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WHEREAS each year, one week before Thanksgiving, The National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness co-sponsor National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. During this week, schools, communities and cities take part in a nationwide effort to bring greater awareness to the problems of hunger and homelessness; and
WHEREAS approximately 3.5 million people are likely to experience homelessness in a given year. Families with children are among the fastest growing segments of the homeless population. In the United States alone, an estimated 1.35 million children are likely to experience homelessness over the course of a year; and
WHEREAS locally, The Homeless Children's Education Fund has partnered with the aforementioned organizations to spread awareness of homelessness and hunger throughout the city. Based in the Strip District, The HCEF, which has served Pittsburgh for 10 years is committed to providing children who reside in residential shelters with the resources they need to better their education; and
WHEREAS the HCEF recently opened its 10th learning center in East Liberty. The new facility, the Sojourner House, provides in-patient drug & alcohol treatment for mothers and their children, and also provides a MOMS program, which provides supportive housing to single mothers who are homeless and who suffer from mental illness and the disease of addiction. Sojourner MOMS is based on the idea that with stable housing and appropriate services, women can maintain sobriety, achieve increased self-sufficiency, and build a stronger family life for their children; and
WHEREAS this new facility, along with the numerous other homelessness awareness initiatives that the Homeless Children's Education Fund has sponsored, is working toward achieving self-sufficiency among the region's homeless.
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NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby wish to recognize the efforts of the HCEF and further, wishes to promote awareness of the issues of hunger and homelessness by declaring the week of November 16-22 Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in the City of Pittsburgh.