Preparing for the new school year
Greetings Trojan Shelter Family,
The Trojan Shelter Executive Board hopes that you have had a wonderful summer so far.
As Trojans, we are, of course, starting the semester off with a bang. Our Presidents, Abigail Leung and Esther Cha, were invited to be guest speakers at the USC Alumni Leadership Conference on September 6th. We are excited to send them off to not only find support for our organization, but to share our mission and our ultimate end goal to alleviate homelessness for college students.
In recent news, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, co-chairs of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Homeless and Supportive Housing Advisory Task Force, plan on making it a legal right to shelter, an idea they took from New York.
There are two parts to this: 1) it would compel cities to create large enough shelters that have enough room to always accept individuals who ask, and 2) if someone who is experiencing homelessness is offered shelter, he or she would be required to accept it.
There is ambiguity about how that second part would be enforced and how the law would be implemented. Options include going through state legislation, an executive order by Governor Gavin Newsom, or having each city pass their own ordinances.
Though having a legal right to shelter might sound good, Trojan Shelter has seen the many nuanced situations that might cause someone to experience homelessness, and we need to see policies that can capture these niche experiences. We are wary to see how this law would be enforced if passed, as our mission is to uplift individuals experiencing homelessness, not punish. This plan, however, is still quite new, and we will be watching closely to see how it may develop.
As we get closer to opening our shelter, we are excited to see our city and government take action to help us address the greater issue of homelessness. We will continue to update our wonderful community, as we progress even further towards our shelter.
For our volunteers, we hope that your much needed break from classes and extracurricular schedules has been restful. Trojan Shelter asked a lot from you last semester, and we are grateful for all of your hard work. With just 24 days away from the new semester, we are looking to you to help us continue the work we left on pause only a couple of months ago. During the first couple of weeks, we will be starting recruitment season to intake new volunteers. We are looking for driven, service-oriented, creative, and hardworking people to add to our team. Keep a look-out for people in your circles who you think would be interested in our work and a great addition to our team.
To the diverse community that has come alongside us in this journey, we thank you for your continuous support, and encourage you to share our mission, as knowledge of this newly visible issue is the first step in addressing it. May the rest of your summer be safe, rejuvenating and joyful.
Fight on!
Matthew Lee, Director of Media
For more information about Trojan Shelter, go to our new website: trojanshelter.org
To help support us financially, go to trojanshelter.org/donate. Make sure to specify that your tax-deductible donation will be going to Trojan Shelter!