From showers to haircuts to food to clothing, it’s a one-stop shop to help the homeless population in Austin get back on their feet.
“It takes people like this. It takes services like this to keep the world going. Let people know out there…you can get some help if you want some help. There’s many people out here that want to help you if you let them.”
Austin start-up Encast partnered with nonprofit Lava Mae to create a pop-up care village during the SXSW festival. It was held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 7th and Red River.
It served as a way to give back to the community.
“Seems like SX has become all about ‘me, me, me, me.’ We felt like, you know, there’s so much good out there, we want to show the world that this community can really come together to help us marginalize. So, we decided to bring this one and magic happened.”
“It helps folks who are living on the street clean up and restore that sense of self-worth and dignity. That is so crucial to your identity.”
According to a report by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, there were more than 2,000 homeless students in Travis County during the 2015-2016 school year. The City of Austin was recently awarded a HUD grant of $5.2 million to tackle the problem.
That was one factor behind Saturday’s events.
“For them to go out back into the community and feel like, ‘People love me and things might get better.’ What I hope happens out of this is that this isn’t just a one-time thing. We can continue to replicate these pop-up care villages in this community forevermore.”
The goal is to one day eliminate youth homelessness in Austin and other cities across the country.
“Keep up the good work because people like us need services like this. And we need to get out of the situations that we’re in.”