On Saturday, December 1, CCH participated in the Heartland Presidential Forum. The event drew 5,000 grassroots leaders from community organizing groups across the U.S. Candidates from both parties were invited. U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama, Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Sen. Chris Dodd attended.

CCH board member Cary Martin was one of the Forum’s featured speakers. You can watch her address here or read it below.

"My name is Cary Martin, and I am from Chicago, Illinois. I am a practicing attorney, I earned my bachelor degree in finance with honors, and I am a board member with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

"Yet, I am a former homeless person, I was a ward of the state in Illinois for 8 years, and I am a single parent.

"For many, my accomplishments provide evidence that people can in fact pull themselves up from their bootstraps. However, that is 100% false, as I would not have been able to accomplish not one accomplishment without the help of numerous individuals and organizations.

"You see, when we provide our young people with the right opportunities, everyone reaps the benefits of a generation which is self-sufficient and fulfilled with community values.

"I have personally witnessed beautiful, strong, and gifted, and please believe me when I say, gifted, young people become victims of poverty because they were not given the right resources such as affordable housing, equal opportunity to education, adequate healthcare, and a living wage -- all of which are human rights.

"And because our take-it-by-yourself policies are abandoning our youth and limiting people to be able to have success stories such as my own, we are taking away our opportunity to have a better future and a fresh start as a country."