The most fundamental driver of homelessness is a mathematical reality: a chasm between stagnant wages and the skyrocketing cost of housing. I don’t know about you but this is incredibly scary. The margin between us and our neighbors are closing rapidly because the math is failing. No amount of personal budgeting, financial literacy, or frugality can generate rent money when a full-time, minimum-wage job cannot cover a one-bedroom apartment in the vast majority of the country.

Let’s also mention supply and zoning. Systemic issues like exclusionary zoning laws, underinvestment in public housing, and the financialization of the real estate market have severely limited the supply of affordable units. We cannot cope your way into a home that does not exist.

Housing insecurity in particular is not only a financial stressor. It is a psychological threat to our individual safety and community identity. Stable shelter is one of the foundational conditions for nervous system regulation. See Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs below. When that stability is uncertain, when eviction risk, rising rent, overcrowding, or sleeping in your car becomes part of daily thought, stress is no longer episodic. It becomes ambient.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Homelessness and housing insecurity: the emotional continuum

Homelessness is often discussed as a categorical condition, housed or unhoused.

To understand the crisis of homelessness, it is crucial to recognize that individual resilience, while often extraordinary, cannot solve a structural deficit. Unhoused individuals frequently employ immense coping skills just to survive daily life, finding safe places to sleep, securing food, and managing the deep trauma of instability. However, placing the burden of escaping homelessness entirely on individual coping mechanisms ignores the massive, overlapping systemic failures that cause and perpetuate the crisis.

Homelessness forces individuals into a chronic state of “fight or flight.” When a person is unhoused, their daily cognitive load is entirely consumed by immediate survival: staying warm, avoiding violence, and finding the next meal.

I know times are incredibly tight right now. For many of us, simply providing for our own families takes every ounce of energy and resource we have. My goal isn’t to add to your burden or cause frustration during an already stressful season, which is why I’m reaching out early, giving us all time to plan.

I believe deeply in the power of a community that shares its bread, even when the loaves are small. As you begin sorting through your family’s closets and drawers for the back-to-school season, I am asking you to look for a way to share what you can. If you find gently used clothing that no longer fits, please start a donation pile.

I also know that for some of you, giving anything away is impossible right now because every single layer is vital to your own family’s survival. If that is your reality, I see you and I completely understand.

But you still have something incredibly valuable to give: your voice. Please share this post. Restack it, and add a quick note about why taking care of our community matters to you. Your single share might be the exact spark needed to reach the person who has the resources we need today.

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As temperatures drop this fall, one of the most immediate ways to support your unhoused neighbors is by providing weather-appropriate gear and essential supplies to local shelters and mutual aid groups. Focus on high-demand, practical items like new thermal socks, sleeping bags, insulated gloves, hand warmers, and waterproof outerwear.

You can also assemble and carry care kits in your car or bag, gallon-sized ziplock bags containing these cold-weather essentials alongside basic hygiene products, bottled water, and high-protein snacks.

Our home video: Turning giving into tradition and legacy

Additionally, volunteering your time at food banks, soup kitchens, or warming centers is an incredibly impactful way to provide direct, hands-on assistance during the seasonal transition.

Beyond material donations, offering fundamental human dignity and advocating for systemic change are equally crucial.

Simply acknowledging unhoused individuals with a warm greeting or a brief, respectful conversation can help counter the severe isolation they often experience.

On a broader scale, you can make a lasting difference through local advocacy, attend city council meetings, support zoning changes that allow for more affordable housing, and back community initiatives that fund permanent supportive housing and mental health resources. Look for these issues at the polls when you go to vote. Effective support requires a balance of meeting immediate survival needs and fighting for the long-term, structural solutions necessary to end homelessness.

Where to start?

Drive down the street and put the above items directly into the hands of an unhoused neighbor.

or

Find a local shelter, outreach program, and volunteer opportunities.

If you can go bigger, here are the most reliable national databases you can use to find where to help:

• HUD’s Find Shelter Tool (hud.gov/findshelter)

• 211.org (or dialing 2-1-1)

• Homeless Shelter Directory (homelessshelterdirectory.org)

• National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (nchv.org)

Ending the crisis requires structural solutions, such as Housing First initiatives, living wages, and universal access to healthcare, that address the root systemic failures. Until then let’s mind the words of the honorable Nelson Mandela, who said, “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.”

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There was a time when love felt private. It lived in kitchens, in church pews, at family reunions, in text messages that said “Did you make it home safe?” It was something we practiced to let people know we cared. Today, love has become political whether we intended it to or not.

We are living in a season shaped by division. Wars dominate headlines. Grocery and gas prices fluctuate with global tensions. Social media has become a battleground where people are judged by their votes, beliefs, silence, or activism. Families avoid conversations at dinner tables. Friendships end over political affiliations. Communities that once felt connected now feel fragmented.

In this climate, love is no longer just romance. It is restraint. It is compassion. It is humanity under pressure.

Love now asks harder questions:
Can I still see your humanity when I disagree with you?
Can I hold onto empathy when fear is profitable?
Can I protect my peace without becoming emotionally numb?
Can I care about people who may never care about me?

Political exhaustion has quietly entered our homes. Many people are not simply tired of politics; they are emotionally overwhelmed by survival. Parents are calculating food budgets while trying to shield children from anxiety. Couples are arguing over finances more than affection. Young adults are questioning whether they will ever afford homes, healthcare, or stability. Communities are grieving violence abroad while navigating uncertainty at home.

Stress changes how people love.

When people are overwhelmed, they become shorter with one another. More reactive. Less patient. Fear narrows emotional capacity. Financial strain can make tenderness feel like a luxury instead of a necessity. We begin to operate from defense instead of connection.

Yet this is precisely when love matters most.

Not performative love. Not social media love. Not selective compassion that only extends to people who think like us. Real love requires emotional discipline. It asks us to resist becoming hardened by the times.

Loving people in politically charged environments does not mean abandoning boundaries or convictions. It does not mean tolerating abuse, injustice, or harm. It means refusing to let anger become your entire identity. It means protecting your mental health while still remaining emotionally available to the people who matter.

Sometimes love looks like:

• Turning off the news for one evening to reconnect with your family.

• Listening instead of preparing a rebuttal.

• Checking on a friend struggling financially.

• Giving yourself permission to rest from constant outrage.

• Choosing not to dehumanize people even when culture rewards it.

We often discuss patriotism in terms of flags, policies, and elections. But perhaps patriotism should also include emotional responsibility toward one another. A society cannot thrive when everyone is emotionally depleted, suspicious, and angry.

Love is not weakness in difficult times. It is resistance.

In many ways, the world is teaching people to become colder. To protect themselves by disconnecting emotionally. To stay angry because outrage keeps systems moving. But healing communities requires something different. It requires people willing to remain compassionate without becoming consumed.

That balance is difficult.

As a counselor, I often see people carrying invisible emotional weight connected to the state of the world. Anxiety about finances. Fear about safety. Grief from global tragedies. Exhaustion from social conflict. Many people feel guilty for struggling because someone else always seems to have it worse. But emotional fatigue is still real, even when it is overtly quiet.

The truth is that people are craving safety more than perfection. They want relationships where they can breathe. Spaces where they do not have to defend every thought, fear, or emotion. Love creates those spaces.

Perhaps the greatest act of love today is refusing to lose yourself to bitterness.

The world may remain politically divided for a long time. Elections will come and go. Economies will fluctuate. Conflicts will continue to dominate headlines. But how we treat one another during difficult seasons will shape more than politics ever could.

Love is not avoiding reality.
Love is surviving reality without losing your humanity.

Happy 250!

Happy Independence Day…

Beyond a day off work, the 4th of July is a symbol of self-determination, freedom, and LOVE!

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The story of the United States has never belonged to one group alone. It was written by Indigenous peoples, immigrants, women, laborers, inventors, soldiers, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, educators, activists and by generations of African Americans whose labor, sacrifice, creativity, intellect, and courage transformed a nation that often denied them.

The American story cannot be told without the African American story.

As our nation commemorates the 250th anniversary, many institutions are encouraging Americans to reflect on both the country’s achievements and its ongoing pursuit of liberty and equality. I would like to join in with my own form of celebration.

So, in honor of America250, I have curated 50 contributions and I’m inviting you to help complete the list. Let’s rack up 200 more contributions together. This is our way of marking the holiday, with remembrance.

Leave a comment naming an African American whose work, courage, innovation, leadership, or service has made America stronger. Tell us what they contributed and why their story deserves to be remembered. Whether they’re a nationally recognized figure, your granny, or someone whose impact was felt in a local community, every story matters.

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I hope that by remembering our history, it will guide us into the future, and we can deepen our appreciation for one another and continue building a country worthy of the generations who came before us and those yet to come.

Join the conversation. Add a name. Share a story. Help me reach 250 contributions for 250 years.

Because this is how we celebrate.

This barely scratches the surface.

It isn’t ranked.

It isn’t political.

This is “Love” (Article Coming Soon 7/4)

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Fifty Contributions That Changed America.

1. Crispus Attucks

The first person killed during the Boston Massacre, becoming one of the earliest martyrs of the American Revolution.

2. Black Patriots of the Revolutionary War

Thousands fought for American independence despite living in bondage.

3. Benjamin Banneker

Astronomer, mathematician, and surveyor who helped map Washington, D.C.

4. Richard Allen

Founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, expanding religious freedom and Black leadership.

5. Frederick Douglass

One of America’s greatest voices for liberty and constitutional democracy.

6. Harriet Tubman

Led dozens to freedom through the Underground Railroad and later served the Union Army.

7. Sojourner Truth

Advocated for abolition, women’s rights, and human dignity.

8. The Underground Railroad

A vast network that challenged slavery through courage and cooperation.

9. Black Civil War Soldiers

Nearly 200,000 served in the Union Army and Navy.

10. Reconstruction Leaders

African Americans helped rewrite Southern governments and expand public education.

11. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Educated generations of leaders, professionals, scientists, and public servants.

12. George Washington Carver

Revolutionized agricultural science and sustainable farming.

13. Madam C.J. Walker

America’s first self-made female millionaire.

14. Garrett Morgan

Invented the modern traffic signal and improved gas masks.

15. Granville T. Woods

Held dozens of patents that advanced electrical engineering and rail transportation.

16. Lewis Latimer

Improved electric lighting and helped expand practical electricity.

17. Charles Drew

Developed modern blood banking techniques that continue saving lives.

18. Dorothy Height

Advanced civil rights and women’s leadership.

19. Jackie Robinson

Integrated Major League Baseball.

20. Thurgood Marshall

First African American Supreme Court Justice.

21. Rosa Parks

Inspired a movement through quiet courage.

22. The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Demonstrated the power of organized nonviolent protest.

23. Martin Luther King Jr.

Helped America move closer to its founding ideals through nonviolent activism.

24. John Lewis

Reminded America that democracy requires participation.

25. Shirley Chisholm

First Black woman elected to Congress and first to seek a major-party presidential nomination.

26. Barbara Jordan

A constitutional voice during one of America’s greatest political crises.

27. The Tuskegee Airmen

Helped transform military policy through extraordinary service.

28. The Buffalo Soldiers

Protected western frontiers while serving under difficult conditions.

29. Black Women of NASA

Advanced the American space program through mathematics and engineering.

30. Katherine Johnson

Calculated trajectories that helped send Americans into space.

31. Mae Jemison

First African American woman in space.

32. Percy Julian

Developed life-changing medical compounds.

33. Patricia Bath

Invented technology restoring sight to millions.

34. Daniel Hale Williams

Performed one of the first successful open-heart surgeries.

35. Elijah McCoy

Created innovations so valuable that people demanded “the real McCoy.”

36. The Harlem Renaissance

Redefined American literature, music, and visual arts.

37. Jazz

One of America’s greatest cultural gifts to the world.

38. Blues

Created the foundation for much of modern popular music.

39. Gospel Music

Influenced American worship and global music traditions.

40. Hip-Hop

Became one of the world’s most influential cultural movements.

41. Toni Morrison

Expanded American literature through stories that reshaped the national imagination.

42. Maya Angelou

Gave voice to resilience, dignity, and hope.

43. August Wilson

Documented generations of African American life through theater.

44. Alvin Ailey

Redefined modern dance.

45. Oprah Winfrey

Transformed media, publishing, and philanthropy.

46. Barack Obama

Became the first African American President of the United States.

47. Black Entrepreneurs

Built businesses that created jobs, innovation, and wealth despite historic barriers.

48. Black Educators

Expanded educational opportunity across every generation.

49. Black Military Service Members

Served in every American conflict since the nation’s founding.

50. Everyday African Americans

Teachers.
Parents.
Pastors.
Nurses.
Builders.
Farmers.
Artists.
Small business owners.
Neighbors.

Millions whose names never appeared in history books but whose labor, faith, sacrifice, and perseverance built communities that strengthened America.

There are hundreds more.

Scientists.

Inventors.

Judges.

Musicians.

Athletes.

Authors.

Engineers.

Activists.

Soldiers.

Entrepreneurs.

Family members.

Unsung heroes whose names deserve to be remembered.

Again here’s my invitation:

Help me reach 250

Leave a comment with another African American whose contributions shaped America; shaped YOU.

History is not merely about looking backward. It is about carrying forward the stories that teach us who we have been, who we are, and who we still have the opportunity to become.

May remembering our shared history guide us wisely into the next 250 years.

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Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash

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