The book gathers life stories from 14 formerly homeless individuals who have graduated from a series of NYC based Life Skills Programs (now in its third decade) and combines these with reflections from the programs' service providers, clergy and volunteers. The authors are drawn from the participants in and sponsors of the Educational Outreach Program, founded in 1989 by New York Catholic Charities and Interfaith Assembly in Homelessness and Housing. Fordham's own Beck Institute on Religion and Poverty has developed a research partnership with the program sponsors and is designing manuals about their programs.
There is an Advisory Board for the book, composed of Life Skills graduates and members of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing and NY Catholic Charities. One of the book's goals is to feature graduates who have been transformed by the Life Skills Program and who are now giving back to the community in some meaningful way. The book will about community--about the way homelessness affects both individuals and the larger community, about how communities heal themselves by helping homeless individuals, and about how these individuals enrich the communities they join and help others.