Main Office: Phone: 401.721.

5685
1070 Main Street Fax: 401.721.568
Pawtucket, RI 02860 www.rihomeless.org

Rhode Island Coalition for the

Homeless

Apphia Duey
302F Curtis Corner Road
Wakefield, RI 02879
18 April 2011

Jim Ryczek
Executive Director
Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless
1070 Main Street
Pawtucket, RI 02860

Dear Mr. Ryczek,

My name is Apphia Duey and I am a senior at the University of Rhode Island in the Writing and Rhetoric
Department. This semester, I am enrolled in Public Writing 303 taught by Fredrik deBoer. Prompted by both
the requirements of the course and my personal concern for the alarming increase in the homeless population
in Rhode Island, I am spending the remainder of the school year researching and advocating for the current
homeless population in the state.

Though I was born and raised in Rhode Island, it was not until I started volunteering at the Welcome House
homeless shelter in Wakefield that I realized how serious of an issue homelessness is in this area. While
working there, I was deeply moved by the sight of a young pregnant woman and her boyfriend walking out
of the woods and up to the doors of the shelter looking for a place to stay only to be regretfully turned away
because there were no rooms available. That experience led me to begin researching what kinds of action is
being taken to aid Rhode Island’s homeless. In the process, I learned of the Rhode Island Coalition for the
Homeless and your partnership with the Rhode Island Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH-RI).

As you already know, Rhode Island is currently facing the highest level of homelessness in the state’s
history. The economic recession that has resulted from home foreclosures, inability to pay mortgages and an
11% unemployment rate has contributed significantly to an alarming 33% increase in monthly homeless
shelter use in the last two years alone. Upon discovering this, I also learned that implementing more
supportive housing units in Rhode Island can and will greatly aid (and eliminate) the number of homeless
people in our state by giving them safe, permanent, and affordable housing.

I am writing to you because the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless has been instrumental in the
implementation of the supportive housing programs already in place in the state. Your organization is well
aware of the cost-saving benefits of supportive housing as well as the positive effects that supportive
housing has on both the community and the people who are currently homeless. My goal is to work with you
to advocate for more supportive housing units in Wakefield where the need is rapidly increasing.

Although temporary (transitional) shelters are essential to our community, supportive housing is permanent,
low-rent housing made available to homeless individuals who benefit from additional services ranging from
 Main Office: Phone: 401.721.5685
1070 Main Street Fax: 401.721.568
Pawtucket, RI 02860 www.rihomeless.org

Rhode Island Coalition for the

Homeless

educational and occupational training to medical care and drug/alcohol recovery programs. Offering
individuals and families a place to live and supporting them with these services has produced a 90% success
rate in eliminating homelessness in the areas where supportive housing units are already in use in the state.

Your organization’s partnership with the RI Corporation for Supportive Housing made it possible to launch
Rhode Island’s first Supportive Housing program (known as Housing First) in 2006. This program saved RI
taxpayers an estimated $7,946 per person who was previously homeless. You know better than anyone that
this solution actually works! Not only is it cost effective, but supportive housing teaches individuals to be
productive members of society, decreases the likelihood of criminal involvement out on the street, and opens
up the temporary shelters for those who need them most.

With this in mind, I am writing to request your formal endorsement of and attendance at a fundraiser I am
hosting at the University of Rhode Island on Monday, May 2, 2011 at the University Library in Galanti
Lounge at 5:30pm. This fundraiser’s specific goal is to raise monetary support for the work that the Rhode
Island Coalition for the Homeless has done in partnership with the Rhode Island Corporation for Supportive
Housing to plan and build more supportive housing units in Wakefield. The fundraiser is open to both
students and faculty of URI as well as to the surrounding community with a goal to raise money to be used
specifically for the RI Supportive Housing Fund. Additionally, this event will feature informational booths
for your organization as well as the RI Corporation for Supportive Housing. I also plan to invite local
residents of the Welcome House who currently live in both transitional and supportive housing units in the
community who will share their experiences with students and community members at the fundraiser.

Hosting this fundraiser on the URI campus is an exciting way to combine advocacy, education, and
collaboration—values that the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless has placed at the center of your
work for years. My hope is that this fundraiser will be another avenue by which your vision of a state that
“refuses to let any man, woman, or child be homeless” will become a reality.

I am encouraged by your commitment to Rhode Island’s homeless and I am honored to invite you and your
colleagues to this event. Please feel free to contact me for further information as I continue to work
alongside you with the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless.

Thank you in advance for your interest in and endorsement of this supportive housing program fundraiser.

Sincerely,

Apphia Duey
University of Rhode Island, Writing and Rhetoric
apphia_duey@my.uri.edu