POVERTY: HOMELESSNESS, OPIOID EPIDEMIC AND EFFECT ON HEALTH

Poverty: Homelessness, Opioid Epidemic and Effect on Health

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution

Poverty: Homelessness, Opioid Epidemic and Effect on Health

Many factors help to determine that Philadelphia is on an upswing; its population is also growing; it is also becoming a hub of new investment and also rising household incomes. Having said that a significant population of the area is struggling and they are quite poor and healthcare is also a serious issue for them. Most of the population is also getting addicted to various types of drugs and opium is one of them, the health hazards of opium are quite high but the fact that these people can not afford to pay the health expenses and can't go to the hospitals which makes the situation even worse. In order to solve the problem of these people, there are various support groups that are present to alleviate the pain and suffering of these vulnerable population. One of such support group in Philadelphia is Project HOME, this particular support group was started in 1989, and since its inception, it was a leader in providing a comprehensive and effective service to all the individuals who mainly face homelessness, and they are more vulnerable to drug use that ultimately affects their health. This support group is committed to the dignity of each person; it opened various programs and proved that homelessness and poverty could be treated effectively.

The mission of project HOME is to empower the adult's children and also women to come out of the cycle of poverty and homelessness; it also works towards decreasing the causes of poverty by providing various resources to them. The main objective of this support group is to provide shelter and source of income to these people so that they do not use any drugs specifically opium which results in serious health conditions. Employment opportunities and providing healthcare access is also some of the main goals of this support group. Below is the website address of the group

https://projecthome.org/

This particular support group made various legislative progress throughout the years. In the initial years the only mission of this support group was to provide shelter for the homeless people but later it also included in its mission to provide income resources for all the people and then when the support group gained enough support then it also started to provide healthcare facilities to the homeless people (White, 2007). The one legislative progress that it made over the years is gaining support from the legal firms in order to support its mission, and now most of the funds that are donated to the support group are totally legal and also they are from the lawmaking firms. This support group also work with coalitions on the city and state to affect the public policy, educate the elected officials and also to increase the funding for the construction of houses for all the low income or poor people. This support group is funded by the general public, but no celebrity and spokesperson is involved in the funding of this support group.

This particular support group is involved in various purposes in order to raise funds. There are several methods of raising funds by this organization, and one of the remarkable methods is by selling gifts that are hand made by these homeless people. By doing so not only, it provides an income source for the needy people, but also funds are raised for other projects which are run by this support group. The impact of this group on the targeted population is huge because it not only provides shelter to the homeless people thus securing them against any addiction and also by providing them all sort of healthcare facilities. So all the homeless people of the country are getting the advantage of this specific support group. It not only covers their education requirements but also covers their healthcare expenses and also support the depressed people, so it has an overall positive impact on society overall.

The fundraising aspect in one such aspect of this particular support groups that needs to be changed because this group is not using creative and multiple ways to raise funds. There are no prominent personalities like any particular media person, or celebrity who can help them in raising funds and also there are no specific events like the marathon or any fundraising campaigns by this group, therefore, the outreach of this program is not huge (Poject HOME, 2019).

Summary

This Project HOME support group is a local support group that works to improve the lives of the homeless people by providing them shelter and income sources. The population that is served are all those people who are poor, homeless and also opioid addictive therefore this project aims to target those people and do the needful for them (Cnaan & Boddie,2001). Although this is a local support group and not enough information is available about the support group but at the same time the effect and the role it is playing in the lives of the needy people is huge, and it is successfully resolving their issues by various means. Although in the beginning the mission of the group was only to provide homes to the poor people but with the passage of time the participants of the organization were able to expand it and then the mission of the support group was not only providing homes but at the same time to secure them against any possible opium use and abuse and also against any diseases therefore now the support group is covering various other needs of the population that it targets.

References

Cnaan, R. A., & Boddie, S. C. (2001). Philadelphia census of congregations and their involvement in social service delivery. Social Service Review, 75(4), 559-580.

Project HOME. (2019). News and Events. [online] Available at:

https://projecthome.org/news-and-events [Accessed 24 Mar. 2019].

White, W. L. (2007). A recovery revolution in Philadelphia.