‘Beyond the Bridge’ comes to Salinas seeking solutions to homelessness
SALINAS – How can our nation find comprehensive solutions to homelessness?
That is the question that the documentary “Beyond the Bridge; a Solution to Homelessness,” seeks to answer. As part of a 40-city, nationwide tour, the documentary is coming to Sherwood Hall in Salinas on Tuesday.
The documentary follows a film crew as they travel over 40,000 miles around the United States searching for innovative solutions to homelessness.
Admission to the film screening and panel discussion is free, sponsored by the Community Foundation for Monterey County and Dorothy’s Place, a local nonprofit that provides support and resources to those experiencing homelessness and poverty in Monterey County.
The issue is particularly relevant in Monterey County where homelessness is on the rise, said Colleen Bailey, president and CEO of Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce, which helped support the event.
“The problem around the unhoused in our community is getting worse and we can’t just stick our head in the sand,” Bailey said.
Bailey hopes that bringing together a wide range of community members to examine the problem will lead to new collaborative solutions.
This spirit of cross-sector collaboration is reflected in the makeup of the panelists, which will consist of Mike LeBarre, mayor of King City; Anna Velazquez, Soledad’s mayor and the district director for State Senate District 4; Tina Nieto, the county sheriff; Meghan Marshall, executive officer of the California Interagency Council on Homelessness; Clement Miller, chief operating officer at Salinas Valley Health; Mark Drever, co-founder and CEO of organicgirl, LLC; Jessica Finney, community grants director at Central California Alliance for Health and Eric Johnsen, CEO of R3 – Rehabilitation, Restoration & Respite.
“The Salinas Valley is made up of problem solvers, so I can’t think of any group that’s better positioned to have intelligent conversations around this,” Bailey said.
“A lot of people think that (homelessness) is a challenge that’s beyond us as a community to fix and what I’m hoping is that we start a dialogue that brings the whole community together to figure out what we can do,” Bailey said.
Doors open at 5 p.m. for a meet and greet with event organizers, panelists and the film’s producers, Don Sawyer and Tim Hashko, with sandwiches and salads from Red Artichoke, provided by Dorothy’s Place. The film begins at 6 p.m.
