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Dear Friends,
Last month, I shared with you the logistics of the upcoming Brown County’s Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, a single evening when volunteers walk our streets to identify and engage individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness. It is an important snapshot of our community, but more importantly, it is a reminder that behind every number is a person with a story.
On the evening of July 22, more than 70 volunteers fanned out across Brown County. They represented every corner of our community: human service professionals, community members, young people, and elected officials from the State of Wisconsin. Together, they identified 177 of our neighbors living outside that night.
One hundred seventy-seven people!
That number should cause us to pause — not because it defines our community, but because it challenges us to imagine what our community could become.
As I reflected on the evening, I found myself asking a different question. Rather than asking, “How do we reduce homelessness?” perhaps we should be asking, “What does a community need in order for people to truly thrive?”
The answer is surprisingly simple, even if achieving it is not.
Every person needs equitable access to seven foundational building blocks of life:
- education
- meaningful employment
- financial opportunity
- nutritious food
- healthcare
- safe and affordable housing
- reliable transportation
When one or more of these foundations are missing, families begin to struggle. When several are missing at the same time, the path toward homelessness becomes much quicker.
Across our country, there are communities proving that lasting change is possible when these needs are addressed together instead of separately. One inspiring example is Bonton Farms in Dallas, Texas. Located in a neighborhood long identified as an area of concentrated poverty, Bonton Farms recognized that food insecurity was only one symptom of much larger challenges. Rather than creating another charity model, they invested in the community by creating jobs, improving access to healthy food, expanding educational opportunities, supporting workforce development, and helping restore dignity and hope. The result has been more than transformed statistics — it has been transformed lives.
Their story reminds us that poverty is rarely the result of one missing resource. It is the cumulative effect of barriers that compound over time.
It is cited in this short video about Bonton Farms, that since the 1960s, the United States has invested trillions of dollars in programs intended to reduce poverty. By some estimates, that investment exceeds $30 trillion. Yet the persistence of homelessness and generational poverty suggests that while many of these programs have provided essential support to millions of families, we still have work to do in building systems that help people move from surviving to thriving.
At Freedom House Ministries, we believe every family deserves more than shelter. Shelter is where healing begins, but it is not where the journey ends. Real transformation happens when families have access to stable housing, employment that provides a living wage, quality education for their children, healthcare that promotes wellness, nutritious food, financial stability, and transportation that connects them to opportunity.
The future of Green Bay will not be determined by the number of shelters we build or the services we provide. It will be determined by whether we choose to build a community where every family has access to the opportunities that allow them to flourish.
The 177 people identified during this year’s summer PIT Count are not someone else’s neighbors. They are ours.
And the future they experience will depend, in large part, on the future we choose to build together.
As followers of Christ, we are called not only to care for those in need today but to cultivate communities where justice, opportunity, and hope can take root for generations. That is the work before us. It is challenging, it is worthy, and by God’s grace, it is possible.
With gratitude and hope,
Jennifer Schmohe
Executive Director
Freedom House Ministries
