A new online resource, launched by the National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP), aims to promote coordination and collaboration among advocates and law organizations working in the field of homelessness.
Called “Street Lawyer: Legal Tools for Economic Justice,” is a forum for like-minded groups and professionals nationwide to share information, documents and experience related to working with homelessness, as well as to obtain additional resources for their activities and to connect with others to discuss issues online.
The Homelessness Wiki is organized in six segments – a News section, an Events Calendar, a Discussion Forum, a Take Action section providing links to ongoing national campaigns and projects related to homelessness issues, a Partners list, linking users to NLCHP partner organizations, and advocacy Manual containing information on current legislation, fact sheets and guidelines for advocates in a variety of areas related to homelessness.
According to Tulin Ozdeger, Civil Rights Director at NLCHP and Lana Tilley, an executive and program assistant at the organization, the idea for the Homelessness Wiki came from an NLCHP board member. Ozdeger and Tilley say they were inspired to follow through with the idea, since they knew from experience how many resources and materials on homelessness are “out there” but are not being used in a coherent fashion.
In that sense, the Homelessness Wiki seemed to be the ideal way to pool and organize resources in one central place where users could access them, while at the same time obtaining news and updates on recent developments and allowing users to share their opinions and experiences.
Ozdeger emphasizes that this interactive component is an important aspect of the new project. The new website also serves, even if indirectly, as a vehicle for publicizing the work and publications of the National Law Center’s and its partner organizations’ work and publications.
