Fix Homelessness How to rebuild human lives
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Marvin Olasky

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Warm food for the poor and homeless
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Author
Marvin Olasky
Date
June 14, 2024
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Homelessness
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Mission Possible: Feeding Bellies and Hearts in Austin

Marvin Olasky
June 14, 2024
Homelessness
Last month, starting on a Sunday morning, I learned more about the intractability of homelessness in my home city, Austin, Texas. During three decades of "Church Under the Bridge" Sunday morning services, some of the faces have changed but the overall tragedy of lost lives has not. Read More ›
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male homeless and his dog
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Marvin Olasky
Date
June 7, 2024
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Homelessness
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Beyond the “Vets, Pets, and Kids” View of Homelessness

Marvin Olasky
June 7, 2024
Homelessness
This column starts my third year of weekly writing about homelessness, with the goal of learning, teaching, and eventually turning the columns into a book. Both human interest and intellectual interest propel me. I'll start with the human interest and the two words "suffered enough." The expression comes to mind every time I live in a homeless shelter for a few days and ask residents about their pasts. Read More ›
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Vintage print of lunch time in farmhouse: boy, girls and children eat together in the kitchen and feed a pet dog
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Author
Marvin Olasky
Date
May 31, 2024
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Homelessness
What Works
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Helping New York Orphans: What Went Wrong, and Right

Marvin Olasky
May 31, 2024
Homelessness, What Works
The past two weeks I’ve given a largely positive view of how Charles Brace and others helped homeless children in New York (and other northeastern cities). But when orphan trains headed west from 1853 to 1929, sometimes things went wrong. Read More ›
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A young American farmer sheep in a pen during sunset
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Author
Marvin Olasky
Date
May 24, 2024
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Homelessness
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Go West, Children: How Charles Brace Placed Orphans in Families

Marvin Olasky
May 24, 2024
Homelessness
Last week I wrote about how Charles Brace set up homes for homeless children but did not see institutionalization as ideal. He wondered whether it was possible to find thousands of families willing to take responsibility for the children of the streets. The problem seemed enormous. Brace wrote: "How were places to be found? . . . And when the children were placed, how were their interests to be watched over, and acts of oppression or hard dealing prevented or punished?" Read More ›
in-1789-a-charming-five-year-old-chimney-sweep-toiled-through-tough-days-in-the-bustling-streets-embodying-the-spirit-of-a-spirited-eighteenth-century-street-urchin-stockpack-adobe-stock
In 1789 a charming five year old chimney sweep toiled through tough days in the bustling streets embodying the spirit of a spirited eighteenth century street urchin
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Author
Marvin Olasky
Date
May 17, 2024
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Homelessness
What Works
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Caring for Orphans in New York City

Marvin Olasky
May 17, 2024
Homelessness, What Works
Two columns ago I mentioned Charles Brace's concern about high rents in New York City. When Brace founded the New York Children's Aid Society in 1853, he began by setting up religious meetings aimed at orphaned or abandoned boys from 10 to 18 who slept in alleys. Read More ›
a-pioneer-family-on-the-frontier-amidst-a-vast-prairie-setting-up-their-homestead-gazes-towards-a-hopeful-horizon-stockpack-adobe-stock
A pioneer family on the frontier, amidst a vast prairie, setting up their homestead, gazes towards a hopeful horizon.
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Author
Marvin Olasky
Date
May 10, 2024
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Homelessness
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Go West, Young Man (and Woman)

Marvin Olasky
May 10, 2024
Homelessness
We often think westward migration was for males only. In 1862 the Homestead Act allowed land claims from “any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years.” Women, including those widowed by the Civil War, made one third of all homestead claims. Some men and women who made it to the Midwest and went no further became homeless. Read More ›
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Manhattan Midtown Skyline with illuminated skyscrapers at sunset. NYC, USA
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Author
Marvin Olasky
Date
May 3, 2024
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Homelessness
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Helping the Manhattan Poor: A History

Marvin Olasky
May 3, 2024
Homelessness
Much of what we hear in national media concerning homelessness originates in the salons of Manhattan, and if we want to understand why our policy savants sometimes go far off course, we should understand the history of New York City’s successes and failures. Read More ›
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Contemplative Silhouette Sitting On Rock In Nature
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Author
Marvin Olasky
Date
April 26, 2024
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The Ups and Downs of Recovery at The Forge

Marvin Olasky
April 26, 2024
The past two months I've written about those making progress at Forge, the Christian shelter I lived at in Joplin, Missouri. But not everyone perseveres. I played disc golf on a sunny day last October with one Forge resident who told me how he had become a devotee of YouTube Satanist channels. For a time, he combined demonic rituals, drug use, and increasingly elaborate drawings of skulls and skeletons. Read More ›
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Colonial Village: The Heartbeat of Early America.
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Author
Marvin Olasky
Date
April 19, 2024
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Homelessness
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Homelessness in Colonial New England

Marvin Olasky
April 19, 2024
Homelessness
Since starting this weekly column in June 2022 I’ve covered lots of topics, including homelessness in late medieval England — but I’ve shorted American history. Since today, April 19, is the anniversary of the battles in Lexington and Concord that started the Revolutionary War in 1775, it’s a good day on which to take a rapid ride through the New England countryside and summarize common responses to homelessness in the 17th and 18th centuries. Read More ›
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Author
Marvin Olasky
Date
April 12, 2024
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Homelessness
What Works
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The Four Phases of Recovery at Forge Center

Marvin Olasky
April 12, 2024
Homelessness, What Works
Last year I wrote about how formerly-homeless residents of the Orange County Rescue Mission in California could progress through an 18-month program in four phases that give them the readiness to live on their own. Through hard experience the Forge Center in Joplin, Missouri has also come up with four phases, with completion possible in 16 months. Read More ›