Open Table Nashville prints an annual, “Where to Turn in Nashville” resource guide for anyone looking for help in Middle Tennessee. Order copies of the guide to distribute to people in your organization. Have questions? Email: wttin@OpenTableNashville.org for more info!
Open Table Nashville Resources
- Statistics on Homelessness in Nashville handout
- How to Contact Your Local Elected Officials handout
- How a Bill Becomes a Law in Metro Council handout
Videos & Films
- Tent City, U.S.A., A powerful documentary about Nashville’s largest homeless encampment before and after the flood of 2010 (2012)
- Saint Cloud Hill, An immersive documentary about the underbelly of Nashville’s growing prosperity and the closure of the encampment at Fort Negley (2019)
- Criminalization of Homelessness, Paul Boden of the Western Regional Advocacy Project offers a brief history of laws that criminalize people who are homeless
- How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime, TED Talk by Nadine Burke Harris
- Wealth Inequality in America, 6 minute infographic video on perceived vs. actual wealth disparity in America
- Open Table Nashville’s YouTube channel, with videos from past trainings
Books
- Praying with Our Feet: Pursuing Justice and Healing on the Streets, Lindsey Krinks
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond
- In the Midst of Plenty: Homelessness and What to Do About It, Beth Shin and Jill Khadduri
- The Value of Homelessness: Managing Surplus Life in the United States, Craig Willse
- I’ll Take You There: Exploring Nashville’s Social Justice Sites, Amie Thurber and Learotha Williams
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander
National Reports
- Tent City, USA: The Growth of America’s Homeless Encampments and How Communities are Responding, National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
- No Safe Place: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities, A Report by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
- State of Homelessness, a 2021 report drawing from the nationwide Point-in-Time Count
- Family Options Study: 3-Year Impacts of Housing and Services Interventions for Homeless Families Study Report, a 2016 study report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development showing the effects of giving families in emergency shelters priority access to housing
- Homeless Mortality Data Kit, a study designed to understand and track the deaths of people experiencing homelessness
- Mortality Among Homeless Adults in Boston: Shifts in Causes of Death Over a 15-Year Period, a study that replaced HIV with drug overdoses as the leading epidemic among people experiencing homelessness
Nashville Reports
- Housing Segregation in Nashville, a 2020 report exploring the legacy of racial segregation in Nashville.
- Affordable Housing Task Force Report, a 2021 report from the Task Force formed by Mayor John Cooper’s Office to study Nashville’s affordable housing crisis
- Metropolitan Social Services Community Needs Evaluation, a 2021 report offering data on topics related to the state of wellbeing in Nashville, including poverty and housing
- Equitable Development: Promising Practices to Maximize Affordability and Minimize Displacement in Nashville’s Urban Core, a 2015 study on development, gentrification, and affordable housing
Other Helpful Resources
- Trauma-Informed Care Webinar Series, National Healthcare for the Homeless Council
- Outreach to People Experiencing Homelessness, a curriculum that provides a strong foundation for practicing relational street outreach, written by Ken Kraybill and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council
- Nashville Homeless Mortality Database, an online form where you can submit information about any individuals who were experiencing homelessness when they died or who had a known history of homelessness and died in Nashville, TN Federal Rental Assistance Fact Sheets, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities