When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America

Location: Kresge G3, Chan School of Public Health and online

Speaker(s): Kevin F. Adler

What do we lose—in ourselves and as a society—when we choose to walk past and ignore people who are unhoused? In this talk, Kevin F. Adler, founder of Miracle Messages, a nonprofit that helps people experiencing homelessness, will discuss When We Walk By, a book he co-authored that recasts chronic homelessness as a byproduct of twin crises: the failure of both our social services systems and our humanity. The book also uses social analyses, economic and political histories, and the real stories of our unhoused neighbors to demonstrate what we stand to gain when we embrace our humanity and move toward evidence-based people-first, community-driven solutions. 

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Co-Sponsor(s): Initiative on Health and Homelessness at HSPH, HKS Government Performance Lab, Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative

David Adler and When We Walk By book cover