From the Washington Post:
Mayor Richard Berry was driving around Albuquerque last year when he saw a man on a street corner holding a sign that read: “Want a Job. Anything Helps.”
….as part of a push to connect the homeless population to services, Berry had taken to driving through the city to talk to panhandlers about their lives. His city’s poorest residents told him they didn’t want to be on the streets begging for money, but they didn’t know where else to go….
Kellie Tillerson…at St. Martin’s Hospitality Center…said the way to dispel people of the negative associations with panhandlers is for them to do what the mayor did and engage on a human level.
“Genuinely ask why they are in the predicament they are…Many have medical conditions, they don’t have the proper identification — you can’t get a job without one. They don’t have a Social Security card. Those little things we take for granted prohibit people from getting a job. Don’t assume they are lazy.”
…a lot of the people who get picked up by the van were not aware of all the services available to them. One man who recently got out of prison returned to St. Martin’s the day after taking one of the city’s jobs. She said it enrolled him in the day-labor program….
“He now has a support system he…didn’t know existed…“It’s life-changing for them. He …said, ‘I would much rather earn my money than have someone hand it to me.’ ”