Collaboration
Collaboration. A word that gets thrown around a lot during election season but rarely applicable. For a successful collaboration we require: Trust. It isn’t the only component but without trust there simply is NO collaboration.
To inspire trust, we must be willing to be held accountable. Collaboration fails if someone cannot be trusted to follow through and do their part. Collaboration isn’t just standing together when everyone agrees, the work is done by others and its time for a photo op. It’s about coming together to acknowledge different opinions and be willing to be held accountable for the role you propose to play in the collaboration. We should all share a common goal: the betterment of our community.
There are so many opinions on the homelessness crisis. Our unhoused population is significant. There are so many layers of issues that lead a human to this point in time and level of desperation. Shuffling them around isn’t going to help anyone but politicians using it as a springboard for election time press. Should we designate an area for them? There are considerable liabilities involved with that and who is willing to take those on?
It takes several community partners to come together to begin tackling this problem. However, all the members must be willing to do their part, as promised. When one member of a collaboration fails, we all fail. The housing issue is not something we are going to resolve overnight; it took decades to get to this level of desperation. The argument that these aren’t “our” homeless must stop. No matter where they were born or raised, they are here now.
It’s time to cast aside the monumental egos, prejudices, and short sightedness. It’s time to be willing to be held accountable to each do our part in tackling this problem. Trust is no longer given but must be earned by our governmental entities. Simply – do what you promise you’ll do. Do your part, be accountable — earn the trust of your community. Accountability has been absent far too long and we are living with the results of its absence.
Cynthia P. Lentini
Española
There’s help at Inside Out
Thank you for highlighting the homeless situation in Espanola in your front page article.
The situation is dire and growing exponentially. Inside Out has been serving the homeless through street outreach, food distribution, hygiene kit and clothing distribution, extreme weather sleeping bag distribution, as well as Narcan kit trainings and distribution for over 5 years in Española.
We serve hot nutritious breakfasts and lunches Monday through Thursday and served 548 meals in January. Packages of food are prepared for the days that we are closed to distribute. We also offer a mail service and computer lab for homeless individuals and farnilies.
We realize that this issue is growing and we appreciate that the citizens of Española are being apprised of the emergency through your well written article. It is our belief that handouts to assist with life situations are needed and a necessity however, the component of education and assistance through Peer Support are crucial to create movement toward change.
We offer Seeking Safety trauma groups, Life Skills I & II groups and Conflict Resolution groups every week to educate and support change. There were 101 group attendances last month. We also offer Certified Peer Support which is an Evidence Based Practice.
Certified Peer Support workers are people who have lived experience who have been certified and their relatability with those who are suffering is key for successful movement toward a better future. With the limited funding that we have, we do our best to serve anyone with a need regardless of financial situation. We also offer services in Spanish or English.
ln January, Inside Out was able to put flve people into treatment through these efforts. Each one is a step toward community healing, which takes time and patience. There are many agencies in Espanola who are eager to assist with this process and we hope to continue to be a part of this effort.
Kathy Sutherland-Bruaw
founder, grants officer
Inside Out Recovery