The X Committee has had an active summer this year, despite their recent focus on internal development.
Since securing a location for their new office, the X Committee has primarily been focused on growing as an organization. This summer, however, they were still a prominent presence in the community.
This year’s Annual Picnic and Fundraiser was held on July 22, 2006, at Rice Park in downtown St. Paul. The event was an opportunity for the group to celebrate their accomplishments, look forward to the future, and give back to the community.
The X-Committee members truly stepped up this year, completely organizing and running the event, and making use of more than 20 volunteers straight from their community. The day featured free food, which was donated by local vendors, and live entertainment, including music and balloon art, by people experiencing homelessness.
More importantly, though, the picnic attracted the larger St. Paul community. People walking by with their families stopped to see what all the music, dancing, and free food was all about. As a result, people got the chance to learn about the X Committee and see them in action.
On August 7, 2006, the Coalition and a few X Committee members traveled to Duluth to visit T-PAC, the Twin Ports Action Coalition. T-PAC is a group of, by and for people experiencing homelessness located in Duluth. They are fairly new but have already had an impact in their community, attending the Federal Briefing Session and collecting signatures for a petition against a new user fee that will affect the cost of voicemail for the homeless.
MCH staff and MCH Board Member Deb Holman, with the help of both X Committee and T-PAC, facilitated a discussion with members of the Duluth homeless community to discuss reasons people experience homelessness, new and emerging problems related to homelessness, what’s needed to prevent homelessness, and major resources that help people find and keep housing. The information generated from this discussion will be used to help shape this year’s legislative agenda.
The visit to Duluth also gave the X Committee and T-PAC an opportunity to build a relationship and communicate about some of the challenges they as homeless organizers face. They were able to discuss some of the accomplishments the two groups have achieved and look forward to future goals and possible future collaboration.
Stressed more than anything in this conversation was the importance of truly coming together to collectively work toward a common goal. Homeless organizing creates a space where people in the community can have their opinions valued and voices heard.
The Coalition and the X Committee look forward to continuing this dialogue in the future and hope to someday travel with T-PAC to spread the “homeless organizing movement” statewide.