach Zenaida Serrano Espanol at zespanol@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.
