{"id":20939,"date":"2025-03-27T11:01:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T15:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?post_type=wfsu-news&#038;p=20939"},"modified":"2025-03-28T09:42:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T13:42:30","slug":"a-new-leader-emerges-in-tallahassees-fight-against-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"wfsu-news","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/a-new-leader-emerges-in-tallahassees-fight-against-homelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"A new leader emerges in Tallahassee&#8217;s fight against homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-20939-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/cpa.ds.npr.org\/s390\/audio\/2025\/03\/seg-a-homelesshelp-0327.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cpa.ds.npr.org\/s390\/audio\/2025\/03\/seg-a-homelesshelp-0327.mp3\">https:\/\/cpa.ds.npr.org\/s390\/audio\/2025\/03\/seg-a-homelesshelp-0327.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>Emerging leaders are charting a new path toward helping those who are unhoused.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Sue Semrau is retired as FSU Women\u2019s Basketball head coach. Now she\u2019s building a different kind of team. It includes various groups around the Big Bend working to understand and combat homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I feel so honored to be able to spend some time in my life doing this,\u201d Semrau says. She says she is looking at nonprofits, businesses, and churches for help.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrilliant professors at Florida State are coaching me as to how to operate in this space. They have a wonderful <a href=\"https:\/\/rise.fsu.edu\/our-offerings\/star-organization-certification\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">certificate program called Trauma-Informed Care<\/a>, and we have donated that course to a number of different organizations for them to give to individuals that work there,&#8221; Semrau says.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t just walk up to somebody and know what to say. You&#8217;ve got to understand that there is trauma that&#8217;s behind it, and I need to be informed of what that looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/e1\/4e\/1fa4967b41d1b32b5f1bcb6569b6\/suesemrau3.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"890\" alt=\"Coach Sue Semrau smiles and applauds\"><\/p>\n<p>We hear more from Semrau on <i>Speaking Of<\/i>, plus Leon County Commissioner Brian Welch weighs in on local government efforts in this regard. He says homelessness is a public safety issue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is flatly unsafe, both for those people who are experiencing homelessness and for the community that encounters them,\u201d Welch says. \u201cAt the same time, we don&#8217;t want people sleeping on benches and using the bathroom outside, and so we have an obligation as a government and as a community to do everything that we can to provide opportunities for those people to experience some level of normalcy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/32\/cc\/79656a834960820f206f0c16b0ba\/homeless-encampment.jpg\" width=\"900\" height=\"1200\" alt=\"homeless encampment with blankets and donuts\"><\/p>\n<p>Welch wants local leaders to find solutions to get people into what he calls permanent supportive housing and off the streets, but he says there are those who are \u201cchronically homeless\u201d who don&#8217;t want to receive services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt becomes a struggle for local governments between the extent to which you can compel people to take and receive services versus their civil liberties to continue to refuse them,\u201d Welch says. \u201cAt what point do you have an obligation to protect people from themselves if they are addicted to drugs and alcohol? If they&#8217;re experiencing mental illness crisis, what ability do we have to intervene and say we&#8217;re not going to let you live like this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local philanthropist Rick Kearney, founder of The Kearney Center for the unhoused, has joined his son Scott Kearney to develop an app called Casey Chat. It\u2019s being beta-tested and will eventually enable people who are homeless to quickly connect with services.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/90\/22\/f8341a7c403481829beeec2c9892\/caseychat.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" alt=\"examples of Casey Chat\"><\/p>\n<p>Dr. Heather Flynn of the FSU College of Medicine has worked with Rick Kearney. She says the app could be revolutionary, especially for those who don\u2019t seem to want to find permanent housing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you factor in a strong history of trauma, and especially if that trauma and mental health starts at a young age,\u201d Flynn says, \u201cit shapes the way that the brain develops such that &#8212; that part of your brain that can do decision making and planning, like the executive secretary of the brain, it never develops fully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Flynn says it takes \u201cvery strategic and targeted intervention\u201d to help people in this category learn to act in their own best interest.<\/p>\n<p>Hear much more of this conversation on <i>Speaking Of<\/i>. Click LISTEN above to hear the full segment. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2025 WFSU<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":20940,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[],"tags":[1136,1135],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A new leader emerges in Tallahassee&#039;s fight against homelessness - WFSU Local Routes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/a-new-leader-emerges-in-tallahassees-fight-against-homelessness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A new leader emerges in Tallahassee&#039;s fight against homelessness - WFSU Local Routes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former FSU coach Sue Semrau used to build women&#039;s basketball teams. 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