5 minute read
THANK YOU: 10 YEARS OF OSA
WHY WE LAUNCHED ONE STEP AWAY…
By: Kevin Roberts
We launched One Step Away at the Ridge Center, the largest men’s shelter in 2009. Dainette Mintz the then director of Philadelphia’s Office of Supportive Housing, purchased the first issue. The excitement over this new concept, this innovative approach that people could get behind, was palpable and really encouraging. In so many ways, the city backed this effort, helping create an outside-the-box way of thinking about homelessness and poverty. There were a bunch of firsts and starts in the early days, but we always were carried by the steadfast belief that this was a good idea, and if we could make it work, we would really create an impact.
The energy around the launch led to extensive media coverage, and the Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jennifer Lin got hooked on a story about a young girl named Stephanie at the Woodstock Family Center. Stephanie, very courageously, wrote an essay about her situation announcing to her friends and teachers at school that her family was homeless. It ran on the front page of the Inquirer and was a sensation; gorgeously written, just a lovely piece. The splash One Step Away made when we launched carried us through the early days when it was such a struggle just to get started.
Then Boxing Hall of Famer and Philadelphia legend Matthew Saad Muhammad ended up at the Ridge Center. His willingness to engage One Step Away vendors and writers to tell his story was incredible. His story which debuted in One Step Away was picked up by the rest of Philadelphia’s media. For a while we were all over local TV networks and newspapers — just amazing publicity thanks to Matt. This exposure very much entrenched the program and gave One Step Away solidity and credibility. We launched the “Knock Out Homelessness” fundraiser around Matt, and its success carried the program, and made it a thing that just would not be denied. We used to joke about it — the scrappy, little homelessness program that could. With no resources and limited capacity, One Step Away kept churning; it was successful, it worked, it really helped people. One Step Away not only survived but thrived against all odds, because it kept effectively helping people in need, and YOU, our community, kept supporting us.
It was such an honor working with Matt and getting to know him. His support meant so much. A lot of people came out to support One Step Away when it really mattered. Matthew Saad Muhammad, Darren Daulton, Nate Miller, Vai Sikahema...we always had the sense that it wasn’t just us, that the people who interacted with the program on any level could see its value, they got it — it was a cause people wanted to support.
It was always a struggle just to keep One Step Away going all the time, but regularly something would happen — just organically, the program’s unfailing ability to fulfill its mission and genuinely help people — that kept it propelling forward. At the time, a vendor named Neal McLaurin got nominated for an International Street Paper writing award. The Philadelphia Daily News did a feature on him, and Stephanie Farr did a wonderful story that included Neal talking about the uncertainty of this new thing he was trying and in a very Philly moment he called One Step Away a “jawn.” Stephanie followed it with a paragraph that read: “But that jawn was legit.” Oh my gosh, what a thing that was — “WE’RE A LEGIT JAWN!”, we shouted at each other.
THANK YOU FOR AMAZING YEARS!
Our intern at the time made up t-shirts as a gift that read, “One Step Away: A legit jawn.” We gave one to Stephanie, and on her twitter account she tweeted a picture of the shirt and wrote “breaking jawn news”...our community continuously amazed us. It was just constant affirmation that One Step Away works, it’s credible, it’s really a thing. It’s a legit jawn, man.
But the biggest thing I take from One Step Away — and this was true from day one, and it is still true to this day — is the way the program empowers people. It helps people realize their value, gives a boost to their self-esteem, gives people who are so down a reason to believe in themselves.
In our first interactions with people who were experiencing homelessness, their sense of despair was palpable. Chins on their chests, voices so soft they were basically a whisper, a real feeling of hopelessness, just down. But then they’d get this platform, this way to work and do for themselves, and they’d see possibility — maybe for the first time in a long time. And they’d just blossom. There’s no other word. One of the early films we did about the program showed a vendor named September start crying as she said: “I felt like my life was worthless. BUT IT’S NOT.” Neal, who inspired the legit jawn story, showed up at the program’s last fundraiser and said: “Thank you for giving me a voice”. A vendor named Richard Ramson got his own housing and is able to care for his daughter thanks to One Step Away and said: “Sometimes people just need a chance. One Step Away gave me a chance.”
That’s the biggest thing about this scrappy, little homelessness program that could: One Step Away rebuilds people. One Step Away gives people hope. One Step Away gives people a voice. People come into the program and feel like they have a chance, they can do for themselves, they have a way to get something better. That’s always going to be the best thing about One Step Away. It gives people hope.
Join us in creating more opportunities for individuals experiencing homelessness, by investing in One Step Away.
