Caring for Poor is Not Enough — They Need Advocacy Too

If you are facing homelessness, unemployment or hunger, your life is at the mercy of forces beyond your control. Your everyday existence is influenced by the whims of case workers, charity staff, law officers — and the lawmakers who shape our nation’s policies. 

As president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA — one of the largest Catholic charities in the country working to prevent homelessness — I have been reflecting on this dynamic in American politics and political discourse. The dynamic is particularly unhelpful now, when many of those we serve do not have situations that fit into neatly politicized boxes. The most common demographic profile of those on the brink of homelessness, for instance, is “a single custodial adult raising minor aged children.”