Peace Studies Conference Fall 1999

Nowhere Else to Go: Local, Regional, and Global Dimensions of Homelessness

Twelfth Annual Peace Studies Conference
October 19, 1999

Tuesday, October 19, 1999
1:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Centenary Room (Q264)
Saint John's University

Nowhere Else to Go: Local, Regional, and Global Dimensions of Homelessness

1:00    Vera Eccarius-Kelly, Peace Studies/Political Science - CSB/SJU

"Cultural and Social Dislocation Among Kosovars, Kurds and Salvadoran Refugees"

2:40    Workshops

The World At Your Doorstep

Homeless Women in Recovery and Their Children: Challenges and Opportunities for Hope-One Model

Unsafe at Home-Unsafe On The Streets: Battered Women and Homelessness/Housing and Homelessness in St. Cloud

No Home, No Rest, No Peace: The Plight of Refugees Seeking Housing

4:00    Panel

Speakers and workshop presenters addressed action steps to be taken on homelessness from their particular perspective

7:00    Homeless Home Movie/Panel Discussion (Science Center Auditorium)

An award winning video profiling several very different homeless people

Panel discussion comprised of Pat Hennessey--producer of the film, Mark Thisius--activities profiled in the film, and Cappy Moore--a regular volunteer at Sharing and Caring Hands (a homeless shelter in the Twin Cities).

W O R K S H O P S:

The World At Your Doorstep

This workshop focused on the many issues facing refugees who come to Minnesota. Norm J. Thomsen discussed the process of refugee resettlement, the difficulty of locating affordable housing in the metro area, the partnership with local churches and volunteers in the resettlement process and the many cultural issues refugees face when relocating to Minnesota. Representatives from the Somali community also were present to share their first hand experiences as refugees.

Norm J. Thomsen became the Director of World Relief Minnesota in 1995. Under his leadership, World Relief Minnesota has assisted over 450 refugees annually with the resettlement process and helps approximately 1000 refugees with various services relating to immigration and citizenship. Prior to his experience with World Relief, Mr. Thomsen and his family served overseas in Austria as a pastor and friend to refugees.  At the time of this conference, Mr. Thomsen was serving on a steering committee to develop housing initiatives and projects for Christian landlords and churches.

Homeless Women in Recovery and Their Children: Challenges and Opportunities for Hope: One Model

Women and children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. The number of homeless single women with children in Minnesota has increased 240% during the last six years; homeless children increased by 881% during the same period. Recent research indicates that the strongest risk factors to predict adult homelessness are maternal substance abuse and the experience of placement in foster care. The workshop discussed these issues and present New Foundation’s model for supportive housing and community building with this population.

Mary Hartmann is Founder and Executive Director of New Foundations--a nonprofit that helps families of homeless women in recovery by combining safe affordable housing with integrated services to address the interconnected conditions of addiction, poverty, homelessness, and hopelessness. During twenty-seven years of executive leadership, Hartmann has served as executive director of Wayside House, the St. Paul YWCA, Hennepin County Affirmative Action, Minneapolis Head Start, and Seton Parent and Child Development Center. She is a consultant for the government, foundations, and nonprofits.

"No Home, No Rest, No Peace: The Plight Of Refugees Seeking Housing."

They come seeking peace and a better life only to encounter extraordinary hurdles in meeting their needs. This workshop explored the question "what are the normal obstacles faced by renters in a tight rental market and what additional obstacles do refugees face as they seek to obtain housing, as strangers in a new land?"

Lisa DeLuney was a senior peace studies major. Over the summer of 1999 she interned with Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights and worked with Somali families to gain knowledge of their culture and transition to the U.S.

Gena Edwards studied Peace Studies and Spanish while at St. Ben's from 1994 through 1998. After her graduation in 1998 she spent the year as a volunteer Refugee Housing Advocate for Catholic Charities' Migration and Refugee Services in St. Paul, MN. She recently began a position as Case Manager at Catholic Charities, serving the resettlement needs of refugee families.

Unsafe at Home-Unsafe on the Streets: Battered Women and Homelessness/Economics and Homelessness

The first part of this workshop focused on battered women and their children as a particularly vulnerable population. Maxine Barnett explored the many barriers encountered by battered women who are seeking permanent housing and the dangerous consequences of "no place to call home." The second part of this workshop examined the economic reasons for homelessness locally and the magnitude of homelessness in the St. Cloud area. This discussion also touched on the cost of housing as compared to local wages, and the growing trend of homeless families holding down full-time jobs.

At the time of this conference, Maxine Barnett was serving as the Executive Director of the Central Minnesota Task Force on Domestic Violence. She received her MA in English at Marquette University and her M.S. in Psychology at St. Cloud State University.

Doug Clark is a Supervising Attorney, St. Cloud Area Legal Services. He is a 1982 graduate of St. John's University, and has spent his entire legal career working with the housing needs of low-income households.  In 1999 he completed his 11th year as an attorney for St. Cloud Area Legal Services. 

Vera Eccarius-Kelly

Eccarius-Kelly was an instructor in Peace Studies and Political Science at Saint John's University and the College of Saint Benedict. She received her B.A. at Macalester College, her M.A.L.D. (Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy) at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston, where she was a doctoral candidate at the time of this conference. Her research emphasis was on popular revolutionary movements in Latin America and the Middle East.

Description of Presentation:

Refugee populations often suffer from cultural and social dislocation as a consequence of civil war. Close-knit communities are split up into sub-units for a variety of political reasons, and families are often forced to relocate to provinces other than their home region. Homelessness and despair have emerged as critical problems among recent Kosovar refugees, displaced Kurdish people, as well as repatriated populations such as those in El Salvador.

It is both a short-term and long-term consequence that refugees feel disconnected and depressed as they struggle to seek a better future. Grave social issues such as violence, minimal educational opportunities, and unemployment increase the felt sense of dislocation and hopelessness. Despite the many challenges, former refugee populations seek ways to attain economic self-sufficiency, to establish functioning social networks in newly founded communities, and to encourage post-war generations of young people to develop into a productive and valued citizenry. Eccarius-Kelly examined ways in which refugees are being assisted, as well as the impediments refugees face in the context of different social, political, and cultural conditions.

The Homeless Home Movie

This award winning homeless video profiles several very different homeless people who struggle with homelessness during one year. The movie interweaves the stories of five very different homeless people.

The personal stories of the various homeless people are complemented by the contrasting viewpoints of two compelling homeless advocates, whose radically different ideas create a powerful and provocative debate throughout the video. Mary Jo Copeland, represents a traditional charitable and religious approach to homelessness. She is in sharp opposition to Mark Thisius, founder and leader of Up and Out of Poverty. Together all of these contemporary stories create a dramatic and diverse portrait of homelessness that provoke discussion about social, psychological, and political dimensions of poverty, homelessness, and welfare.

Pat Hennessey, producer of the film, writes and produces affordable educational and marketing videos and web sites for organizations in Minneapolis. Pat graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a B.A. in Marketing. He also studied journalism on a graduate fellowship at the University of Minnesota. Pat has written, produced, directed, and edited several award winning videos and believes that the videos we remember are those that touch us emotionally.

Mark Thisius has worked with homeless people since 1988. He has founded three nonprofit organizations (Up and Out of Poverty Now!, The Welfare Rights Committee, and Freedom Place, Inc.) that have used grassroots organizing and direct action to fight for social justice. Mr. Thisius helped organize the largest direct action campaign in US history on the part of homeless people in 1990-91. That involved housing occupations of vacant HUD homes throughout the major urban centers of this country.

Cappy Moore is a regular volunteer with Sharing and Caring Hands, an organization in Minneapolis that seeks to respond compassionately to the needs of the homeless and the poor. Cappy states "Our guiding principle at Sharing And Caring Hands is to treat each person with the same dignity and respect that we would if they were Christ, knowing in fact that they are."

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University was pleased to present the Twelfth Annual Peace Studies Conference on Tuesday, October 19, 1999 from 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Centenary Room, Quad 264, at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. The Peace Studies Department is grateful to Lorraine and Robert Breitenbucher for their financial assistance in presenting this conference.

This conference was free and open to the public

For more information on this conference call 320-363-2731 or 320-363-5784