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IN YOUR OWN WORDS Words from our vendors on their life and times, what they’re thinking and feelings, for their neighbors to know and share. SONDRA JEFFRIES DENVER VOICE VENDOR On a Positive Note SEPTEMBER IS A TIME when the warm summer nights start to fade, and the trees start to lose their leaves. It is a beautiful time to begin anew. Students go back to school, and life changes. When I was newly 17, back in 1995, September was the start of a new and wonderful chapter of my life. It was the month I had my first son. I was scared, but also so excited. Here I was, just a teenager, having a precious baby. He was 6 pounds, 7 ounces, and 21 inches long. This was a time in my life when I felt like change was inspiring me. I was going to be the love that I never felt I had. I wanted to learn more so I could teach my son everything. Even though my son’s father was drowning in his addiction and was not present—nor would I have wanted him to be because of the abuse I endured—I focused on being the strongest mother I could be. As Jacob grew, I was amazed at how intelligent he was. When I was still in the hospital, a research group approached me and asked if I would be a part of their study. They took a bit of my umbilical cord blood to test it. Throughout his adolescence, they would do developmental tests with him and me. He loved the games, and boy, was he smart! I don’t know what became of that study because they were not able to follow him until he turned 19. I do wish I knew. Life felt full of promise. I was only 17. I came from a long line of addiction and so much more, but that was not going to define me. I cannot say our lives weren’t difficult. I grew up alongside him. I did my best and loved on him every second I could. Life was overwhelming. I did everything I could to hold a job and provide a roof over our heads. We moved around a lot. Changing schools so often really affected my son’s grades. I still struggled with addiction, but I hid it and tried to limit myself to only weekends. That promise I felt became a dim, far-off light. The shame I felt consumed me and made me parent out of guilt — so many years of trying and failing. Here is the positive that I take away from it all. Today, I can look at my son and admit where I went wrong. He is 31 years old now, and he has his own daughter who is 17 years old. I can truly give him the real me with no excuses. The one thing I can say for sure is that Jacob is the kindest, most wonderful man I have ever known. He loves with his full heart, and when I look at him, I see all of the wonderful qualities I have. He is a hard worker and has worked at the same place for a long time. When I converse with him, I know God is looking out for us both, even though I wasn’t a believer when he was growing up. I know that my son is a survivor just like me, and not only has he survived, but he has thrived. Even though my sons are 31 and 16, I choose not to be in a relationship because I am not good at them, and I don’t want to waste any more of my attention on anyone who isn’t my son. After all of my shortcomings in motherhood, I know that hardships do carve a pathway to peace. That’s where we are today: at peace, showing and receiving forgiveness, and making our relationships what we desire them to be. The positive note is every note or text from my boys saying, “Mama, I got you,” or me saying, “Of course, Son, I got you.” The First Myth About Homelessness MUCH OF THIS COUNTRY is caught up in a series of myths about homelessness. Believing in these myths leads to what I call the “typical understanding” about our brothers and sisters who DONALD BURNES VICE PRESIDENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS DENVER VOICE are without homes: all people experiencing homelessness are “lazy, crazy, drunks, druggies, or they’ve made bad decisions.” Changing the narrative requires us to explode these myths and replace them with more truthful descriptions of those experiencing homelessness. Let’s take the first myth: Most people experiencing homelessness are mentally ill. I have heard too many people say that all people experiencing homelessness are mentally ill, and that’s why they are without housing. In her book “Housing: The Evolution of Beliefs,” Victoria P. Beard found that only 18% of people who are unhoused have severe mental illness. Furthermore, according to Mental Health Stats.org, 2026 federal data suggest that 25%30% of the unhoused have a serious mental health disorder, and half of those also have serious issues with substance use disorders. So, somewhere between 18% and 30% of all people experiencing homelessness have some kind of serious mental illness. That’s far short of “most people experiencing homelessness are mentally ill.” In fact, 70%-82% do not have a serious mental illness. There are many more people with housing who have serious mental illness issues than there are among those without housing. For the most part, members of society do their very best to provide the care necessary for the seriously mentally ill who are in housing. Family members do whatever they can to find appropriate facilities and/or work to develop and maintain a prescription-based drug cocktail that creates stability for mentally ill persons. Those experiencing homelessness have far less success. Because of the negative stereotypes surrounding the unhoused mentally ill and the stigma most of us attach to such persons, we tend to distance ourselves from them. It’s the classic xenophobia — fear of people who are different — not because they are mentally ill but because they are unhoused. They have become targets of our disgust and disdain. We really don’t want to deal with them. In addition, since many shelters and transitional housing facilities do not serve mentally ill persons until they are appropriately stabilized, often someone who has an unmedicated mental illness is more likely to have to live on the streets because of their behavior. Thus, the public is more likely to see these individuals than if they were sheltered, creating the appearance of a much larger percentage of street people being mentally ill, even though most unhoused people are in shelters or transitional housing. Also, there is an ongoing debate about whether mental illness causes homelessness or whether homelessness causes mental illness. Given the kind of trauma that homelessness creates in people forced to live in those circumstances, it is entirely possible that most of the unhoused who are mentally ill succumbed to their illness because of their overall housing and living situation. The research on this question is far from definitive. Finally, if we are to change the narrative about mental illness, we must remember two important things. First, the overall percentage of people experiencing homelessness who have serious mental illness is far less than the myth about the issue suggests. We must all work hard to counteract this mischaracterization. Second, if we are to honor our humanitarian calling, we cannot turn our noses up at those who are both unhoused and suffering from mental illness. As fellow human beings, we are called to do whatever we can to help them. Do not turn your back on them; do what you can to engage with them and provide them with help. Donald Burnes has co-authored four books on poverty and homelessness, and has studied poverty and homelessness-related issues and policies for more than 40 years. Burnes joined the Denver VOICE board of directors in June of 2025. He received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, a master’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and a PhD from Columbia University Teachers’ College. 12 COLUMN

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