The Journey Begins....On September 15th 2009 I will start my journey across the US to Chicago, traveling by trusty Toyota Tacoma through California, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and up through Missouri into Illinois where I will be speaking at Domestic Violence Shelters and Juvenile Halls talking to women of all ages about their struggle to survive in a world that lends them little. My hope is to bring awareness to the public of the thousands of women of all ages that are living in the streets and in shelters, due to domestic violence and the economic crisis! The statistics are staggering! As I travel, the number one goal is to open the eyes of America and work with organizations whose goals are to end the plight of the homeless woman. I will be donating our decks(Wisdom of the Crone, Wonder of the Mother and The Journey) to the shelters and halls I visit. One of the other goals of this trip is to interview women across America helping to raise awareness and have their stories heard! Homelessness is effecting women of all ages at this present time in history, young women, mothers and grandmothers. It knows no boundaries.

This was taken from Wikipedia, a lot said with a few words;"The fastest-growing group of homeless people in the United States is composed of single women with two and three children[citation needed]. Before the 1980s the homeless population was mostly composed of men[citation needed]. Within the last two decades, US society has begun to acknowledge the growing numbers of homeless women and children. Homeless women are rarely seen because they often find shelter with relatives, friends, or other homeless women. The majority of homeless women are on the streets because of divorce or escaping domestic abuse. Abandonment is also a key contributor to homelessness in women. After the Great Depression, divorce rates dropped but abandonment rates rose suggesting that couples simply split rather than pursue a costly divorce. Decline of the welfare state, and lack of affordable housing have also led to the increase of homelessness in women."It goes on: Decline of the welfare stateParticipation in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and food stamp programs began to decline dramatically after the enactment of the Federal Welfare Law enacted in 1996. In 1996 President Clinton endorsed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act which was basically stating that a person had to work in order to receive government assistance and support. The bill converted AFDC to a block grant- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)-with fixed funding. This is where the federal government gives the states “blocks” of money to distribute for income support and work programs based on what they spent in 1994. According to the Congressional Budget Office, that bill included nearly $55 billion in cuts in low-income programs in a six year time period. Other provisions made it possible for states to withdraw a substantial amount of state resources from basic income support and work programs for poor families with children to divert federal TANF block grant funds to other uses. The legislation allowed states to deny aid to any poor family or category of poor family. Also, the legislation prohibited states from using block grant funding to provide aid to families that have received assistance for at least five years, but the state could also cut that time limit shorter - including availability to cash aide and work slots. The bill cut out $28 billion in food stamps, cutting the benefits by almost twenty percent. These reductions affected the working poor, the disabled and the elderly. In the legislation the food stamp provision affected the poor between the ages of 18-50 who had no children. The bill reported that these individuals were limited to three months of food stamps while unemployed in any three year period. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that all of these provisions would deny food stamp benefits to an average of 1 million people a month who are willing to work but can’t find a job and are not offered a workfare. The lack of food eats into the housing budget. Lack of affordable housingMany people believe that affordable housing is an urban or welfare problem, but it is a problem for people with and without jobs, and it happens in every ethnic background. People in poverty have been increasing due partly to declining minimum wages, and government assistance such as welfare cash assistance and HUD. In the 1970s, the United States Congress increased funding for housing assistance due to the dramatic increase of homelessness. But after the 1980s, HUD assistance fell at an alarming rate. In 1996 through 1997, Congress allowed zero funding in budgets for new Section 8 certificates. Section 8 is a housing program that allows low-income renters to pay 30 percent of their income to rent in unsubsidized units on the private market. Because the “one-for-one” rule had been abolished, the federal government doesn’t have to provide new or additional Section 8 certificates for every unit demolished. The private market is to the point where they are unwilling to create and keep affordable housing through the government. Reports show that 30 percent of low income people receive housing subsidies. This condemns most people to live one paycheck away from living on the streets. Furthermore, as the number of people in or near poverty increases, affordable housing has declined, due to the decrease in government housing assistance, the rising cost of rent, high-end new construction, condominium conversion, and old projects being torn down. Most homeless people rely on shelters until they can find a permanent home, but due to the increase of homeless people, shelters have had to deny people and families a place to stay because they are over the limit and don’t have room for them.We are in the process right now of working with several different organizations who will help us to spread information and guide us properly on our quest to empower homeless women and spark national attention. We believe it is time to drop our self-centeredness at the door, reach out and really really help homeless women in need. We hope we can play a small part in awakening the American consciousness! If you would like to join us on our journey please call us @ 1-866-641-1451 or email us at info@wisewomenink.com

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/domestic.pdfWe hope that you will copy and paste this note and send it off to your friends and family!

UPDATE Whether it be alone or with their children,being a homeless woman in this country isn't like it was back in the 30s or 40s or 50s , we don't open our homes to those in need we barricade ourselves from them. I sat and watched Kit Kittredge: An American Girl the other night with my daughter, I highly recommend watching it with your kids, it takes place during the depression, a little sappy but the true message is there. So yes the journey is still on, but the "soul" goal is to create awareness and start the "opening of our hearts process". I also will be photographically documenting the whole trip.