I met Jonathan in Austin, Texas at South by Southwest. I didn’t meet Jonathan in my normal way of walking down the street handing out socks. I was introduced to him because Jonathan was working as a Homeless Hotspot.
Jonathan became homeless as a result of a drug addiction. Currently, he is in a Narcotics Anonymous program and has eighteen months sober.
Jonathan lives in a homeless shelter and has a part-time job helping mentally challenged children. Jonathan is taking all the right steps to get his life back.
When Jonathan starts to talk about the Homeless Hotspot you can tell he is excited. All the vendors I met that day were having a blast meeting new people. Jonathan likes the program because it will show the general public “homeless people may be homeless but they are not hopeless.”
If you want to know more about Homeless Hotspots read my post “Panhandling or Hotspot Vendor: Which is better?” and listen to the KPCC Radio with Mark Horvath, Sean Condon (Street Paper Association), Rabbi Marvin Gross (CEO, Union Station).
