A panel discussion about homelessness in Longmont on Thursday is bringing together homeless advocates to discuss how COVID-19 is still exerting unique pressures on families and individuals in need, the panel moderator said.
“We are choosing this time (to hold the panel) since during COVID we tripled our programming to meet the need,” Kimberly Braun, director of development for HOPE, Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement, said recently via email. “And now even though COVID seems to have abated, the need is still there and growing.”
“Inflation, socio-economic challenges and crisis, and so many other factors,” Braun said. “You see around the world that many cities are coming up with innovative programs to meet the needs in new and effective ways. HOPE is doing that in partnership with other agencies and we see ourselves as a community needing to open up to new solutions.”
HOPE’s “Face of Homelessness … It is Time to Talk” is set for May 19, 5-830 p.m. in front of the Longmont Museum, 400 Quail Road.
The slated panelists are:
- Alice Sueltenfuss, executive director of HOPE.
- Melissa Green, executive director of Bridge House
- Tim Rakow, executive director of The Inn Between
- Shannan Colllis, Mother House.
The panel will begin at 6 p.m., with questions. The event is free and open to the public.
