Newark's Neediest Get Helping Hand

Brenda Dean said she spends her days at Newark Penn Station and her nights at Newark Liberty International Airport. The 56-year-old isn't a frequent traveler, she's homeless.

"Survive. You have to survive out here," she said while seated on a bench at Penn Station in the early morning hours Wednesday. She carried a bag of food and a copy of the day's newspaper. "You have to be able to learn how to cope with certain things that go on around you ... If you can't survive on the streets, you can end up losing your mind."

Dean was one of more than 75 homeless people surveyed this week as part of Newark 50, a project aimed to house 50 of the city's most vulnerable homeless men and women.

Tonya Bryan, Newark's policy advisor for homelessness, said the project is part of the larger 100,000 Homes Campaign headed by Common Ground to house 100,000 homeless nationwide by July 2013. The program has helped house roughly 9,100 people since its launch in 2010.

"Ending homelessness is not just bricks and mortar, but there are resources that are there for this chronic population," she said. "And, so, it's just a matter of tapping into it."

Bryan said the goal of Newark 50 is to find permanent housing for 25 people by December and another 25 by December 2012.

Linda Kaufman, eastern U.S. field organizer with the 100,000 Homes Campaign, said 50 is a good starting number for the city.

"There are more chronically homeless people than 50 (in the city), but what happens is that the volunteers really get their heads around housing the first 50 and then they recognize the community wants to help more," she said.

A January 2009 Point-in-Time report, which measures the county's homeless population, put the total number, including children, at roughly 1,738 in Essex County. Of those, 938 adults and 504 children were in Newark. A county report states, though, raw data from that survey, shows "a more accurate annualized estimate" of homeless residents in Essex County is between 3,700 and 3,900.

In order to identify Newark's most vulnerable, Bryan and 45 volunteers scoured the city's streets in the early morning hours Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to conduct questionnaires. The five-page Vulnerability Index Survey asked about housing history, medical needs, military service and income.

Chip Cliffe, 56, of Jersey City, who is the run coordinator for Summit-based Bridges Outreach, led a team Wednesday to Penn Station, where they met Dean and roughly 10 other homeless men and women.

"In addition to helping people by finding food and clothing, we really want to be a part of finding long-term solutions to get people off the street," he said. "People are really desperate for help, so any help they might get, such as a hand off the street, they're willing to give it a chance."

Travis, 40, a volunteer who declined to give his full name, said he's currently homeless and walked two miles from Newark's South Ward to help the group at Penn Station.

"Over the past two years, I've met so many people living on the street and got to know their stories and I think there's a lot of work that can be done if you get out and touch the right people," he said. "I think this is something that can help raise awareness and awareness is always something that can help solve a problem. "

Dean, who said she's been homeless since 2004 after "trouble with the law," said she's willing to fill out the survey and await the help, "I lost my apartment and nobody wanted me to stay with them, so I ended up getting put in the streets. They come through and do this survey, which is nice. And lots of times, they ... have clothes and food."

Those who participated in the survey received a $5 food card.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said the program is a start to housing more homeless in the city, "The plight of the homeless population of the city of Newark challenges us as a community and a society. We must address this continuing crisis, by manifesting our spiritual strength and compassion to empower these citizens with the tools they need to build productive lives."

Booker teamed up with Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. last year to launch a 10-year campaign to address homelessness in the county.

Bryan said the street surveys are the first step of the initiative. The next is surveying homeless people in shelters. Then, the answers received are entered in a database that ranks vulnerability, according to Bryan.

"This week, we find out who they are, where they are and what their needs are," she said. "So, now we go back to the table and lineup our resources in a more specific way so we can go back out and get these people off the street."

When asked if she thought she'd ever be off the streets, Dean said she's hopeful to have her own apartment in the future, "I'm going to be moving into, hopefully by September … a nice apartment."