Yellowknife Homelessness Report Card 2008 - YWCA Canada

What can YOU do?1. Educate yourself and others about the problem of homelessness~ Creative Change ~2. Volunteer your time to work directly with people experiencingFood Rescuehomelessness or organizations at the administration endVolunteer Program3. Advocate on behalf of people who are homeless andorganizations that work with people who are homeless4. Contribute financially to organizations that work to endhomelessness5. Become aware of the language you use and ensure that yourlanguage is appropriate in the circumstances, consider if yourcommunication is based on understanding, rather thanjudgement6. Beaware of and help change attitudes about homelessnessamong your friends, family and people within the community toRuby and Laurin Trudel of Yellowknife puttheir ideas into action starting in 2008.help reduce NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) reactionsFood Rescue provides donated food tovarious organizations in Yellowknife.7. Be inclusive and promote inclusive communities8. Plan for unexpected circumstances, participate in financialmanagement and life skills development9. Inquire - ask questions of your community to encouragepositive development at the individual and community levels“The world we havecreated today as the10. Participate in the collection of sound data so that problems canbe identified and solutions proposedresult of our thinkingthus far has11. Becreative in identifying solutionsproblems which12. Say “No” to family violencecannot be resolved13. Encourage support for mental health and addictionsby thinking the way14. Minimize substance use in our communitywe thought when we15. Help to reduce homelessness, not just manage itcreated them.”Albert EinsteinSHARE IDEAS IMPLEMENT IDEAS!Many agencies and their dedicated staff assist homeless individuals and families on aregular basis. However, the elimination of homelessness requires the cooperation of theentire community, including all levels of government, local businesses and the homeless.This first Report Card on Homelessness in Yellowknife is an opportunity to inform thecommunity about homelessness in Yellowknife.Production of this report was funded by the Government of Canada's Homelessness PartneringStrategy. Thank you to community members who helped to collect the data presented in thisreport. While this report card was produced in association, it cannot reflect the views of allCoalition members.For further information or to become involved, please contact The Yellowknife HomelessnessCoalition at homelessness@yellowknife.ca or (867) 669-3409.Community cooperation and strategic thinking… along the Continuum12