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Across the country, most companies that may want to hire a homeless individual face several obstacles in contacting that person. For instance, typically there is not a phone number to call, or a legal residence to mail anything, and email may not be available either. Therefore, this hinders the employability of the homeless without much consideration by most employers. Usually, if a potential employee is inaccessible, the employer looks into other candidates. This unfairly discriminates against their pursuit of happiness. It could be said in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness that the struggles of homeless employees can cause added stress to the employee. For instance, it is a problem to have no idea where one will sleep safely to go to work the next day. In Washington D.C. there is a community voicemail system that is free to use that allows for messages to be retrieved by homeless at pay phones. Therefore, this gives a phone number and way for communication to take place. This national non-profit company, Community Voice Mail, during 1991 was founded in Seattle. In an article in Street Sense by Melanie Lidman, it found that a homeless person that used this system was able to find permanent housing and a job within three weeks. Therefore, communication is paramount in finding a secure life. Consider how anyone that uses the cell phone everyday feels, if suddenly they are unable to use it. Most people would have issues at work, home, and with friends that were unable to contact them.
It is time that homeless gain the same consideration of those with homes. Calling on our local and national politicians to advocate more non-profit companies that assist those in need is important because our economy depends on employment. Consumer spending has decreased significantly and almost every business sees the effects. For instance, churches have mentioned financial struggles due to low support from members. Therefore, they are limited on how many people they are able to assist.
Employers that hire homeless should be given some type of incentive because they may be putting more effort to employ someone with difficult circumstances. Hopefully, this would work similar to incarcerated employees that work in businesses in hopes of re-establishing themselves to society smoothly. This would create more empathy for situations of those less fortunate and may lead to further support.
In conclusion, the best way to make opportunity equal to all will mean using our technology capabilities to benefit the unemployed homeless populations, or anyone in low income situations. For example, more information needs to be available at shelters, health clinics, and other places that have homeless frequent with great accessibility. Washington D.C. has started and other metropolitan areas must do the same. After all, our economy needs jobs filled and created with consumer spending.
By Jamie M. Kisner
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