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Note From Our Executive Director
As Connections prepares for the future, there are many uncertainties, but one thing we know for sure is that we are not scaling back. Our 24/7 emergency shelter remains open for 22 adults, our drop-in center operates weekdays from 9:30-2, serving 30-50 people each day, and our hotel operations are continuing despite the shelter-in-place order and City of Evanston funding support ending. We launched our 27-person COVID Response Team to maintain these expanded operations and to locate and secure permanent and stable housing for hotel residents. We have helped move 75 households into permanent housing since March, and we are committed to finding housing for every single person in our care.
Our work does not directly address the physical violence that George Floyd, Ahmaud Abery, Breonna Taylor, and many, many others have endured. It does, however address the daily violence that low-income people – who are disproportionately Black and Brown – experience when they are seeking housing, facing homelessness, or paying so much for housing that they cannot afford to pay for food, medicine, or other basic human needs. Connections is committed to dismantling the structural and systemic racism - including discriminatory and racist housing, zoning, and banking policies - that is responsible for imposing economic violence on generations of Black and Brown communities. We will continue to work to lift the voices of the oppressed and will remain open and welcoming to everyone. We continue to work with each person with respect, compassion, and generosity of spirit. Our COVID-response efforts have shown us that our vision to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring is within our grasp; ending homelessness truly is possible, but we can’t do it alone. Learn how you can support our work now on our COVID-19 Crisis Support Page. With gratitude, Betty A. Bogg Stay Informed
Read Connections' Daily Activity Log View from the Frontlines Photo Gallery In the News: March 18th Chicago Tribune Article March 25th Evanston Patch Article March 25th Evanston Round Table Article March 30th The Daily Northwestern Article April 14th Chicago Tribune Article April 15th Evanston Patch Article May 11th Chicago Tribune Article May 15th Evanston Round Table Article May 28th Evanston Round Table Article July 27th Evanston Now Article August 3 Evanston Now Article Press Releases: March 2020 Press Release April 2020 Press Release - Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and sign up to receive our newsletter below. Learn how you can support us right now by visiting our COVID-19 Crisis Support page. |
