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When We Walk By Book Discussion Series In-Person
Join us for a series of thoughtful discussions on homelessness and our society's response to it. In collaboration with the College Street Congregational Church. We will be discussing the book When We Walk By by Kevin Adler and David Burnes on September 3, 17, 24 and October 1st.
Space is limited. Please register below. For more info, contact Barbara at bshatara@burlingtonvt.gpv
About the Book:
When We Walk By takes an urgent look at homelessness in America, showing us what we lose—in ourselves and as a society—when we choose to walk past and ignore our neighbors in shelters, insecure housing, or on the streets. And it brilliantly shows what we stand to gain when we embrace our humanity and move toward evidence-based people-first, community-driven solutions, offering social analysis, economic and political histories, and the real stories of unhoused people.
Authors Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes, with Amanda Banh and Andrijana Bilbija, recast chronic homelessness in the U.S. as a byproduct of twin crises: our social services systems are failing, and so is our humanity. Readers will learn:
- Why our brains have been trained to overlook our unhoused neighbors
- The social, economic, and political forces that shape myths like “all homeless people are addicts” and “they’d have a house if they got a job”
- What conservative economics gets wrong about housing insecurity
- What relational poverty is, and how to shift away from “us versus them” thinking
- That for many Americans, housing insecurity is just one missed paycheck away
- Who “the homeless” really are—and why that might surprise you
- What you can do to help, starting today
A necessary, deeply humanizing read that goes beyond theory and policy analysis to offer engaged solutions with compassion and heart, When We Walk By is a must-read for anyone who cares about homelessness, housing solutions, and their own humanity.