Sep 27, 2022
Wanting to tackle the giant topic of homelessness, Tamara chats with Pat LaMarche, national homelessness advocate and activist, and Jamie Dorr, Executive Director of Midcoast Youth Center in Bath, Maine. Just the tips of the iceberg, the women share information on numbers, circumstances, challenges, system failures and what you can do to help.
Pat LaMarche, award winning broadcaster and journalist, focuses her energies writing and speaking about poverty. Following her 2004 run for Vice President of the United States – a year of her life she dedicated to speaking out against homelessness and its victims – Pat became a shelter director caring directly for those experiencing housing and food insecurity. Having authored nine books dealing with poverty and human struggles, Pat relies on any and every method available to her to grab the attention of the mainstream public. Pat’s most recent project, The Homeless Remembrance Blanket will place 9000 square feet of blankets on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, December 21st.
Jamie Dorr is the Executive Director and Founder of Midcoast Community Alliance, a grassroots community coalition that began in July 2016 after several youth suicide losses in the Bath area. Since that time, Jamie has been instrumental in creating innovative solutions to previously unmet needs in Sagadahoc County, Brunswick and Harpswell to ensure youth are supported and equipped to thrive.
She developed Midcoast Youth Center, which yearly serves over 500 youth with a safe place to go afterschool and operates the adjoining Bath Skatepark, the largest indoor skatepark in Maine. Working with partners, she developed the Merrymeeting Support Collaborative for Youth Experiencing Homelessness, a partnership between Midcoast Youth Center and school districts RSU1 and MSAD75, which serves over 60 homeless children and teens each year. Her leadership was crucial to Sagadahoc County community receiving a Working Communities Challenge grant from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston with the goal of reducing youth hopelessness and creating a diverse web of youth supports. Her work has earned 15 awards at the local, county, and state level, as well as 2019 Difference Maker of the Year from the New England Patriots.
To contact or for more information on our host, email vo@tamaralilly.com or visit LetMeDoTheTalking.com