Audio Transcript Auto-generated
- 00:01 - 00:06
the homelessness crisis has become a daily reality for people
- 00:06 - 00:06
living in Seattle.
- 00:08 - 00:09
My name is Grant Ogre.
- 00:09 - 00:14
I'm a University of Washington student, proud Seattleite and a
- 00:14 - 00:19
supporter of organizations like Uplift Northwest images like this one
- 00:20 - 00:22
used to inspire mercy and compassion.
- 00:23 - 00:27
But the reality for many Seattleites today is that those
- 00:27 - 00:30
emotions have changed to feelings of frustration and anger.
- 00:31 - 00:34
But to solve a problem like this of this size,
- 00:35 - 00:37
we're going to need the support of the whole community,
- 00:38 - 00:40
and that includes our most exasperated neighbors.
- 00:41 - 00:45
So my recommendation today is that uplift Northwest present itself
- 00:45 - 00:49
in a new way to build support among everybody, even
- 00:50 - 00:52
those whose patients has frankly run out.
- 00:54 - 00:57
Now these neighbors are justified in their feelings.
- 00:58 - 00:59
We see homelessness in our parks.
- 01:00 - 01:05
Your business is on our campuses everywhere, and it's wearing
- 01:05 - 01:05
people down.
- 01:07 - 01:11
In fact, when asked in the survey, 74% of Seattleites
- 01:12 - 01:17
say that tent encampments are out of control, and these
- 01:18 - 01:21
feelings have spiraled into even harsher sentiments from other satellites
- 01:21 - 01:22
like this one.
- 01:23 - 01:26
But can we really blame them when we ourselves can
- 01:27 - 01:31
see playgrounds with drug needles that makes them unusable for
- 01:31 - 01:32
Children who just want to play.
- 01:32 - 01:36
Can we blame them when we see students afraid to
- 01:36 - 01:39
walk home from class because it's already dark outside in
- 01:39 - 01:39
the winter time?
- 01:41 - 01:43
Can we blame them when we decide not to go
- 01:43 - 01:45
out in the evening to get food at our favorite
- 01:46 - 01:48
restaurant? Because we don't feel safe walking down the sidewalk?
- 01:51 - 01:55
Many of these people in Seattle seem to care more
- 01:56 - 01:59
about cleaning out our parks in our streets than lifting
- 01:59 - 02:03
the people experiencing the horrible reality of homelessness, homelessness out
- 02:04 - 02:04
of their current situation.
- 02:06 - 02:07
But there's some great news here.
- 02:08 - 02:13
Uplift Northwest does both uplift.
- 02:13 - 02:17
Northwest is a jobs first organization, and that means that
- 02:17 - 02:19
it confronts one of the root causes of this problem.
- 02:22 - 02:25
It provides people who are experiencing homelessness with the skills,
- 02:26 - 02:29
resources and eventually, even jobs that they need to gain
- 02:30 - 02:34
long term employment, which is a required step to move
- 02:34 - 02:35
out of this situation.
- 02:37 - 02:41
Uplift Northwest turns lives around, and that's great.
- 02:42 - 02:46
But for many Seattleites, that's not what they're passionate about.
- 02:47 - 02:50
They're passionate about changing what they see, but uplift Northwest
- 02:51 - 02:55
does this also, you see, for every soul lifted out
- 02:55 - 03:00
of homelessness, that's also another dilapidated tent that disappears from
- 03:00 - 03:05
our parks today.
- 03:06 - 03:10
Uplift northwest share stories of the individuals they help, but
- 03:10 - 03:11
I believe they should add to this.
- 03:12 - 03:14
Don't just show the people show the place.
- 03:15 - 03:16
Show where they lived.
- 03:17 - 03:21
Show them leaving show parks and underpasses in streets getting
- 03:21 - 03:25
clean. If uplift Northwest can show the people of Seattle
- 03:26 - 03:29
real progress in a visible way, support will pour in.
- 03:30 - 03:31
Now this problem isn't easy.
- 03:32 - 03:35
We've seen it grow and grow and grow for years.
- 03:36 - 03:39
And while uplift Northwest has had a great impact on
- 03:39 - 03:41
many lives, the bottom line is this.
- 03:41 - 03:43
We need more support.
- 03:45 - 03:46
This has gone on for too long.
- 03:47 - 03:49
The homeless members of our community know it all too
- 03:49 - 03:51
well and albeit for different reasons.
- 03:53 - 03:54
Everyone else feels the same way.
- 03:56 - 03:56
So uplift.
- 03:56 - 04:00
Northwest needs to reach out to everyone, regardless of their
- 04:00 - 04:04
attitudes or feelings, because we need their help and they
- 04:04 - 04:06
want to see the results that we can get.
- 04:07 - 04:10
We need to all team up to save our people
- 04:11 - 04:11
and our city.
- 04:13 - 04:13
Thank you