Network Holds Largest Conference to Date
Jun.10.2013
Left: Taz Tagore, cofounder of the Reciprocity Foundation. Middle: The crowd at the morning session of the 13th Annual New York State Supportive Housing Conference. Right: Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick pauses during his keynote address to take a photo of the audience. For more photos from the event, visit our Facebook page.
On June 6, some 1,200 of our friends and colleagues gathered for the 13th Annual New York State Supportive Housing Conference, the largest event in the Network's history. This full-day affair included a record 30 workshops, a showstopping keynote address, a major government announcement and a cocktail reception featuring numerous elected officials.
The conference began with the signature one-two punch of Network Board Chair Bill Traylor and Network Executive Director Ted Houghton. Before a crowd of supportive housing's finest, both men spoke of the sea changes that lie ahead for our community. Mr. Houghton reminded attendees of another game-changing era, 30 years ago, when supportive housing first emerged.
"Those weren't easy times," he said. "Blocks and blocks of our cities were nothing more than vacant lots. We had, for the first time in living memory, people with mental illness living on the streets. And what did we do? We created this model, supportive housing, that did more to improve the quality of life of people with mental illness and other barriers to independence than anything in the history of the world. Today, we find ourselves in another era of immense opportunity."
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