National Coalition for the Homeless

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This article is about the national organization. For the original advocacy group it was based on see Coalition for the Homeless

The National Coalition for the Homeless is a non-profit organization providing direct assistance for homeless people with a variety of needs which include shelter, food, affordable housing and opportunities to work and earn a living wage. The Coalition also acts as an advocacy group on behalf of the homeless to protect their rights as citizens and human beings. The goal of the Coalition is to provide long-term, humane solutions to homelessness.

"NCH" was created in 1982 based in large part on the Coalition for the Homeless. Since then many other cities in the United States have created organizations which are members of the network, such as Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Houston. There are also statewide coalitions, like those in Massachusetts and Colorado, and organizations focusing on the region. The local factions of Coalition for the Homeless often rely on volunteers to help with the programs assisting those who are homeless and at risk of being homeless.

In addition to housing, the Coalition helps provide a variety of services to the homeless, near-homeless and formerly-homeless community such as job placement, medical assistance, food and clothing distribution, legal advice and aid, transportation, and self-help counseling. There are also local projects which seek to make the issue of homelessness more visible to the public, such as the One Night Count, conducted by the Coalition of the Homeless in the Seattle area. On January 26, 2006, volunteers in the One Night Count event found 1,946 unsheltered homeless between the hours of 2 am and 5 am.


NCH projects include: National Homeless Persons Memorial Day (since 1990 on December 21st each year, the longest night of the year, we honor all the men, women and children who have died while homeless, National Homeless Civil Rights Project, the "You Don't Need A Home to Vote" campaign, Bringing America Home Campaign, Hate Crimes and Violence on Main Street USA reports, Criminalization of Homelessness reports and our "Faces of Homelessness" Speakers' Bureau comprised of currently and formerly homeless individuals who share their personal story and experience with homelessness to groups all across the country, primarily high schools, youth groups and colleges. The goal of the Speakers' Bureau is to put a human face to homelessness, to break the stereotypes and misconceptions people have about homelessness and educate young people on how they can get involved in their community to help end homelessness.

[edit] External links

[edit] National and Local Organizations

This is a partial list of the many local Coalition for the Homeless branches in the United States.