Asheville leaders invite citizens to join homelessness learning series aimed at understanding, combatting the issue

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The city of Asheville will be holding the first of its three-part Homelessness Learning Series on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

The purpose of the series is to work to educate the Asheville community about the causes, responses and actions around homelessness, and each of the three sessions will focus on a different element.

Tuesday’s session will be about understanding the causes of homelessness; the second session (Oct. 17) will focus on understanding community response for solutions; and the third session (Oct. 24) will teach about partnering with local agencies to take action.

The sessions will be presented by Debbie Alford, homeless strategy specialist for training and development for the city of Asheville. Rev. Scott Rogers, executive director of ABCCM, said he’s excited to see the efforts the city is putting into the homelessness issues.

“I think it’s always healthy whenever the city is trying to educate folks both about what they’re doing and also about the needs of the homeless and what the population looks like.”

Rev. Scott Rogers, Executive Director of ABCCM

He added that the series is a good start and that he hopes ABCCM (Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry) will get the opportunity to be a part of it. Rogers added that their goal is to have a zero waiting list for their shelter and that the more educated the community becomes the closer they can get to that goal.

“I really want folks who want to be a part of the solution for homelessness to come to these sessions,” Rogers said. “It will be good for them to learn.”

Rev. Scott Rogers, Executive Director of ABCCM