Sacramento Turns Out for The Community Summit On Homelessness

“You do not have to be me in order for us to fight alongside each other. I do not have to be you to recognize that our wars are the same.” Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches – Quote courtesy of Zuri K. Colbert, CLAP

What a day! The Second Annual Community Summit on Homelessness, which the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee hosted on September 9 2023, at the spacious and welcoming First United Methodist Church in downtown Sacramento, deepened and expanded the connections between advocates, activists, unhoused leaders, dreamers, fighters, and thinkers for housing justice! As the SHOC member Bobbie Ramey-Clark said in her welcome address,

“We are here today to build our unity and people power, our vision of housing justice to uplift and educate each other.  We are building on the lessons of last year’s summit, and especially the need to organize and stay connected.”

The Organizations – A Representative Sample

Dozens of organizations sent their members and representatives to this energetic assembly of friends and allies – here’s a few of the organizations that gave the day energy and direction.

Public Health Advocates (PHA), a statewide organization that brings a public health lens to today’s most pressing problems, helps communities to pass laws, reform systems, and establish norms that foster justice, equity, and health. 

Community Lead Advocacy Program, (CLAP) was formed due to the lack of equity, resources, and representation for marginalized Sacramento communities. CLAP provides community reach-ups, viable resource links, Black hygiene living supplies, and community connection for Sacramento. 

Sojourner Truth African American History Museum — The mission of the museum is to open minds and change lives through the exploration of African American history, experiences, and culture through art education and outreach. The museum offers resources to document, preserve and educate the public on the history, life and culture of African Americans.

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) LSPC organizes communities impacted by the criminal justice system and advocates to release incarcerated people, to restore human and civil rights, and to reunify families and communities. LSPC build public awareness of structural racism in policing, the courts, and the prison system, and we advance racial and gender justice in all our work.

Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) – In Sacramento, ACCE is playing a critical role in voter outreach to build a progressive voting base and is fighting for the human right to housing and stronger tenant protections.

Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign – A National Call for Moral Revival (Sacramento PPC) – The campaign is uniting people across California to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality of religious nationalism.

Camp Resolution – Camp Resolution is a local self-governing encampment of unhoused people organized to provide a safe place to live and to advance the right to housing for residents and for the community as a whole.

Safe Ground Sacramento advocates for the decriminalization of homelessness and establishment of Safe Ground communities where those who are homeless may reside until they may obtain housing.

The Plenaries

The Community Summit featured three plenary sessions, where all attendees gathered together before separating into break-out sessions for networking and strategizing.

The first plenary, “The Realities of Racial Oppression” was presented by Zuri K. Colbert from CLAP, Sister Brenda from The Center on Race, Immigration, and Social Justice (CRISJ), and Harpreet Chima of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA). The session focused on Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. The circumstances that lead Black, Brown, Indigenous people to disproportionately experience homelessness cannot be untangled from the impact of institutional and structural racism in education, criminal justice, housing, employment, healthcare, and access to opportunities.

The second plenary, “What’s Going On,” focused on the police attacks on homeless encampments, displacing residents and confiscating property, and the housing crisis, highlighting the opportunities we have to organize and develop links with unhoused residents. Khanstoshea Zingapan from Black Zebra Impact Team and Niki Jones from SHOC presented, along with JKatt from the Island encampment. The session featured a heart-breaking documentary film made by Black Zebra, showing the mechanized claw used by the City breaking up tents and destroying survival gear as a resident weeps at the destruction and loss.

The Third Plenary, “Next Steps,” led to work groups that discussed ways to incorporate the energy of the day into legislation and lobbying, a group discussion on self-run outdoor communities, and a group discussing how to begin organizing for the publication of a Homeward Art Zine – a new format for Homeward Street Journal that can be distributed to encampments and sold by vendors citywide.

Other activities during the event included POLQA and Black Zebra hosting a Story Booth that will produce a video of the voices of those impacted by homelessness, and also Anissa’s Art Corner provided art activities.

Perhaps the most important gathering in the course of the day was the Listening Session that brought together residents of encampments in Sacramento and Oakland to discuss their solutions to homelessness, expressing the empowerment that is rooted in community and self-governance for encampments.

What a day! We are already planning for next year’s Community Summit, broadening the coalition that will host the event and envisioning how the Sacramento community can unite around the housing crisis and bring our unhoused residents home – the place where they belong.