gmhTODAY 28 gmhTODAY Oct-Dec 2019 | Page 60

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 gmhtoday.com