No. 132: Homeless Court

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled along ideological lines that cities could ban homeless people from sleeping in public places. This week, we're reviewing the impacts of that decision. I've been surprised by how quickly cities have instituted some form of anti-camping ban and how legislatures and the judicial system have found themselves at odds over how to address the homelessness crisis.

On the job front, I'm featuring a company that builds cloud services with renewable energy as a central tenet. When you access websites, chances are you're hitting cloud infrastructure hosted by a major tech company like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google. Although those companies have invested in renewable energy sources, Crusoe's data centers are powered entirely by renewables. They're growing quickly, so if you want to hitch a ride on a rocket and build a greener web, be sure to check them out below.

~ Greg

What we're reading

City and state governments have passed a slew of camping bans targeting homeless populations in response to the Supreme Court ruling last year. (Reuters)

• They've moved quickly: eight states and more than 150 cities and counties have passed some form of anti-camping law according to the National Homelessness Law Center and Cicero Institute.
• In Kentucky, Louisville's Jefferson County District Court created a "homeless court" docket aimed at connecting defendants with services rather than punishing them. This model, too, is growing quickly: the American Bar Association has identified nearly 50 similar courts around the country.
  • The justice system seems intent on avoiding convictions, and although I applaud the effort to defang the current laws, forcing people through this system ignores the myriad ways that people find themselves homeless in the first place.
  • If you can no longer afford rent because of a life-changing medical procedure or disability, being labeled a criminal for your misfortune strikes me as heartless.
• Unfortunately, homelessness is only getting worse: 771,480 people were counted in the most recent census, an 18% increase from 2023 to 2024. If that kind of trend continues, it's easy to see how this problem gets out of control.
  • The increase is particularly concerning among older Americans who may not have the financial runway to reverse their fortunes.
• Given our current trajectory, it seems like criminalization should be replaced with an alternative. I don't think we'll address everyone's needs, but for people who simply couldn't pay the rent, housing vouchers, temporary housing, and guaranteed income have proven moderately successful.
  • The latter continues to surprise me. If you asked me a few years ago if we should cut everyone a check, I would have thought you were crazy – the evidence suggests otherwise.

Job of the week

We've discussed the environmental impacts of data centers in the past, whether it's electricity powering servers or water keeping them cool, and it's safe to say that demand is skyrocketing. That's why I've had my eye on Crusoe, a cloud infrastructure company whose data centers are powered entirely by renewable energy.

They have job opportunities across the spectrum, from business operations and HR to engineering and sales. Most of the roles are onsite, but they are geographically distributed; tech jobs tend to be located in San Francisco, but there's a healthy contingent in Denver as well.

Personally, I'd love to see more cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google go this route in the future, but I'm excited to see Crusoe building from the ground up for sustainability and growing quickly. Energy demand is not going away anytime soon, especially as AI picks up.

Community roundup

• Harvard has increased the maximum income that qualifies for free tuition in an effort to increase the diversity of its student body after the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action practices. (NYT)
  • Harvard is not alone: Caltech, MIT, U Penn, and others have made similar changes to their free tuition programs.
• Alabama is currently the only state whose 4th-grade math scores are higher now than they were in 2019 before the pandemic. One of the reasons: swapping traditional pen and paper problems with hands-on learning tools to help kids "feel the math." (NPR)
• A group in Chicago called Stick Talk is using harm reduction – the same philosophy used in needle exchange programs – to reduce gun deaths by teaching young people proper gun care and first aid techniques. (NYT)
• The first FireSat satellite was launched this week and will be part of a new constellation that improves wildfire detection and monitoring. The constellation is supported by Muon Space, Google, and Environmental Defense Fund among others. (TechCrunch)
• Force Blue is giving veterans a way to connect with each other while contributing to marine conservation efforts along Florida coastlines. Their onboarding process stood out to me because they require divers to get a mental health screening. (NPR)
  • This is especially important when transitioning out of military service because that's a point where mental health issues and suicides can spike.

Civic corner

• States as varied as Maine, California, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Oregon have introduced bills or expressed intent to limit the ability for private equity firms to invest in healthcare companies. (Axios)
  • Private equity is primarily interested in maximizing return on investment, so this is a warranted protection in my opinion. Healthcare is central to some of the most vulnerable moments in our lives.
• Job cuts at the Education Department inadvertently affected access to FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid that is a prerequisite for financial aid offers at colleges around the country. (WaPo)
  • You may remember that FAFSA was already the source of some consternation this year because students with undocumented parents are worried that submitting FAFSA could cause their parents to be deported.
• Two weeks ago, I mentioned that a fee on methane gas emissions was at risk of being repealed after Congress passed a resolution to do so. President Trump signed that measure into law last week. (Grist)
• The EPA has presented a plan to the White House that would eliminate the Office of Research and Development. The plan would eliminate 75% of positions and relocate the remaining workers to other parts of the EPA. (NYT)
  • Between this and the loss of grants, I think we're on track to freeze a lot of environmental research. I had suspected a more nuanced approach, like leaning on the minority opinion in climate research as evidence supporting new EPA policies – we're seeing something like this from Health and Human Services, particularly around vaccines – but this seems designed to gut the research arm at the EPA.

Hot job opportunities

• Product Manager (Senior) – Nira – Remote
• Marketing Campaign Manager – Ava Community Energy – Oakland, CA
• Vice President, People and Talent – DonorsChoose – New York, NY
  • Love this organization – I have donated multiple times.
• Chief of Staff – Benetech – Remote
• Account Executive – Benevity – Remote
• Retail Supervisor – Cotopaxi – Castle Rock, CO
• Retail Director – Grand Central Bakery – Portland, OR
• Elevation | Deal Sourcing Analyst – Alpine Investors – Austin, TX
• Director of Recruiting – Hanson Bridgett – Los Angeles or San Francisco, CA
• Integrated Campaign Strategist – Rescue Agency – Remote

Resource of the week

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how to get engaged more directly with other social impact professionals. I stumbled onto Net Impact as part of my search for local communities, and I think you're going to be a fan.

Net Impact is a nonprofit organization with chapters around the world that help connect students and professionals who want to use their careers to drive positive change. Many of the chapters are associated with a local university, but I found more general gatherings in the cities you'd expect: Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and so forth.

If meeting up isn't your cup of tea – or if you can't find a chapter near you – you can still find resources on their website that are worth checking out. They have a handful of job opportunities on their job board, and I really like the career profiles. The latter seem especially well-suited to people evaluating multiple career paths. Maybe that applies to you, but I actually think the career profiles would be great if you have kids thinking about college and what they want to do for a living.

Test your knowledge

Last week, I challenged you with a question about the protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989. The image of a protestor in front of a line of tanks is about as iconic as they come – one of the defining images of our time – and the protestor came to be known as "Tank Man."

Funny enough, I was going to link to the image last week as a reference and couldn't because "Tank Man" was prevalent in the image captions everywhere I looked. So here you go – may you come away inspired to take action this week.

The Supreme Court comes up a lot in this newsletter and for good reason: they have ruled on innumerable issues affecting social and environmental impact. This week, I'm featuring a case that reminds us that the Court's opinion can be fickle:

Which 1954 Supreme Court case overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine and ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional?

Email me your guess, and I'll send one lucky winner a couple of One Work stickers!

I went in search of cherry blossoms this week, and I was just a touch too early. Some trees have already popped, and others are on the cusp – I can't wait to see the sidewalks lined with flowering trees.