Bringing together over 400 student leaders and activists from more than 90 schools around the country, Penn hosted the 15th annual Conference of the National Student Campaign against Hunger and Homelessness this weekend.
The three-day conference, which began on Friday morning with a Philadelphia Reality Tour, included over 50 workshops, 10 panels and speakers from some of the most influential political and social organizations in homelessness and hunger advocacy both domestically and abroad.
On Saturday morning, conference attendees were greeted with opening remarks by University President Judith Rodin followed by a presentation from the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless Donald Whitehead, who spoke about his organization's goals for major federal programs.
For Whitehead, the campaign against homelessness is a personal one. In the early 1990s, he spent five years on the streets of Cincinnati. Homeless and suffering from addiction, he entered a six-month treatment program and went on to become a major local advocate in Cincinnati and then a national advocate with the NCH.
"Homelessness not only remains unabated," Whitehead said, "it is increasing."
Estimates report that between two and three million Americans are homeless. But Whitehead remains optimistic about the power of advocates to end homelessness, telling his audience that "it is often on the campus of America that the cry for justice has begun."
In the afternoon, the "Faces of Homelessness" panel gave students a chance to hear about the realities of homelessness from three personal testimonies of speakers now committed to advocacy.
"It's nice the more you get faces in front of you and real stories," said Jeremy Brian, a senior at Johnson State University in Vermont. "It makes it that much easier to talk to a homeless person or to make a connection... for them to be able to tell their stories."
Many conference attendees commented on the importance of combining personal connection with advocacy.
"I also learned especially from hearing people's stories about the absolutely pivotal, absolutely unequivocable, necessary role that service plays in people's personal journeys," said Ben Brandzel, a senior from Brandeis University.
Suzanne Bressler from Washington University in St. Louis commented that she supports the conference's focus on "exchange of ideas and programming" that encourage students to move "not away from service, but beyond service to more advocacy." Supporting this model, Bressler was one of the student speakers who informed peers about a program she began where students invite people from a homeless shelter to eat in their campus dining hall.
Wrapping up the conference yesterday morning, students met in small groups to discuss what ideas they hope to bring back to their campuses.
It's "great to get down to the root causes of poverty and hunger, because most people stop at the service, but we have to take that next step... that's where change comes from," a minister from a Pennsylvania college said.
