This collection contains seven binders of Homeless United for Change correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, essays, newspaper articles, and grant applications covering 2007-2009. There is also an index for each year. The publication Homeless United for Change – HUC: Narrative of the first three years, 2007, 2008, 2009 with an overview of homeless services by Barbara Olson is included and is based on the material in the binders.
Homeless United for Change (HUC) was organized in Springfield in January 2007 by several winter shelter volunteers, with support from the Central Illinois Organizing Project (CIOP), and people who were homeless. At their third meeting (February 2007), they decided on a name and three goals: “having a voice in their situation requiring others to share power; having access to affordable housing (participants reported that the city had torn down a lot); and getting a full-service day center (they had to be outside all the time and carry stuff around when looking for jobs now).