Poverty & Homelessness

The Poverty & Homelessness spoke connects the current efforts around the state who work on initiatives, programs, policies, and strategies that focus on poverty, homelessness, and other related challenges with an eye toward the impacts of girls and women. This spoke focuses on working together in our communities to solve poverty by providing resources, helping people rebuild their lives, and assisting women to stabilize the crises in their lives. In terms of homelessness, the goal is to ensure that it is rare, brief, and non-recurring. The hope is that everyone has access to safe, decent, affordable housing with the needed resources and supports for self-sufficiency and well-being. Although spoke leaders, partners, affiliates, and participants work on these challenges for all genders, they will be increasing conversations, gathering data, and considering solutions by gender. To learn more, check out the resource box below.

Spoke Leaders

Karen McCandless

CEO, Community Action
LinkedIn Profile

Karen McCandless is the CEO of Community Action Services and Food Bank in Provo, Utah. Her current position, as well as being a former elected city council member and land use planner, fuel her passion to advocate for and work toward thriving communities.

Palak Gupta

Co-Director, USU HSI
LinkedIn Profile

Palak Gupta has spent 15 years studying how hunger, poverty, and related factors affect the health status of a community. Her passion for working on hunger issues with minorities stems from her living, studying, and serving in developing and developed nations.

Lea Palmer

AD, Create Better Health
LinkedIn Profile

Lea Palmer is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and the Assistant Director for Create Better Health (Utah SNAP-Ed). Lea has focused her career on community nutrition and dietetics, specifically in the world of fighting hunger and nutrition insecurity.

Stefanie Jones

Program Specialist, CAP of Utah

Stefanie Jones is a USU graduate who has worked for more than 20 years in housing and homeless systems in Utah. She currently works for CAP Utah, is chair of the Utah Homeless Network, board member of the WAB Warming Center, and raises 3 teenage boys with her husband Nick.

Bold Vision & Goals

To make Utah a place where more girls and women can thrive, the Poverty & Homelessness spoke leaders and partners have crafted the vision and goals below.

Vision: To significantly reduce poverty and homelessness for girls and women in Utah.

Goals:

Reduce the number of Utahn’s living in poverty by 5% in 2026 and 10% by 2030. [Metric Dashboard]
Reduce the number of Utah women experiencing homelessness, as identified by the Point In Time Count, by 5% by 2026 and 10% by 2030. [Metric Forthcoming]
Decrease the number of cost-burdened renters and homeowners in UT by 5% in 2026 and 10% by 2030. [Metric Dashboard]
Decrease the shortage of affordable and deeply affordable housing for low-income families in Utah by 5% in 2026 and 10% by 2030. [Metric Dashboard]
Introduce two legislative policies that work to mitigate the “benefits cliff” by 2030. [Metric Dashboard]
Shift Utahns’ agreement (understanding and perceptions) in the following areas: [Metric Dashboard]
1. If one is experiencing poverty in Utah, it is the result of their own choices. [Decrease agreement by 10% by 2026 and 20% by 2030]
2. If one is experiencing homelessness in Utah, it is the result of their own choices. [Decrease agreement by 10% by 2026 and 20% by 2030]
3. I don’t think there is much I can do about poverty and homelessness in my community. [Decrease agreement by 10% by 2026 and 25% by 2030]
4. Home is the first step toward positioning children and families for the opportunity to thrive and to plan for the future. [Increase agreement by 5% by 2026 and 10% by 2030]

Thriving Statement: Women and girls thrive when their families have access to safe, decent, affordable housing with the needed resources and supports for self-sufficiency and wellbeing.

Resources

Spoke Resources:

Research & Resources:

Partner Organizations:

Partners

Working Groups

Poverty
Homelessness
Communications

What You Can Do

Learn about the root causes of poverty and homelessness and share this knowledge with others. Understand and use appropriate language when discussing these challenges.

Contact developers and other community decision makers to ensure more attainable housing is available for all residents. Raise awareness of the challenges around housing in your community and beyond.

Reach out to community leaders about the importance of identifying and listening to cost-burdened renters and homeowners so that effective solutions can be found. Contact policy makers and participate in discussions around poverty and homelessness in Utah.

Get Engaged: Ways to get engaged include assisting in collecting data that presents a clear narrative of the root causes of poverty, hunger, and homelessness in Utah; utilizing your personal and professional networks to elevate the voices of those in or at risk of crisis; and engaging with the Poverty and Homelessness spoke of A Bolder Way Forward to create strong, effective, and inclusive change. Contact Brie Sparks (brie.sparks@usu.edu) to share details about you or your organization and the ways you’d like to get involved. Thank you for your interest!