Alex Tingquist’s International Public Service Project will be spent assisting the European Federation of National Organizations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) in Brussels, Belgium. FEANTSA is the only European NGO focusing exclusively on the fight against homelessness.
“FEANTSA is a fantastic NGO,” Tingquist said. “When I read the mission statement on their website this past December, I immediately was drawn to learn more about FEANTSA.”
Established in 1989, FEANTSA brings together nonprofit services that support homeless people in Europe. It works toward ending homelessness by engaging in a constant dialogue with institutions and national and regional governments; conducting research to better understand homelessness issues; promoting communication between FEANTSA member organizations and stakeholders; and raising public awareness about the complex, multidimensional nature of homelessness.
Among the networks FEANTSA facilitates are the European Network of Homeless Health Workers, the European Observatory on Homelessness, and Housing First Europe Hub.
Tingquist, who earned his bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, has been involved with homeless services in a direct-service capacity for nearly a decade. This summer’s experience will be a continuation and evolution of that mission. “Working with FEANTSA has given me an opportunity to work at a different level within homeless services,” he said.
As an AmeriCorps member, he worked as a VISTA at Our House, a transitional housing program in Little Rock that provides a pathway out of homelessness for individuals and families. He also worked at Trinity Center in Austin, Texas, a faith-based organization conducting programs that serve the needs of the poor and homeless. His passion for work with the poor and homeless began while attending the Catholic Charities Summer Institute through the Diocese of Little Rock.
“That was truly the first time that I began learning about and interacting with folks experiencing homelessness,” Tingquist said. “I realized that society in general, including myself, often treats these folks as less-than-human. I knew right then that I would try to dedicate the rest of my life to fighting that stigma, and ending homelessness in our lifetimes.”
Tingquist will assist FEANTSA in gathering best practices for the organization’s innovative housing solutions. His work has already started by identifying gaps between projects the organization has contacted to be a part of its “50 Most Innovative Housing Solutions.” Some of the gaps identified by Tingquist are geographic, and others reflect the different types of projects, including “innovative construction, out-of-the-box financing plans for housing, and utilization of vacant space.”
He has used his personal relationships with homeless organizations in the United States to begin outreach with other organizations using innovative solutions in their homelessness services and projects.
“My number one priority is to produce the best work possible for FEANTSA,” Tingquist said. “I want to have a part in giving innovative housing organizations an international presence with the hope that their projects can be duplicated around the world in the fight against homelessness.”
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