On Friday evening, about 200 people gathered on the southeast corner of the Monroe County courthouse square to respond to the city of Bloomington’s action on Wednesday night, to remove a group of a dozen and half tents and people from Seminary Park.
One demand that was read aloud by Marc Teller, who’s with the Bloomington Homeless Coalition, is to set up a place for the unhoused to camp that is more centrally located with better access to services.
Another demand read aloud by Teller is for the government money that was allocated to Wheeler Mission—to re-open the women’s shelter, which had closed over the summer—to be transferred to Hotels for Homeless. Teller reported that on Wednesday night, 17 Seminary Park campers had been taken in by Hotels for Homeless.
Advocate for the homeless Janna Arthur, who was a write-in candidate for Monroe County council this year, said, “No one was left behind—because of Hotels of Homeless.”
The grassroots organization, founded over the summer, has become eligible for city of Bloomington social services funding (Jack Hopkins) through fiscal sponsorship by New Leaf-New Life.
At Friday’s rally, local activist Vauhxx Booker used his time addressing the crowd to encourage people to donate directly to the group through its PayPal link. Continue reading “Bloomington’s Seminary Park action spurs “Hands off Homeless” rally, call for funding of grassroots efforts”