1. By Maya Alexandra National Coalition for the Homeless

2. The National Coalition for the Homeless is a non-profit organization that provides assistance for homeless people including shelter, food, affordable housing, and opportunities to work and earn a living wage.

3. Their goal is to protect the rights of the homeless as citizens and human beings.

4. The National Coalition for the Homeless, founded in 1982, is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission.

5. That mission, our common bond, is to end homelessness.

6. We are committed to creating the systemic and attitudinal changes necessary to prevent and end homelessness.

7. “ We work to meet the immediate needs of people who are currently experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of doing so.”

8. In addition to housing, the Coalition helps provide a variety of services to the homeless, near-homeless and formerly-homeless community such as job placement, medical assistance, food and clothing distribution, legal advice and aid, transportation, and self-help counseling.

9. 80,000 homeless individuals in Chicago cannot find permanent, adequate housing.

10. The cost of housing in Chicago is 37% higher than the national average.

11. Michael Stoops tells reporters that the organization has named Little Rock the meanest city toward the homeless in the nation. The group ranked it above Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York.

12. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, Los Angeles is one of the top five “meanest” cities in the United States. Municipal laws criminalize homelessness by prohibiting “anyone from sitting, lying or sleeping on any public sidewalk, street, or alley at all times anywhere.”

13. Homeless persons are at great risk of hypothermia, poor nutrition, chronic health problems, physical attack and even death.

14. We take as our first principle of practice that people who are currently experiencing homelessness or have formerly experienced homelessness must be actively involved in all of our work.

15. Help the homeless Join the National Coalition for the Homeless Thank you.