Frequently Requested Documents
- Homeless Street Guide (November 2024)– A listing of various community resources provided by the Local Homeless Coalition (LHC)
- Food and Clothing Resources PUBLIC – updated 10-16-2024-A list of food banks, soup kitchens, clothing banks and personal hygiene resource across the county, maintained by HARC.
- Food-and-Clothing-Resources-SPANISH-updated-10-16-2024
- 🔥Water Stations and Cooling/Refreshing Stations🔥– A list of water stations and cooling stations during extreme heat index levels.
- Maryland Birth Certificate Application
Resources on Poverty
After many years of working with the homeless and others in poverty we realize how much we need to learn before we can truly help those we serve make lasting changes. We encourage you to join us in this learning process by educating yourself about these complex issues. Below are some recommended resources to help you get started.
Faces of Homelessness presents video interviews with homeless/formerly homeless members of NCH’s Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau. They share their personal experiences of being homeless in America.
Voices of the Poor is a participatory research initiative that chronicles the struggles and aspirations of poor people for a life of dignity. At the turn of the new millennium, the World Bank collected the voices of more than 60,000 poor women and men from 60 countries, in an unprecedented effort to understand poverty from the perspective of the poor themselves.
When Helping Hurts – Book review by David Mays. Showing compassion to the poor is part of our job description as followers of Jesus, but there is great diversity in ways to do it.  This book focuses on appropriate ways for Christian congregations to help the poor. The first part discusses the fundamental nature of poverty. Part 2 discusses key issues to consider in poverty alleviation and part 3 applies these concepts to economic development.
Same Kind of Different As Me – This book and its sequel (What Difference Do it Make) are favorites of some of our staff. The first book tells the story of a  friendship between an international art dealer and a modern-day slave from Louisiana. Both books are written by the two men who lived the story. A must read!
Breaking Night is the autobiography of Liz Murray who grew up in the Bronx in the 1980s and 90s, Liz dealt with the typical stresses of childhood. But she also had to grapple with being the daughter of drug addicts — which ultimately meant fending for herself as a homeless adolescent. Her story was made into a Lifetime movie as well entitled Homeless to Harvard.