kip tiernan

Kip Tiernan: A Leader in the Fight Against Homelessness Homelessness can be defined as an individual lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (McKinney-Veto Homeless Education Act, Section 725). Because homelessness can be a short or long-term problem, it is difficult to accurately calculate homeless figures. The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that there are 634,067 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States. This includes people of all genders, ages, races, and backgrounds. According to the Campaign to End Child Homelessness, 1.6 million children experience homelessness annually (2012). In total, approximately 3 million individuals are experiencing homelessness each year (National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty). Homelessness is a problem that is very personal. Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends, and veterans are being affected. We must come together as a society to work toward combating this problem. Kip Tiernan was an inspiring leader in the fight against homelessness. Her greatest accomplishment was founding Rosie’s Place, the first homeless shelter for women. Kip Tiernan was born on June 17, 1926 in West Haven, CT. She was raised by her grandmother after her parents passed away when she was still a child. She got expelled from boarding school in the 1930s for consumption of alcohol. In 1947, she moved to Boston to study jazz at Boston Conservatory. Unfortunately, she again got expelled for drinking. Kip then joined Alcoholics Anonymous, which would eventually completely change her life. After obtaining sobriety, Kip began a successful career as an advertising copy writer and eventually opened her own firm. She also worked with St Phillip’s Warwick House, a Boston based Catholic civil rights and anti-war movement ministry. St Phillips took Kip into housing projects, jails, and hospitals where she saw the needs of poor and homeless individuals throughout the city. (Rosie’s