This week we’re going to take a minute to highlight a stellar contribution from the Tuck Sleep Foundation. Their recent installment, “Homelessness in the US: Sleep Study and Accommodation Directory,” provides both an informative piece and useful tool for individuals struggling with homelessness as much as those trying to assist.

Tuck Sleep Foundation is a community devoted to improving sleep hygiene, health and wellness through the creation and dissemination of comprehensive, unbiased, free web-based resources. Tuck has been featured on NPR, Lifehacker, Radiolab and is referenced by many colleges/universities and sleep organizations across the web. Tuck Sleep Foundation aims to raise sleep awareness and educate the general public on all things sleep – from health/science to products – in the most unbiased/evidenced based way possible. Their small-but-mighty team is based out of Seattle, Wash. and is growing to encompass a network of experts both within the U.S. and internationally.

Now Tuck Sleep’s shelter listing is featured in P2P’s Resources for Homeless Students underneath “Places to Crash.” The listing provides a comprehensive directory of shelters and crash pads for anyone experiencing homelessness.

Why is Tuck Sleep’s directory so important? When you are homeless, every discussion has an immediate and, oftentimes, detrimental repercussion. There is no safety net. If you opt to spend the night at a shelter, would you choose an emergency shelter (the kind with little more than a metal cot you can sleep on for six or five hours with no security for your meager belongings) or would you rather sleep in a shelter that has a decent bed, will provide much-needed toiletries, and — when you wake up in the morning — support services to help reorient yourself?

Yes, I’d pick the second one, too. But how do you know which to pick? Tuck Sleep’s listing provides notes for what the shelter can offer its clients. If you (or someone you may know) happen to require more than just a place to rest your head, then you at least have the option to check. The less privilege a person has — due to social, economic, political, or other biases — the fewer option that are available to them. A good night’s sleep and life-saving assistance, should not have to inaccessible. Thanks, Tuck Sleep, for bringing it to the fore, especially for those among us who need it most.

For more about sleep and being homeless, check out the P2P post “Better Stay Healthy: Sleep and Homelessness.”

—

Have a resource or a story that you would like P2P to highlight? Send us an email at poverty2professional@gmail.com or use our contact form on this website.