Capitol Mall Fellows Making A Difference In The Lives Of Homeless, Formerly Incarcerated People

I did a webcast yesterday on criminal issues facing persons experiencing homelessness with a colleague and friend, Stephan Haimowitz, whose list of credentials and accolades is longer than my leg (Research Associate at Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University and provides training for the Department of Labor’s Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program. Steve has worked for 30 years at the intersections of human service delivery, disability policy, and the legal system, in diverse roles including hospital administrator, class action litigator, research ethics consultant, state agency counsel, educator and program evaluator. He currently leads the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Project National TA Center funded the US Dept. of Labor, and is involved in efforts to end the misuse of restraint on people with mental illness, and to assist collaboration between behavioral health and criminal justice agencies).  


Stephan is a helluva nice guy and no joke when it comes to being a real expert on issues facing those of us with criminal convictions.  We had a blast doing the webcast, which I'm thrilled to say, was heavily attended and well received, from what I understand via the feedback we've received.


But my point here isn't to break my arm patting myself on the back.  Rather, I received an email from a gentleman down in Phoenix, AZ who attended the webcast and although he himself is currently experiencing homelessness and is a veteran, he's been involved with the Capital Mall Fellows, which is a....well, I'll just quote the website, which can be found here:

Capitol Mall Fellows

The Capitol Mall Fellows (CMF) is a peer driven grassroots, civic and service organization whose members are mostly former penitentiary inmates, men and women who are or have been homeless.  The CMF was formed to help build a safe and healthy environment by performing redemptive acts of service for local communities and those in need; and to act on public issues, policies and budgets that affect the lives of its members in the matters of employment, housing, education and social justice concerns. 

 The Capitol Mall Fellows is working with social service agencies to help end homelessness in the Capitol Mall and central city area.  Members of the CMF have volunteered at a bicycle cooperative to acquire bicycles that will be used for employment, outreach and community service events.  Capitol Mall Fellows support Arizona Interfaith Movement’s “Golden Rule in Action”, Valley of the Sun United Way’s “Project Homeless Connect”, City Feast- season of service and participate in legislative advocacy actions with Protecting Arizona’s Families Coalition (PAFCO), meeting with state and local social service agencies. 

 The Capitol Mall Fellows is a member organization of the Human Services Campus Leadership League.  Members of the CMF has completed a five week “Peer Support Specialist certification” course conducted by Recovery Empowerment Network.

 The Capitol Mall Fellows are currently working to find transitional living arrangement to help get homeless men and woman off the streets and into a clean and friendly environment while seeking employment.    

 Three members of the Capitol Mall Fellows have began an internship with the Arizona Organizing Project.

 To learn more about the Capitol Mall Fellows and our projects to help our community, please call Runningdeer at (602) 850-7306 or (602) 577-5677 email me at Runningdeer.CMF@gmail.com

If you happen to be in the Phoenix area and are interested in connecting, by all means, reach out, I'm sure they'd be glad to offer what they can to you.

Many thanks to my brother RunningDeer, who's got the serious balls to create and attend to an organization while living himself on the streets.  Keep fighting the good fight and I hope one day to connect in person.