Medcalf: What’s the best way to give to Minnesotans asking for help?

Molly Jalma knows St. Paul’s new “Be the Solution” campaign featuring anti-panhandling signs has become polarizing.

The signs state, “For everyone’s safety, DON’T GIVE IN ROADWAYS,” and point people to a website that lists a few organizations where they can donate instead.

As someone who has worked toward uprooting homelessness in the Twin Cities for more than 20 years, however, Jalma also believes in the city effort’s ambitions in posting those signs.

“It comes down to a couple different camps, and honestly, I think if you put every provider, people like myself who have worked in this field for a really long time, we would probably disagree [with one another],” said Jalma, the executive director of St. Paul’s Listening House, a daytime shelter. “That’s because it just comes down to your own personal values about how you want to give and where you think you can help. For some people, that’s directly, without a middleman. And for other people, I think it’s to an organization where they can track that money and know where it’s going to be used.”

She added: “I think the city of St. Paul is … I think they’re mindful in their approach. They’re thoughtful.”

It’s important to listen to Jalma and others on the ground. And I believe good people are behind this campaign in St. Paul. I’m concerned, however, that this approach will contribute more to the confusion around how best to give to those in need than to the solution.

The messaging around St. Paul’s campaign has centered on public safety. I can understand the vulnerability for all in situations that involve panhandling. First, those seeking support face danger at busy intersections. Distracted drivers can be impacted, too. The potential for chaos is real. Still, I worry that this brand of messaging is acceptable only because of the negative perceptions around the unhoused.

To me, this campaign may inadvertently resemble the series of signs in parks that tell people to stop feeding the birds, mostly because they’re a nuisance. I don’t believe that’s the city’s intention, but I’m also not sure where else I’ve seen signs that encourage people to withhold direct help from one another. That’s the power of signs. They tell us to stop. They tell us to go. The premise of a city sign is about restriction and to announce that any opposing behaviors are either risky, illegal or both. They can also be dehumanizing.

But Jalma said she’s not convinced these signs possess that power. And she is hopeful that they might expand a conversation that must extend beyond giving.

“I want some of the messaging to be more that being in danger and being uncomfortable are different things and that’s your work to do,” she said. “Just because somebody’s asking [for money], doesn’t mean that you’re in danger. That might just make you uncomfortable. And that’s OK. But the safety element that I think about are the people who are doing the asking. They’re very vulnerable. Intersections are tough, and I worry about them, but I would never get in the way of somebody doing what they feel they need to do to get by. I think it’s important to empower everybody involved that, ‘Hey, you can make a decision for yourself. You can think about this. You can not think about it. You can engage with it or not.’ ”

That’s fair.

If the goal is to contribute to solutions, however, I’m not sure a conversation about homelessness — the city’s website discusses “long-term solutions that address the root causes of poverty and homelessness” — can fail to mention systemic factors, especially when the message comes from public officials. If individuals decide those underlying elements are too unwieldy to dissect or acknowledge, then that’s their decision. A public entity, in my opinion, does not have that option in a conversation about fixes that go beyond individual choices.

The city’s website should include more information about the “root causes” that have affected those who live on our streets, such as stereotypes and discriminatory practices toward the poor.

Plus, I think I get to choose how I give. I don’t believe these signs are an attempt to strip me of that right. I do believe, however, they’re unnecessary and have the capacity to do more harm than good. Maybe I’m wrong, though.

I’d hoped to have this conversation with Deputy Mayor Jamie Tincher, but a city spokesperson told me she didn’t have time in her schedule. I was offered a written statement if I had specific questions, but I declined that because I think this issue demands dialogue.

I value the voices in these rooms, however, who’ve devoted their lives to this work.

The people behind the scenes, Jalma said, are working to make real progress in a country that recorded a 12% increase from 2022 to 2023 in the number of people who reported that they had experienced homelessness. Jalma said the city is “trying to move away from that criminalization” of homelessness.

“In working with the city and for them, engaging with all the providers I do, I do give them the benefit of the doubt on that,” she said. “I trust their intentions in that.”