Kelly happily went to the EJ Agency meeting excited to see some upward movement for the Homelessness arena and was delighted to meet such wonderful representatives supportive of her agenda. After a lengthy discussion of concerns, issues and venues Kelly was told she needed to meet the EJ Director Matthew Tejada so he could meet her face to face and hear her story. An appointment was made for early spring 2017 and Kelly began to prepare her presentation to show the director exactly how homelessness and environmental justice related hand in hand and to secure future networking and partnerships were incurred. Kelly created a 30 slide PowerPoint outlining the variances between her homeless experiences in the rural Appalachia region of eastern Kentucky and in the urban streets of the nation's capital. As a result of meeting with the EJ Director Matthew Tejada over coffee in the early spring of 2017 where Kelly presented her 30 slide power point the EJ Director agreed to give Kelly a "Round Table" on Homelessness.
Kelly immediately began working on her "Round Table" presentation and contacted Eric Tars, at the National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty and ask Eric to partner with her on presenting a "Round Table on Homelessness" to the Environmental Justice Agency demonstrating "HOW" Homelessness and Environmental Justice went hand in hand. Eric and Kelly began networking and then enlisted the assistance of Robert Robinson, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative and Bob Erlenbusch, Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness to form a powerful Homelessness team finally presenting before the EJ Director and representatives on March 28 th , 2018.
In Kelly's presentation she put forward several items for the Environmental Justice Agency to embrace in their Agency which would include Homelessness at little to no effort. The Homeless Round Table was a huge success and positive enlightenment tool as the Environmental Agency agreed to Implement Kelly's Homeless Items one of which was to include Homelessness in a EJ grant opportunity. In addition the EJ director became involved at high ranking levels with Homelessness as a whole.
As a direct result of Kelly's lobbying with the EPA Environmental Justice Agency for the Homeless arena to be included in their core agency the Environmental Justice agency responded with incorporating "Homelessness" in the 2019 RPF for Small Grants as a national opportunity https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-11/documents/fy2019_ejsg_rfp.pdf allowing all government approved organizations across the nation to submit grants on behalf of Homelessness and receive EJ Agency funding.
Kelly received a Master's in Adult Education and a Masters in Counseling from Morehead State University in Eastern Kentucky. Kelly is a United States Human Rights Network member and 2018 "FIHRE" Fellow (Fighting Injustice through Human Rights Education) https://ushrnetwork.org/news/4/38/Meet-our-2018-FIHRE-Fellows who brings an immense "Fire" to the Human Rights platform in her passionate advocacy for Basic Human Rights. Kelly advocates in the Environmental and Social Justice Arenas of Human Rights and Policies specifically concerning Homelessness, Domestic Violence and Political corruption. Kelly focuses her advocacy forte as a community liaison connecting resources and organizations in networking possibilities to bring positive resolution to the issues. Kelly is currently on the National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty's website under Staff Volunteer for Development and Communications Department https://nlchp.org/about/our-staff/
As a direct result of Kelly's lobbying and "Round Table" event The EPA Environmental Justice Agency under the current direction of Director Matthew Tejada now continues to expand and grow in the Homelessness arena and Kelly maintains close connection with the EJ agency and continues to lobby for additional assistance and awareness in all arenas of the government and public at large regarding Homelessness issues. The most vital take away from Kelly's story would be encouragement to the general public that anyone, even a homeless individual, can openly approach a government entity such as the Environmental Justice agency with issues of concern and work collaboratively with that agency to create positive resolutions.
Should you wish to contact Kelly to provide support please feel free to reach her via email at equaljustice4kellymiller|AT|yahoo.comEmail address or snail mail at "The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, Attn: Kelly Miller, 2000 M Street NW, Suite 210, Washington, DC 20036."
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