TCT Minutes, February 17, 2014

PRESENT: Vince (facilitator), John, Blaine, Lisa, Neal, Alan (Note taker), Patricia

AGENDA:

1. Next meeting’s note taker
2. St Leo’s Fair
3. City of Tacoma Seventh Annual Sustainability Expo
4. Possible camp site at Gathering Church
5. Discussion on Resources
6. Vince’s contacts
7. OT (Occupy Tacoma) tents
8. Tent storage place
9. Coalition meeting.

NEXT MEETING NOTE TAKER: Alan usually takes notes and posts the minutes. However, Alan cannot attend the next meeting. Lisa volunteered to take the notes. She will send them to Alan, who will post them. Alan will probably ask Patricia or another attendee to proof them for accuracy and errors, which he does for those minutes he posts.

ST LEO’S FAIR: Cheryl invited TCT to have a table at the upcoming St Leo’s Fair. Patricia proposes we do that. She will contact Cheryl by the next meeting to work out the details and report to us.

SEVENTH ANNUAL SUSTAINABILITY EXPO: City of Tacoma Parks Dept. on March 1st, will host the 7th Annual Sustainability Expo from 10 to 3 at the Convention and Trade Center. We can ask Green Party and/or Socialist Alternative to hand out leaflets. Neal and Alan will prepare a suitable leaflet and get them printed out. Patricia suggests that we should focus on what we require to get TCT operational. She felt this would be more effective than focusing on the reason Tacoma needs a TCT.

POSSIBLE CAMP SITE AT GATHERING CHURCH: We have been having ongoing discussions with the Gathering Church about the possibility of them hosting a TCT site. Neal and/or Patricia will contact Pastor Tony. Patricia emphasized to Abe that we do not want to impose a religious or political prerequisite on camp inhabitants, and we hope they understand we don’t want anyone proselytizing camp residents.

DISCUSSION ON RESOURCES: John says that his brother-in-law can get an outstanding deal on Porta-Potties through his business. John says that he thinks they likely also have shower trailers available. He will send contact information to Patricia. Patricia will try to get costs and other relevant information.

VINCE’S CONTACTS: Vince sent out a message to people in several of his church-related networks about TCT and how they can help.

COALITION MEETING: Neal reports that coalition meeting has shifted focus to families and clean facilities. Neal and Blaine thought that to deal with homelessness, the coalition needs to be able to deal with folks that have felonies. Patricia points out that each coalition meeting has its own presenter, each presenter being from a constituent organization or group. Naturally, each one will have their unique area of concentration. The presenter for this meeting was from a group that works with homeless families, and they have specific parameters that may differ from ours. Vince asked Neal if he thought there is a gap in the coalition between coalition members and the homeless. Neal said he thought so because of economic considerations. If a homeless person has no income, [s]he cannot raise funds for rent, but without a residence, no one will hire a person. That creates a conundrum that seems to be mostly unaddressed. Alan said that one major function of TCT is to provide a temporary residence so a homeless person can have an address when applying for a job. Vince says that maybe we need to find some way to address that issue to the coalition. Neal says that many in the coalition seem unwilling to listen to those stuck in this conundrum. Vince asked who Neal thinks are the key people to talk to, and later perhaps we can come to coalition meeting and say, “These are the gaps we see.”

Respectfully submitted: Alan OldStudent