Sacramento Homeless blog

Jvance Stewart, a Navigator of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, whom the Bee identifies as a people whisperer . Jvance Stewart and his fellow Navigators are cited as homeless- people whisperers in a story titled " Workers quietly help street people, guide them toward housing " in today's Sacramento Bee . Reporter Bill Lindelof tells us in his article that "Navigators are employed by the Downtown Sacramento Partnership , a nonprofit organization of property owners dedicated to improving the central business district." A recent issue of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership newsletter, called insideDowntown , gives us this definition of Navigators: The Navigator program’s primary goal is to effectively reduce the homelessness downtown by connecting the underserved homeless population with social and health care services. By developing personal relationships with cooperative individuals, Navigators connect street homeless with local community service programs t...

Carlotta Valdez. A young woman’s blogged commentary about homelessness she experienced as a teen has generated a flood of interest. It was only last Saturday that 19-year-old Carlotta Valdez posted a 15-item list, “ How to be homeless and remain undetected ” in her blog Lotta Valdez’ Weblog . [See SacHo 's earlier post, " Method for Teens to Exit Homelessness ."] The next day, Lotta posted “ Homeless, Pt. 2 ,” which addressed questions regarding her list, but mainly tells the story of her life experience since the age of 15. At age 16 or 17, Lotta was homeless for something just short of a year. In a wee few days, her two posts have generated 736 comments before commenting was stopped. Most of the early comments to the list post were from other young women who were amazed by Lotta’s wisdom and resourcefulness and astounded by her initiative and moxie. The words “wow” and “amazing” come up a lot. The commentary was overwhelmingly positive with a few people expressing sadn...

A set of instructions ostensively for keeping one's homelessness secret probably has better utility at helping a teenager escape the streets and find a more-normal life. The "instructions" were written by Lotta Valdez for Lotta Valdez Weblog , in a post titled " How to be homeless and remain undetected. " [ A post in Joel John Robert's L.A. Homeless Blog alerted us to this find.] Lotta tells us she was homeless for a year, but nobody knew it. Everything turned out all right for her, thank goodness. Following is the gist of Lotta's instructions with some thoughts on how they can be followed by a Sacramentan on our mean streets Note, the ideas are fully fleshed out in the post in Lotta's blog . Wear nondescript clothing. Dark clothing will hide dirt better. Invest in a prepaid cell phone. Never stay at a friend's house for more than three days. If you are under 18, adults who take you in can be charged with harboring a runaway. Get a bus pass. Ge...