The proliferation of people living in outdoor encampments throughout Maine communities and the United States has prompted an increasingly heated debate around homelessness, including public health and safety concerns, the legality of people camping in public spaces, Maine’s shortage of affordable housing, and the inadequacies of our social safety net.

The three panelists joining the conversation have spent their careers on the front lines of this issue: Danielle West is city manager of Portland, which operates the largest municipal shelter and one of a small number of municipal public health departments in the state of Maine; Cullen Ryan is executive director of Community Housing of Maine, the largest supportive housing provider for homeless and special needs populations in the state; Ali Lovejoy is vice president for mission advancement at Preble Street, a nonprofit social work agency that has been serving vulnerable populations in Maine for nearly 50 years. Courtni Jeffers, Ed.D., assistant clinical professor of public health at UNE, will moderate the discussion.

Discover Maine’s largest private University, the University of New England. UNE offers more than 40 bachelor’s degrees in needed fields, from the health professions, to the health and life sciences, to business and the humanities. We also offer 30-plus graduate, professional and doctoral degrees in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, social work and more. UNE learning happens online and on three beautiful campuses: on the shore in Biddeford, Maine, in-town in Portland, Maine, and at our study-abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco. Visit https://www.une.edu for complete information.