COLUMN: Creating Community Beyond Comfort
embracing diversity necessary in the fight against homelessness
The concept of community varies greatly from person to person. We tend to think of our community as the people we see regularly, choose to engage with, or with whom we have similar interests. But the thing about community that we often forget is that it wouldn’t exist without diversity. Variations of backgrounds, interests, and perspectives are the impetus of community and growth. Curiosity, empathy, and nonjudgmental outreach are what cohere a community. It may be comfortable to curate what we see as our “community,” but this idea can isolate many who don’t have that option. Mental health, employment, and housing challenges are some of the factors that prevent many people from this privilege. So, while it may be easy to turn a blind eye and only nurture what we perceive as our community, doing so has a dangerous effect on marginalized groups in our city. With this, and subsequent columns, our goal is to help readers gain a better understanding of how homelessness happens, and what is needed from each of us to work towards a solution. Working to end homelessness is the responsibility of the entire community, and we cannot begin to work on the solution without education, humility, and understanding.
Many of us are one medical issue or other devastating event away from being without housing, so who are we to make blanket judgments about those currently unhoused and how they got there?
Throughout this series, we will hear and learn from folks with important insights pertaining to one of the marginalized populations within our own community that needs the most help and compassion: the unhoused. We will share stories from people who have personally experienced homelessness; those whose loved ones are – or have been – without housing; individuals who work to help unhoused people; and the experiences and barriers to providing the necessary assistance.
There is a rising number of unhoused individuals living on the streets in Eau Claire, and many more experiencing other levels of homelessness. Each of these people has a story. Each of them is without housing for different reasons. The onus is on all of us to learn these stories, to listen and show compassion, to consider how easily we could find ourselves in a similar position. Many of us are one medical issue or other devastating event away from being without housing, so who are we to make blanket judgments about those currently unhoused and how they got there? Until we truly get to know our neighbors and their needs, we are only putting Band-Aids on a much larger social issue.
Just as the stories of each of these people matter, and are unique, so are each of your stories and perspectives. We intend to gain insight from community members, and hope that some of their experiences resonate with you. Eau Claire is full of caring, innovative, and diverse people, and this sort of collaborative conversation can surely open opportunities to enact real healing and change.
Alexandra Vang is a longtime Eau Claire resident. This is the first in a series of columns addressing the issue of homelessness in the Chippewa Valley. If you have professional or personal experience with homelessness and would like to submit a column to be considered as part of this series, please email editorial@volumeone.org.