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4 GROUNDCOVER NEWS SHELTER Nicole Adelman on new E.D. role JIM CLARK Groundcover vendor No. 139 On Monday, Sept. 8, Nicole Adelman took over for Dan Kelly as Executive Director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, located in the Robert J Delonis Center, the county’s homeless shelter. I interviewed her on her third day. A “transplant townie,” Nicole was born in Philadelphia and moved to Ann Arbor at the age of 12. Nicole says this about her younger years: “I graduated from Ann Arbor Huron High School in 1988 and went to undergrad and grad school at the University of Michigan. I grew up wanting to serve people who are underrepresented in our system. So I got my master's in public health and behavioral health education and have been here ever since.” Since graduating from U-M in 1995, Nicole has worked for the Corner Health Center as a health educator and director and was the director of Alpha House for several years. “My work in HIV was at an agency then called The HIV/AIDS Resource Center,” she said. She spent the last seven years working on substance use policy and funding. “You're highly motivated to do human service work,” I said. “What is driving that?” Nicole answered, “My desire is to make sure that everybody has access to a healthy life and supportive communities. Serving the people who need it the most is the essence of who I am. My core values are that we are all equal and all deserve basic human rights and our needs, including housing, to be met. Just as a human being, I believe this is the right thing to do.” “What drew you to becoming the executive director of the Delonis Center?” I asked. Nicole answered, “Every job I've had comes back to housing and homelessness. If we don't have a healthy community, we can't have healthy people. And our towns can't exist in a healthy way if people are not able to have reliable housing.” “What is your main goal coming in as a new director?” I asked She answered, “To make sure that we have the capacity to meet people’s immediate needs, not just at Delonis and the rotating shelters, but across the whole county. I think the community plays a huge role in housing. I don't think that's the only answer, there has to be other systems in place, but we absolutely can't do it without the community. “Reconnecting with my partners is very important. I’ve worked with the County Commissioners. I’ve known Sheri Wander and Peggy Lynch from MISSION for a long time. And I worked with the community of faith when I was at Alpha House. Building capacity means reengaging everybody. We still have that connection with each other; it just needs to build its strength back up.” Nicole continued, “We also need to expand into Ypsilanti. There needs to be a presence in Ypsi where it doesn't exist. It never has, with the exception of the past couple years where I think it's been building. I feel like people look to the Shelter Association as a leader in this cause.” Nicole mentioned that she wants to include grassroots groups such as Washtenaw Camp Outreach, and social justice and housing activists, such as Shelter Now, in the conversation about building capacity. Nicole mentioned law enforcement may have a role as a community partner. I asked her if she knew Alyshia Dyer, the Washtenaw County Sheriff. She did not but did have this to say: “Alyshia ran on a great platform and I think she seems to really care. So I look forward to meeting with her. I haven't interacted with her at all but I don't think she wants our county to be a police state. I think she is invested in the social service model and supporting people. Whether that's coming to fruition or not, I don't know. I haven't spoken to her at all, so I can't really speak to that.” Winter is a busy time for the network of people that help the homeless. Being stuck outside in the brutal cold during the day is dangerous, sleeping outside can be deadly. There was a cold-related death in Detroit earlier in 2025 and a Washtenaw County medical official connected eight deaths to the cold since 2022. The activist community in the area is beginning to gear up. “How are you preparing the shelter for winter?” I asked. “I have to go back to the day-three disclaimer,” she said. “I don't mean it to be an excuse,” she continued, “but I am just now meeting all the staff and doing the on-boarding paperwork. However, I just told Dan Kelly, the former director, that I'm really looking forward to getting involved in the conversations that haven't happened yet with me. So planning for the winter - that's to come, and very soon. Planning for the shelter started a while ago, and should be happening all year.” Nicole Adelman: a natural fit for Executive Director of the Shelter Association. I wanted to know Nicole’s opinion on capitalism so I asked her to comment on this statement: “Once in poverty, getting out is nearly impossible. Income disparity is responsible for a lot of homelessness. What is often overlooked is that because we live in an economic system that relies on competition, there have to be losers. The losers can’t make rent and so the losers become homeless.” Here is Nicole's reaction: “People are the responsibility of the community no matter what economic model is being followed. But unfortunately the way our system is set up, it has allowed the government to pass off responsibility to the nonprofits. Not locally though. Washtenaw County does a great job addressing its population in need, but in general it feels like the government has given up on social services. The attitude seems to be we’ll help here and there but it isn’t our problem. Some people have even criminalized homelessness, but the people experiencing it are suffering because the system isn’t working. The homeless are not criminals, they are our neighbors.” For Denver VOICE vendor Halvin Jones, survival means walking all night GILES CLASSEN Denver VOICE Each night, as most of Denver sleeps, Halvin Jones wanders the streets, always moving. “I just walk the streets,” he said. “It’s dangerous to close your eyes out here.” Jones, a Denver VOICE vendor, has been experiencing unsheltered homelessness since losing his Section 8 housing voucher. “They terminated my apartment because my paperwork wasn’t completed correctly,” he said. “I thought I had it right. My caseworker helped me. We completed it multiple times. But they still said it was incomplete.” Jones gets Supplemental Social Security Income due to a developmental disability. He said that doing paperwork is difficult, and he asked for help, but instead, he lost his housing. “I’ve been special ed my whole life,” he said. “I’ve never had a license. I won’t give up; I just keep trying. But it isn’t easy, and no one wants to give you a break.” Since then, Jones has been caught in the draining cycle that traps many experiencing homelessness: too exhausted to function during the day, but too afraid to sleep at night. “You’re always on edge,” he said. “I don’t sleep much at night when I try. You have to sleep with one eye open; you always feel on alert. So, I often sleep during the day when it can be a little safer and walk all night.” Some nights, Jones tries to grab a few hours of sleep on a city bus or in tucked-away corners. But even that comes with risk. “I got robbed in my sleep one night,” he said. “I woke up with nothing but my pants.” Shelters haven’t been a viable alternative for Jones. He traverses the see WALKING next page  SEPTEMBER 19, 2025

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