Rotary’s
Homelessness
Initiative
Written By Kimberly Ewertz
R
otary International introduced
the Global Polio Eradication
Initiative in 1979 with the
intention to rid the world of
this paralyzing and potentially deadly
disease. The current 99.9 percent reduc-
tion rate of the disease is proof of Rotary’s
commitment, no matter how daunting.
In July, Mark Turner, President/CEO
of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce,
began his term as Gilroy Rotary Club
President. At the July 9 th meeting he
proposed a daunting local initiative:
decrease Gilroy’s homeless population
by 30 percent.
The impetus behind his initiative
began months earlier when David Cox,
Executive Director of St. Joseph’s Family
Center, (SJFC), invited Jennifer Loving,
CEO of Destination: Home, a nonprofit
working to end chronic homelessness,
to speak at a Rotary meeting.
“That’s what planted the seed for me,”
Turner said, adding after the presentation
he met with Cox and Love where he
proposed, “If Rotary can eradicate polio
in the world, why couldn’t they coalesce
the Gilroy community to address the
homeless issue in the region?”
Cox was shocked by such a bold
endeavor and told Turner he was,
“all in.”
“I’m going to support him to the best
of my ability as a friend, as a colleague,
and as a fellow Rotarian. Certainly as a
60
representative of SJFC, we will do our
best to support that,” Cox said.
The same month Tuner announced
the initiative, the 2019 Santa Clara
County Homeless Census and Survey
reported that the number of homeless
in Santa Clara County reached 9,706,
a 31 percent increase from the 2017
count, bolstering Turner’s belief that
there was no better time to pursue the
homeless initiative.
“The fact is we have the growing
problem in our communities so what
are we going to do about it in Gilroy,”
Turner said.
According to the census the current
number of homeless in Gilroy has
reached 706, and Turner realized
decreasing that number by 30 percent,
was an unrealistic goal. So he redirect
his focus to Gilroy’s homeless youth,
which experience a harder time
accessing services, shelter, medical
care, and employment.
In 2019, youth and young adults
represented 19 percent of the overall
homeless population in Santa Clara
County, a four percent rise over 2017,
Nearly one in five respondents reported
a history of foster care.
“We want to deal with foster care and
students at Gavilan College who may
be facing a housing crisis,” Turner said.
“We want to find out what agencies we
can pull together, how can we provide
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
FALL/HOLIDAY 2019
assistance, what monetary assistance
there is.”
Turner believes decreasing the number
of homeless foster care youth and college
students is a “doable project.”
“We can make a difference and as
Rotarians, whose job is to invest and help
locally, we should do this,” Turner said.
Even with the focus on a subset of
the homeless, to achieve the 30 percent
reduction rate would require more than
Turner’s one-year term, so he enlisted
help. Rotary presidents are selected two
years in advance, so Turner turned to
2020 incoming president Dr. Kathleen
Rose, and 2021’s, Ryan Dinsmore,
proposing each continue the initiative,
providing a three-year timeframe to reach
the projected goal.
Dinsmore, President of Dinsmore
Landscape Company, admits he was
skeptical at first.
“Homelessness is such a vast issue
that is getting worse and worse,” he said.
“Mark has a plan though. His passion to
want to see this project succeed shows
during our Director meetings. We will
be doing more research over the next six
months or so, to determine if we in fact
can do this as a club.”
Dr. Rose, President/Superintendent,
Gavilan College, also thought Turner’s
initiative quite bold, but was “certainly
on board with it.”
“We’re going to have to work to
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