Officials to visit CMU in a forum about Pittsburgh’s homeless

More than 627 children living in Pittsburgh are homeless.

So are more than 336 people with physical disablities and 313 victims of domestic violence, according to the Community Human Services.

Tomorrow, five local and national officials will gather in Carnegie Mellon’s University Center from 11 a.m. to noon to discuss ways to improve homeless services and increase public awareness about the issue.

Among the speakers at “One Paycheck Away: the Reality of Homelessness in Pennsylvania” will be U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., who represents Allegheny County.

Matt Dinkel, Doyle’s press secretary, said the representative’s speech is part of a larger effort to respond to the recession, which has made homelessness more prevalent in the United States, including the Pittsburgh area.

“Congressman Doyle will be talking about the federal government’s role in fighting homelessness, particularly what we, as the federal government, have done in in the past eight months,” Dinkel said.

Other leaders speaking include Sarah Kahn of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Mike Lindsay of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Adrienne Walnoha of nonprofit Community Human Services and Rev. Mike Wurschmidt of Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship.

By speaking at the event, Doyle shows his support for the efforts being made to help the homeless in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

Doyle said he believes the economic downturn has shown that poverty can fall upon anyone and is a large factor for those who are or have become homeless, according to a news release.

Doyle also serves on the local Homeless Children’s Education Fund advisory board and said he hopes the community helps take the issue of homelessness and prevent further cases from occurring.

Tomorrow night’s speakers will prelude an even larger event — the second annual 2009 Sleep-in for the Homeless. The event is scheduled to take place at the City-County Building Downtown on Oct. 9 and is designed to help homeless citizens of all ages through the programs of Community Human Services.

The goal of the event is for participants to sleep outside overnight Oct. 9-10 in an effort to grasp an understanding about homelessness while helping to raise funds for more than 1,500 homeless individuals that the CHS supports each year.

The event features speakers, songwriters, local politicians and homeless advocates. Activities during the Sleep-in are also planned, and they include poverty simulations, reaching out to people living on the streets and music-writing campaigns.

At this year’s Sleep-in, speakers such as Pennsylvania state Sens. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, and John Pippy, R-Moon, as well as Pitt’s vice chancellor of community and government relations, G. Reynolds Clark.

Participants are asked to get donations from their friends and family and pledge a minimum of $25. The money raised will help CHS programs, which provide 220 homeless citizens emergency shelter, along with food and aid for 400 homeless citizens.

Diane McMahon, CHS development director, said 2,400 people are homeless in Pittsburgh on any given night and CHS serves about 1,500 homeless people per year.

“We wanted to galvanize attention around the fact that homelessness is growing in Pittsburgh and that there are things we can do about it,” McMahon said.

McMahon said she hopes the event will raise awareness and money to help the people who need it most.

“The money raised will help the many programs the CHS has, such as emergency shelter, housing programs, food donations and free health care,” she said.

The event will be the second annual Sleep-in for the Homeless in Downtown Pittsburgh. Last year, participants raised $20,000.

Many college students from schools in the surrounding area participate, McMahon said.

“The hardest thing about this event is sleeping outside overnight. You really need passion for the cause to do something like this,” McMahon said.

Students can register for the forum on Sept. 3 by contacting Diane McMahon of CHS at 412-246-1608 or e-mailing her at dmcmahon@chscorp.org. Registration, donations and other information pertaining to the Sleep-in can be found by visiting http://sleepinforthehomeless.blogspot.com.