[Applause]
imagine your childhood imagine that you
were playing in the sad sandbox
riding bikes with your friends in
general creating havoc wherever you went
maybe playing hopscotch and jump rope o
things that you think of with your
childhood that make you feel warm and
now also imagine living in cars instead
of houses trailers that maybe you
weren’t safe or beneficial to your
health or wondering what relative’s
that was my childhood we had
intermittent periods of homelessness
this is me and my brother up here yes I
am older no I don’t look like it but
that picture represents something it
represents what we think of childhood as
versus what it actually was for me in
the u.s. right now one in 30 children
will experience homelessness at some
point in time in their childhood 50
percent of those children are under the
age of five to break that down a little
bit further for you
that’s the equivalent of one child in
every classroom at every grade level
every year even further find people in
this room have experienced the same
things that I have also what you may not
know is that the United States has the
largest homeless population in the
developing countries around the world
you don’t often think about that and
oftentimes we don’t think about these
stat
associated with our country I don’t
share my story with you to make you feel
sad although I’m sure that you do or
feel uncomfortable I share it with you
because I believe that sharing your
story matters and that I want to
redefine what the word homelessness
means I also want to empower and give
voice to those who like myself have
experienced homelessness or extreme
poverty and let you know that you have a
great place in the world and that the
things that you have to share and to say
matter and very impactful as I grew in
childhood and got to be a teenager I
really didn’t care what other people had
to say about what was good for my
well-being
why because I had already experienced so
many things that to me adults didn’t
always know the best choices for me
consequently it didn’t always do so well
in school I wouldn’t recommend that to
anybody by the way but I failed freshman
English class on purpose because I
didn’t care I was more concerned with
the idea because I had spent so much
time the idea of the struggle to survive
which is vastly different than the
struggle to obtain more education or to
do better in that normal place that we
have set up our society so when I got to
my senior year in high school obviously
I had to retake freshman English I
wasn’t happy about that
but um my English teacher mr. Seavers it
was this very phenomenal teacher and we
were talking I really don’t remember
what the subject was that we were
talking about but here’s what I do
remember mr. Seavers stopped the class
and he said I think we need to revisit
something it’s not necessarily related
to English and he turned around on the
chalkboard and he wrote the numbers
$40,000 and I’m going what what what is
that and he said that’s my annual income
that’s what I make as a teacher $40,000
like there’s so much you can do with
that and in my mind he might as well
have vet wrote down one million dollars
because that was the equivalent of
$40,000 to me up until that point in my
life I had no frame of reference for
what was considered normal income for a
family so $40,000 to me was a lot at
that time but it also did something else
for me it gave me something with which
to build upon suddenly I understood how
poor we had been growing up but I also
understood what the possibilities were
and they were endless at that point if
$40,000 was attainable what else could I
do with my life I would go on then
because of those experience combined
with the experience of intermittent
homelessness as a child I would go on to
become a non-profit director and I would
help families achieve housing for the
first time in low income brackets or on
the flip side I helped families retain
their housing prevent foreclosure and I
did that for a number of years I also
have a strong passion for reading and
writing believe it or not that was one
of the things that I did a lot as a
child in my alone time because libraries
are wonderful because you can access a
book for free so I became an author
because if my voice matters then that
means that I can speak about these
topics through my writing and I can give
voice to those who maybe don’t have a
voice and also help create this dialogue
so that we can talk about these things
in a civil manner homelessness was a
profound impact on me and it carries
with you throughout your life the
realities of homelessness is that it’s
pervasive in our country in our
communities but you don’t see it I am
sure that many of us didn’t realize that
the largest portion of the homeless is
children and not only that but they’re
the ones most affected by things that we
don’t think that are going to be
affected by right now consider this in
the u.s. there are 71 cities that have
enacted policy or laws that make it
illegal to feed the homeless
now we think of homeless oftentimes as
the man sleeping under the underpass or
maybe fell on hard times or whatever the
circumstances that created it it’s
oftentimes not wrapped around the fact
that there are children involved 9 times
out of 10 so when you make a policy that
says it’s illegal to feed the homeless
then I ask myself does that all
so translate to legalizing the neglect
and well-being of children safety and
health and the issues that revolve
around them I am sure that those 71
cities hadn’t intended for that to be
the impact when they enacted those
policies but that’s the reality of what
happens I believe that it is a very
possible to prevent homelessness but I
also think that we have a tendency
myself included to look at problems and
say well if I didn’t create it then it’s
not my problem to solve and I asked
myself is that really true do I really
not have the capability to look at this
and say well that problem exists how can
I help to solve it and I encourage
I’ve come a long way since my childhood
and I’ve done amazing and extraordinary
things I’ve traveled outside of the
country I’ve met many people all over
the world you don’t realize how many
people are affected by homelessness and
you may not even know it in fact more
than 53 celebrities have experienced
homelessness Halle Berry David Letterman
Tyler Perry that says that this is a
problem that we’ve had for a long time
that it’s bigger than we know and that
it affects many many more people than we
realize
probably we’re never going to recognize
them on the street because they look
normal like you and I it also says that
many times those of us who have
experienced it
we’ll go on to do extraordinary and
hope that what I’ve shared with you and
that by sharing my story that it gives
voice to a topic that maybe we hadn’t
known what kind of dialogue should wrap
around that maybe creates meaningful
dialogue and that by sharing my story
with those who may not have experienced
it now we have a common thread to talk
about you can share with me what that
means to you and I can share with you
what it looks like from my side I also
hope for those of you in the audience
that have experienced the same things
that I have that you recognize that your
voice matters that your story matters
and that it can change lives
significantly you can do great things if
you choose to share the uncomfortable
things thank you [Applause]
imagine your childhood imagine that you
were playing in the sad sandbox
riding bikes with your friends in
general creating havoc wherever you went
maybe playing hopscotch and jump rope o
things that you think of with your
childhood that make you feel warm and
now also imagine living in cars instead
of houses trailers that maybe you
weren’t safe or beneficial to your
health or wondering what relative’s
that was my childhood we had
intermittent periods of homelessness
this is me and my brother up here yes I
am older no I don’t look like it but
that picture represents something it
represents what we think of childhood as
versus what it actually was for me in
the u.s. right now one in 30 children
will experience homelessness at some
point in time in their childhood 50
percent of those children are under the
age of five to break that down a little
bit further for you
that’s the equivalent of one child in
every classroom at every grade level
every year even further find people in
this room have experienced the same
things that I have also what you may not
know is that the United States has the
largest homeless population in the
developing countries around the world
you don’t often think about that and
oftentimes we don’t think about these
stat
associated with our country I don’t
share my story with you to make you feel
sad although I’m sure that you do or
feel uncomfortable I share it with you
because I believe that sharing your
story matters and that I want to
redefine what the word homelessness
means I also want to empower and give
voice to those who like myself have
experienced homelessness or extreme
poverty and let you know that you have a
great place in the world and that the
things that you have to share and to say
matter and very impactful as I grew in
childhood and got to be a teenager I
really didn’t care what other people had
to say about what was good for my
well-being
why because I had already experienced so
many things that to me adults didn’t
always know the best choices for me
consequently it didn’t always do so well
in school I wouldn’t recommend that to
anybody by the way but I failed freshman
English class on purpose because I
didn’t care I was more concerned with
the idea because I had spent so much
time the idea of the struggle to survive
which is vastly different than the
struggle to obtain more education or to
do better in that normal place that we
have set up our society so when I got to
my senior year in high school obviously
I had to retake freshman English I
wasn’t happy about that
but um my English teacher mr. Seavers it
was this very phenomenal teacher and we
were talking I really don’t remember
what the subject was that we were
talking about but here’s what I do
remember mr. Seavers stopped the class
and he said I think we need to revisit
something it’s not necessarily related
to English and he turned around on the
chalkboard and he wrote the numbers
$40,000 and I’m going what what what is
that and he said that’s my annual income
that’s what I make as a teacher $40,000
like there’s so much you can do with
that and in my mind he might as well
have vet wrote down one million dollars
because that was the equivalent of
$40,000 to me up until that point in my
life I had no frame of reference for
what was considered normal income for a
family so $40,000 to me was a lot at
that time but it also did something else
for me it gave me something with which
to build upon suddenly I understood how
poor we had been growing up but I also
understood what the possibilities were
and they were endless at that point if
$40,000 was attainable what else could I
do with my life I would go on then
because of those experience combined
with the experience of intermittent
homelessness as a child I would go on to
become a non-profit director and I would
help families achieve housing for the
first time in low income brackets or on
the flip side I helped families retain
their housing prevent foreclosure and I
did that for a number of years I also
have a strong passion for reading and
writing believe it or not that was one
of the things that I did a lot as a
child in my alone time because libraries
are wonderful because you can access a
book for free so I became an author
because if my voice matters then that
means that I can speak about these
topics through my writing and I can give
voice to those who maybe don’t have a
voice and also help create this dialogue
so that we can talk about these things
in a civil manner homelessness was a
profound impact on me and it carries
with you throughout your life the
realities of homelessness is that it’s
pervasive in our country in our
communities but you don’t see it I am
sure that many of us didn’t realize that
the largest portion of the homeless is
children and not only that but they’re
the ones most affected by things that we
don’t think that are going to be
affected by right now consider this in
the u.s. there are 71 cities that have
enacted policy or laws that make it
illegal to feed the homeless
now we think of homeless oftentimes as
the man sleeping under the underpass or
maybe fell on hard times or whatever the
circumstances that created it it’s
oftentimes not wrapped around the fact
that there are children involved 9 times
out of 10 so when you make a policy that
says it’s illegal to feed the homeless
then I ask myself does that all
so translate to legalizing the neglect
and well-being of children safety and
health and the issues that revolve
around them I am sure that those 71
cities hadn’t intended for that to be
the impact when they enacted those
policies but that’s the reality of what
happens I believe that it is a very
possible to prevent homelessness but I
also think that we have a tendency
myself included to look at problems and
say well if I didn’t create it then it’s
not my problem to solve and I asked
myself is that really true do I really
not have the capability to look at this
and say well that problem exists how can
I help to solve it and I encourage
I’ve come a long way since my childhood
and I’ve done amazing and extraordinary
things I’ve traveled outside of the
country I’ve met many people all over
the world you don’t realize how many
people are affected by homelessness and
you may not even know it in fact more
than 53 celebrities have experienced
homelessness Halle Berry David Letterman
Tyler Perry that says that this is a
problem that we’ve had for a long time
that it’s bigger than we know and that
it affects many many more people than we
realize
probably we’re never going to recognize
them on the street because they look
normal like you and I it also says that
many times those of us who have
experienced it
we’ll go on to do extraordinary and
hope that what I’ve shared with you and
that by sharing my story that it gives
voice to a topic that maybe we hadn’t
known what kind of dialogue should wrap
around that maybe creates meaningful
dialogue and that by sharing my story
with those who may not have experienced
it now we have a common thread to talk
about you can share with me what that
means to you and I can share with you
what it looks like from my side I also
hope for those of you in the audience
that have experienced the same things
that I have that you recognize that your
voice matters that your story matters
and that it can change lives
significantly you can do great things if
you choose to share the uncomfortable
things thank you [Applause]
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