Tackling Homelessness in Louisville

During YPAL’s Excelerate Workshop- Innovation and Creativity, Bryce Butler, Founding and Managing Director of Access Ventures, discussed with attendees the ways in which we can break down our creative barriers in order to be more innovative in our daily lives and in our careers.

To help us with this, Bryce had us tackle the issue of homelessness in Louisville. We were broken up into groups and went through a process of brainstorming individually and in our groups. Existing local and national initiatives were listed and we then used our brainstorming skills to create our own innovative solutions to specific problems related to homelessness that we wanted to address and the goals they would accomplish. After our own initiatives were created, we each voted on our favorite.

Our top two solution-based ideas for tackling homelessness in Louisville are as follows:

1) Mobile resource hubs:
These mobile hubs would consist of a fleet of buses that house experts that provide the needs necessary to overcome homelessness. Areas of expertise would include: mental health, healthcare, social workers, basic needs, jobs/finance, etc. This solution addresses the problem of access to services due to lack of transportation and de-centralization of services. The goal is to increase connections and decrease administrative costs.

2) Rainy Day Fund:
The Rainy Day Fund is an endowment to provide financial assistance for unexpected financial problems. There would be low to no interest loans and kiva loans. This solution addresses the problem of people living paycheck-to-paycheck. The goal of this solution is to prevent issues that can lead to homelessness.

Although there are only two initiatives listed here, there were many more created in YPAL’s Excelerate Workshop. Through our quick brainstorming process, we were all able to show our creative side and find solutions to a serious community problem.

If you are interested in our complete list of solutions or current local and national initiatives, please email admin@ypal.org!